Denizli travertines in Turkey

Abstract: The city of Denizli and its surrounding areas, located in western Turkey, have one of the marvellous travertine deposits, and quarries in the world. The areas have about forty travertine quarries and fifty factories, which are located approximately 10 to 20 kilometres away from the city centre. Travertines are also one of the main export products for Denizli and there are different and widespread travertine outcrops in the area, their common commercial usage can be listed as cladding sidewalls of buildings, in steps of buildings and water pools, other accessories for modern civil constructions. Both their colours and physical properties vary from location to location in the study area. The purpose of this paper is the investigation of geomechanical properties of Denizli travertine, on the basis of field and laboratory studies. In order to achieve the goal, from various travertine quarries and factories, travertine samples were collected and geomechanical tests were performed. It is concluded that although these travertines have a good quality and also nice commercial market, purposes of their usage can change due to various engineering properties of travertines. In the area, travertines have good quality and can be used for cladding of sidewall and other internal and external usage in modern building and structures. Résumé: La ville de Denizli et de ses abords, situé dans la Turquie occidentale, ayez un des gisements merveilleux de travertin, et carrières dans le monde. Les secteurs ont environ quarante carrières de travertin e