Defining the suitability of new crushed rock aggregate source areas in the North of Kocaeli Province using GIS

This study evaluated the current crushed rock aggregate resources and defined the suitability of potential crushed rock aggregate resource areas in the north of Kocaeli Province by using the geographical information system (GIS). Evaluation of the current aggregate market showed that almost 80 % of the total annual production (14.35 million tonnes) is supplied by the quarries located in Gebze and 20 % of the total annual production (3.65 million tonnes) is supplied by the quarries located in Hereke. The commercial crushed rock aggregate is totally supplied from the limestone and dolomite type carbonate rocks in the northern Kocaeli region. Defining the suitability of potential crushed rock aggregate resource areas was achieved by using GIS methods. First, an aggregate bedrock potential map was developed by using the geological map of the area and categorized as high, moderate and low bedrock potential areas. The high potential areas, which comprised almost 25 % of the northern Kocaeli region, contain carbonate rocks with varying physical, chemical and engineering properties. Secondly, the suitability of the bedrock potential areas was checked by considering the land-use, distance to the county centres and distance to major roads and highways layers in the weighted overlay function of the GIS. The resulting final map contained not suitable, low suitability and suitable areas for crushed rock aggregate. The suitable areas were grouped into three zones according to their geographic distributions. Further, the most promising crushed rock aggregate areas were defined based on the previous field work and surveys in the suitable areas.