General material properties of Denizli (SW Turkey) travertines as a building stone

Abstract

The quality and material properties of Denizli travertine as a natural building stone have been investigated. The Denizli region is one of the world's major travertine deposits and production basins. Travertine blocks are extracted from over fifty quarries in the region. In this study, investigations and evaluations of experimental test results of travertine samples from six areas (Kakli{dotless}k-Kocabaş, Honaz-Emirazizli, Aşagi{dotless}dagdere, Akköy, Karaçay and Çivril), which represent the entire Denizli basin, are presented. Kakli{dotless}k-Kocabaş is the biggest production area in the region, and therefore most of the quarries are located in this area. Physical, mechanical, micro-structural and macro-structural properties of the travertine samples are evaluated within the scope of stone quality assessment. Variations of test results by area are presented, and correlations between them are proposed. Test results are also compared with the results of various studies from Turkey and other parts of the world. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.