THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ABOUT THE LAGOON CLAYS OF THE KONYAALTI REGION IN ANTALYA

10th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference - SGEM2010, www.sgem.org, SGEM2010 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN 10: 954-91818-1-2, June 20-26, 2010, Vol. 1, 211-218 pp

ABSTRACT

Konyaaltı coast area is a famous touristic region with its 9 km long beach at the west
side of Antalya City. Nowadays, the region is subjected to multi - storey and dense
constructioning activities due to its touristic charm. Lagoony and alluvial mechanisms
in its development, the soil profile presents a considerably complex structure as a result
of sea level and vertical ground movements.

In this study, geotechnical and mineralogical characteristics of blue – green clays of the
Harbour District existing inside the boundaries of Antalya Konyaaltı Municipality were
investigated with comprehensive field and laboratory tests. The geological and
mineralogical properties of the sediments constituting the alluviums of this region were
investigated and the distribution of the clay minerals was presented. The strength and
the compressibility characteristics of the soil were defined with some correlations
obtained by the laboratory and field test results. This aim, undisturbed and disturbed soil
specimens were taken from 12 drilled boreholes at 1.5 m intervals down to 30 m depths
by using Shelby tubes in order to determine the soil profile and the geotechnical
properties. In addition, SPT (Standard Penetration Test) tests were carried out in all the
boreholes.

Besides the Mesozoic old units seen at the base of the region, the travertines of
Quaternary units, side remains, beach deposits and alluviums exist at the top. The
unconfined compressive strength (qu), undrained cohesion (cu), compressive index (Cc)
of the soil vary between 20 kN/m2 and 84.2 kN/m2, 7.0 kN/m2 and 90 kN/m2, 0.095 and
0.38 respectively.

Keywords: lagoon clays, soft soils, Antalya