Located in the southern part of Central Anatolia Region, Manazan Caves is situated in the east of Yeşildere Valley. It is a five-storey mass dwelling carved into a human-made high rock mass. Although there are no exact data to determine when the caves were carved, it is assumed that the caves were carved and settled in the Byzantine period during the 6th − 7th centuries. The geological and geotechnical data analyses were conducted in Manazan Caves. As a result of these analyses, it was observed that rock blocks of different sizes fell into the field in various times of the year, and there were instabilities in some individual rock blocks. In the study area, the movement mechanisms of rock slopes due to discontinuity were analysed by using various computer programs (DIPS, RockFALL, GEO5); and in order to ensure the safety of life and property and to protect this heritage cave, the current rockfall potential and risk along with slope instabilities were determined, and the fundamental prevention measures to be taken were discussed.

Full-face tunnel boring machines (TBMs) can be used to excavate hard rocks, but there are still significant issues with low advance rate and high cutter wear. However, roadheaders and other mechanical excavators are unable to cut hard rocks. Research on microwave-assisted excavation has gained attention recently in an effort to decrease cutter wear, increase the TBM advance rate in hard rock excavation, and enable the mechanical excavation of hard rocks using machines other than TBMs. Nevertheless, neither a laboratory nor a field-based integrated microwave-assisted excavation machine is currently in use. The present paper aims to examine the cuttability of carbonate rock samples in the laboratory using an integrated microwave-assisted linear cutting machine which has just been developed. Samples of carbonate rock were gathered from Türkiye and Romania, and both untreated and treated samples underwent cutting tests with a pointed pick. For both non-microwave and microwave-assisted cutting experiments, optimum specific energy values for each sample were determined. During microwaving at 15 kW, when comparing optimum specific energy values to those of non-microwave cutting, notable decreases were seen. The evaluation of the findings demonstrated the economic viability of cutting carbonate rocks with microwave assistance.

This study explores the effects of sample disturbance on the compression curves obtained from oedometer tests and the inferred effective preconsolidation stress (sp'). The samples were systematically disturbed by removing different fractions of the soil ranging from 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% and remolding them back into place to reach the same initial void ratio. It was found that when the rate of disturbance was increased, it became more difficult to determine the sp' values on the compression curve; the typical bending point on the compression curve became increasingly indistinct, and negligible changes occurred in the sp' values of the disturbed soil samples up to a disturbance rate of 40%. If the soil samples whose consolidation parameters such as preconsolidation stress can’t be determined are subjected to disturbances greater than 40%, it is recommended that no consolidation parameter of such samples be specified.