The semi-undergound structures in Zelve and Göreme have been particularly deteriorating rapidly and some major collapses occured in recent decades. A series of preliminary tests on the water migration characteristics, mechanical properties and the effect of water content on their mechanical and physical properties and creep tests on rock samples from Zelve antique settlement have been carried out. The present paper mainly presents the results of the creep tests under uniaxial compression stress and tensile stress conditions under dry, saturated or mixed conditions. The results presented in this article also indicate that time depend.
The Cappadocia region of Turkey is one of the cultural heritage of Mankind and it has many underground or semi-under-ground cities, towns and settlements. The preservation of this cultural assets is of great importance for the world. The preservation as well as restoration of these historical remains require basic understanding of surrounding rock under various environmental conditions. Compared to underground structures, surrounding rock of semi-underground structures are much prone to physical and chemical weathering and degradation of rock properties. The major semi-undergound settlements and many historical assests are found in Zelve, Göreme, Ihlara and Ürguep (Figure 1). The semi-undergound structures in Zelve and Göreme have been particularly deteriorating rapidly in recent decades and some major collapses occured as seen in Figure 2. There are many historical structures of great importance in three valleys of the Zelve Open-air Museum (Figure 3). The urgent measures are necessary to prevent the collapse and/or further deteriorations of these semi-undergound structures. Some rock blocks are collected and samples are prepared at Hacettepe and Tokai Universities. A series of preliminary tests on the water migration characteristics, mechanical properties and the effect of water content on their mechanical and physical properties and creep tests have been carried out. The present paper mainly presents the results of the creep tests under uniaxial compression stress and tensile stress conditions under dry, saturated or mixed conditions. The results to be presented in this article also indicate that time dependent behavior of tuff of Zelve has an important effect on the time of failure of semi-underground settlements..
The Cappadocia Region geologically covers approximately an area of 40000 km2. In addition to rhyolitic and dasitic tuffs, andesite and basalt originated lava can be seen in the area formed during the volcanic activity between Upper Miocene and Quaternary (Figure 4). The Ürguep formation, which shows the largest distribution in the region, includes a number of different tuff and lava layers. Zelve member, one of these tuff layers, is in the form of a single pyroclastic flow unit and at its base there is a Plinian air-fall deposit of 5–12 m thick. The thickness of this member reaches up to 100 m with an average of 60 m (Temel et al. [1]).
