Some Geological Features of Limestone Aggregates Produced From Central Anatolian Carbonate Formations

Abstract

F or the last fifteen years, there has been extensive motorway and railway constructions in Turkey. This requires enormous amount of road-fillers and aggregates, and the construction companies open many open-pit limestone quarries to fulfill their aggregate needs. The partly double four lines , partly one-way double line motorway of KonyaHüyük have recently been enlarged and partly re-constructed. During this construction, a total of five limestone quarry were opened to produce limestone aggregate. The Bozlutepe Limestone member of Asmalıtepe Formation near the town of Selki HüyükKonya, central Anatolia were used for this demand, and it has been operated for the last 6 years. The limestone member is approximately 200 m thick at most and mostly made of three type of minerals and these are dolomitic limestone, crystalline limestone and quartz-bearing crystallized limestones. All the minerals are crystallized and the minerals locally dominate at the quarry. The produced aggregates have relatively flat granulometry curve indicating most of the grains are of thin and have clay-silt sized particles. Our studies revealed that Bozlutepe Limestones are formed in carbonate facies in shallow marine environments during Permian-Carboniferous times. The member most likely have low-grade metamorphism during Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras