Evaluation and monitoring an on-going landslide in volcanic sediments - a case study for an open pit mine, Turkey: Part 1

TKI (Turkish Coal Enterprises) has been operating an open pit lignite mine since late 1970s in a town called Can which is situated in the north-west of Turkey. There is a ceramic factory, which is one of the biggest in Europe as far as capacity is concerned, operating very close to the lignite open pit mine. In 1999, a catastrophic earthquake demolished not only the cities and towns located on the Northern Anatolian fault zone but also triggered it landslide on the ceramic factory site benches of the Can lignite open pit. The susceptibility of artificial slopes to failure during earthquakes is a well-known event. This paper summarises geological, geomorphological and hydrological surveys of the area and the work done to define the slip surface by means of inclinometer surveys. Geotechnical parameters collected from all local geological formations were used later in the slope stability analysis. Details of the studies undertaken since the beginning of the landslide are given in this paper