Research Information System
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, vol.59, no.3, pp.2861-2883, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Two disastrous earthquakes, called Pazarcık and Ekinözü, took place on February 6, 2023 in the southeast part of Türkiye and were officially named Kahramanmaraş earthquakes together. The time interval between the two earthquakes was about 9 h. The authors surveyed the earthquake area more than twice. Although the authors wrote papers on the various geo-engineering aspects of the damage caused by the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, the purpose of this study is to investigate the slope failures, rockfalls and their effects on the built environment and to assess their mechanism and dynamic behavior in terms of a geotechnical point of view. For this purpose, in addition to site observations and measurements, samples were collected particularly from the selected large-scale instability sites, laboratory geomechanical tests were conducted and kinematical analyses and back-analyses were carried out for the assessments of the selected case histories. The number and scale of slope failures were much greater on the hanging wall side of the causative fault as compared with those on the footwall side. Slope failures are generally closer to surface ruptures, while rockfalls can occur at great distances from the earthquake fault. The kinematic analyses using the stereograhic-projection technique are advanced in this study and some practical procedures are described on how to incorporate this technique for quick evaluation of the dynamic stability of rock slopes. Mechanical properties of discontinuities in the slope mass and the loading conditions have an important influence on the determination of the stable slope angle. In addition to that, strike and dip directions, dip angles of discontinuities, their orientation with respect to each other and the slope geometry play an important role on the size and type of slope failure. A procedure is also presented for how to use the seismic coefficient concept in the stability assessment of slopes. The first step should be based on the safety factor concept to quickly assess and then the dynamic limiting equilibrium method should be adopted for the stability assessment if the post-failure motions are critical for the built environment.