Basalt Turkey

Basalt is one of the volcanic rock masses. It is in black color and is in concentrated heaps. It is found in the state as mass, vein and stream. Since it is a hard and durable stone, it is used as pavement, building stone, railway, bridge material. The basalt, which is abundant on the earth, covers thousands of square kilometers of places in some countries. Since it is a hard and durable stone, it has been used as paving stone, building stone, bridge material since the past.

Today, basalt is used in infrastructure such as railway ballast material, asphalt aggregate as new usage areas. In particular, due to the absence of free silica in the granules and powder basalt has been used as an alternative and healthy raw material in many other business sectors.

Basalt’s color is black, homogeneous, dense and heavy in microlitic or sometimes glassy texture. Its composition is based on amorphous materials and feldspars (such as, lobrador and anorthite, augite microlites, magnetite and olivine habeleri, and sometimes hornblende and ilmenite)

There is no alternative for the long term for parquet (basalt) roads used for 2200 years on the Roman roads. Today, they still carry modern motor vehicles with narrow and curved Roman streets and natural paving stones on bridges. Since asphalt roads do not pass under water, they accumulate on the surface of asphalt and combine with water dusts forming ponds and form mud, while muds in sewerage occasionally cause blockage in sewer pipes. This leads to unexpected cost and expenditure.
However, natural paving stones made of basalt that provide moisture and ventilation for the living beings underground as opposed to asphalt or concrete roads and ensure ecological compatibility.

Laying, moving or removing natural basalt stones does cause neither ecological problems nor financial. Infrastructure works such as water, telephone, electricity, sewage can be easily performed without loss of material. It is possible to repair the damaged surface with the same material.

It does not matter that in what season you are going to lay basalt paving stones. The coating of the basalt is not affected by the atmospheric conditions, and it can be made in any weather condition. However, for example, concrete asphalt coating can be applied only in hot and dry air and for concrete coating rain-free air is required.

The frost resistance of the basalt paving stone prevents frost incidents in winter months and prevents traffic accidents due to frosts. In addition to this, as it does not require salting, it is inexpensive as opposed to asphalt.

In recent years, basalt stones have begun to be used both in buildings and in open and closed spaces in Turkey especially in big cities and touristic areas.
Basalts are magmatic rocks, so we know that basalt can be found in Turkey as volcanoes. These are the following:

Central Anatolian Volcanoes: Mount Erciyes and Mount Hasan

Eastern Anatolian Volcanoes: Nemrut Mountain, Süphan Mountain, Tendürek Mountain and Ağrı Mountain.

Basalt is the leading natural stone because it is least affected by weathering and abrasion conditions. Basalt will be indispensable in the near future in Turkey; its usage area is expanding day by day.Basalt is used in various thicknesses and sizes in every stage of architectural constructions, in upper and lower structure, in floor and outer coatings in buildings, in city roads, on pavements, in treasures and in gardening.

Considering its physical and mechanical properties:

• Basalt stone is added to the concrete composition as aggregate at different doses and proportions. – *As a ballast stone, it has already taken its place in the roads of Turkey.
• Basalt is used in glass-ceramic and mineral-based insulation systems.
• Basalt stone is preferred as a practical and economical method in home heating with heat storage method.
• The rock wool obtained from basalt is used in the floor and wall insulation of all kinds of ships and other structures built in the sea.
• Due to its resistance to high temperatures, basalt is used in fire doors, boiler and boiler room, air conditioning equipment and channels, chimney and flue gas ducts, modules and ceiling insulation.