Damage at Sürgü Dam during May 5, 1986, Malatya, Turkey, Earthquake

On May 5, 1986, an earthquake of magnitude about 6 struck South Anatolia, creating widespread damage at rural structures and causing extensive longitudinal cracks at the crest of Sürgü Dam. In this paper general information about the earthquake is given and the results of block-mass and circular arch types of pseudo-static slope stability analyses are presented. It has been concluded that the critical acceleration levels obtained from the analyses are under the expected acceleration levels at the dam's body during the earthquake. Probabilistic findings based upon seismicity observed in the last century indicate that substantially higher level of ground shaking may occur at the dam site. Such occurrences are considered to cause hazardous damage to the dam.