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Quaternary Mount Nemrut stratovolcano, having a spectacular summit caldera and associated lakes, is located north of the Bitlis–Zagros suture zone, Eastern Turkey. Although much attention has been paid to its geology, morphology, history and biology, a detailed geophysical investigation has not been performed in this special region. Thus, we attempted to characterize the stratovolcano and the surroundings using total field aeromagnetic anomalies. Potential field data processing techniques helped us to interpret geologic sources causing magnetic signatures. Resulting image maps obtained from some linear transformations and a derivative-based technique revealed general compatibility between the aeromagnetic anomalies and the near-surface geology of the study area. Some high amplitude magnetic anomalies observed north of the Nemrut caldera rim are associated with the latest bimodal volcanic activity marked by lava fountains and comenditic-basaltic flows occurred along the rift zone. After minimizing the high-frequency effects, a pseudogravity-based three-dimensional inversion scheme revealed that the shallowest deep-seated sources are located about 3.0 km below the ground surface. Two-dimensional normalized full gradient solutions also exposed the depths of these anomaly sources, in good agreement with the inversion results. This first geophysical study performed through aeromagnetic anomalies clearly gave insights into some main magnetized structures of the Mount Nemrut stratovolcano.

As a result of lichenological exploration in Bitlis province (Turkey), a total of 325 lichens and 21 lichenicolous fungi, which are belonging 113 genera in Ascomycota were determined from 92 different localities. Buellia vouauxii, a lichenicolous fungus, and is new to Turkey and also new for Asia. Aspicilia glomerulans, Llimoniella muralicola, Myriolecis invadens, Ochrolechia subviridis, Placynthium hungaricum and Placynthium posterulum were reported for the second time from Turkey. Collecting localities and their substrata are presented.

The Consulate of the Bitlis Province of Britain was opened at the level of the Vice-Consul attached to the province of Erzurum in 1895. Charles Seymour Hampson was appointed as the first consul of the province. After Hampson, James Henry Monahan was appointed British Vice-Consul of the province of Bitlis. Monahan took over the responsibility of the Bitlis Consulate in 1896 and held this post until 1898. During his tenure, James Henry Monahan kept consular books containing important political, social, economic and cultural information about the province. When these books were examined, it was seen that some events were emphasized more. The Armenian-Muslim conflict, the looting-attack events, the conversion of religion events, the tax issue, the economic situation, and the regulations implemented in the province were the main topics. Consul Monahan obtained this detailed information as a result of his trips to the Sanjak of Moush and Sairt. The study is based on James Henry Monahan’s trips in the province and her subsequent reports and correspondence. In our study, the famine in Bitlis province of 1896-1898 and the subsequent migration events, the tax issue, various debt systems applied within the province, the livelihoods of the people, security problems, the issue of Kurdish guards (bekdji) and the socio-economic structure of the province were examined in detail.

The loss of life due to large-scale structural damage has again demonstrated the importance of taking precautions before an earthquake. In this context, determining the risk priorities for the existing building stock and making the final decisions about the buildings is one of the basic measures to be taken before an earthquake. Within the scope of this study, the regional risk priorities have been determined for twenty different masonry buildings in Bitlis (Türkiye), located in the Lake Van Basin, which has a high earthquake risk. The Turkish Rapid Assessment Method was used for masonry structures in this study which was updated in 2019 using the necessary data obtained for each structure on site. In addition, information about the architectural characteristics and current structural conditions of traditional Bitlis houses is given in this study. Current seismic parameters are also obtained for the location of each building. All data in the article were obtained from field research, and this is one of the first studies in which the rapid assessment method was used. In this method, buildings with low scores have a higher risk priority, and building performance scores were obtained between 25 and 85. With this and similar studies, regional risk priorities can be determined, and the number of buildings subjected to detailed assessment can be reduced.

Widespread casualties and property damage due to structural failures following devastating earthquakes have once again highlighted the critical significance of evaluating the seismic performance of existing buildings. In this context, a fundamental part of modern pre-disaster management is to evaluate the potential seismic risks of existing structures and implementing the necessary precautions. This study focuses on determining regional risk priorities using a rapid assessment methodology applied to a sample of reinforced-concrete (RC) structures in the Centre of Bitlis city, situated in the high-seismic-risk Lake Van Basin. Risk prioritization was made among the buildings based on the Turkish Rapid Assessment technique revised in 2019 for 100 different RC buildings with one to seven stories. The negative parameters utilized in this method were analyzed both in relation to the 6 February 2023, Kahramanmaraş earthquakes and the assessed building stock. Additionally, the study provides a comprehensive review of the existing building inventory across the region and offers recommendations for potential precautions to mitigate earthquake risks.

Determining the earthquake hazard of any settlement is one of the primary studies for reducing earthquake damage. Therefore, earthquake hazard maps used for this purpose must be renewed over time. Turkey Earthquake Hazard Map has been used instead of Turkey Earthquake Zones Map since 2019. A probabilistic seismic hazard was performed by using these last two maps and different attenuation relationships for Bitlis Province (Eastern Turkey) were located in the Lake Van Basin, which has a high seismic risk. The earthquake parameters were determined by considering all districts and neighborhoods in the province. Probabilistic seismic hazard analyses were carried out for these settlements using seismic sources and four different attenuation relationships. The obtained values are compared with the design spectrum stated in the last two earthquake maps. Significant differences exist between the design spectrum obtained according to the different exceedance probabilities. In this study, adaptive pushover analyses of sample-reinforced concrete buildings were performed using the design ground motion level. Structural analyses were carried out using three different design spectra, as given in the last two seismic design codes and the mean spectrum obtained from attenuation relationships. Different design spectra significantly change the target displacements predicted for the performance levels of the buildings.

The activity concentration values of 222 Rn radio-isotope, which in an alpha active isotope, were measured in Bitlis and its district water samples in this study. The samples were analyzed with AlphaGuard PQ 2000 PRO active radon measuring system. The radon values are in the range of 0.59 and 66.00 Bq/L. The annual inhalation effective dose (1.47–166.32 µSv/y), annual ingestion effective dose (for adults (1.50–168.63 µSv/y), children (1.14–128.50 µSv/y) and babies (0.31–34.91 µSv/y)), annual effective dose for stomach (for adults (0.18–20.24 µSv/y), children (0.14 to 15.42 µSv/y) and babies (0.04–4.19 µSv/y)), annual effective dose for lung (0.18–19.96 µSv/y) were estimated. The concentration level of 222 Rn in Bitlis water samples was found higher than permissible maximum value defined by Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA) (11.1 Bq/L).

Bitlis rock is used as a construction material and comes from the lava emitted by volcanoes and their subsequent transformation into ignimbrites. This type of rocks has been characterized physically, chemi­cally, toxicologically and radioactively using different procedures including determination of the coefficient of thermal conductivity, gamma spectrometry, ultrasonic speed test, ICP masses and metal extraction. The results indicate that Bitlis rocks have an ACI greater than 1, although their content of radon is lower than other rocks of volcanic origin. Leaching of metals from these rocks indicates that Pb and Cd can provide an infiltration level in the field higher than the level permitted by TCLP and they have undesired toxicological risks. The percent­ages of extraction of other metals also point to this infiltration problem. Despite this, the material offers good qualities for usage as a building material such as its thermal coefficients.

Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, is a part of the Alpine-Himalayan collisional belt where continental crust is relatively thin for a collisional belt. The region contains part of the Zagros suture zone, which formed during collision of the Arabian and Anatolian plates in the Miocene. It is underlain by a low-velocity zone associated with asthenospheric flow in the uppermost mantle. We constructed gravity models of the crust and upper-mantle structures to assess the driving mechanism of asthenospheric flow and the isostatic state of Eastern Anatolia. Our density models are based on terrestrial and satellite-derived gravity data, and they are constrained by receiver function and seismic tomography. The gravity models show significant lithospheric thickness variations across the Anatolian and Arabian plates. The lithospheric mantle in Eastern Anatolia is thinner (∼62-74 km) than the Arabian plate (∼84-95 km), indicating that part of the Anatolian mantle lithosphere might have been removed by delamination. The lithospheric removal process might have occurred following the detachment of the Arabian slab in the Miocene. Widespread Holocene volcanism and high heat flow in Eastern Anatolia can be considered as evidence of lithospheric delamination and slab break-off. The upward asthenospheric flow and subsequent asthenospheric underplating beneath Eastern Anatolia might have been induced by both delamination and slab break-off. These two processes may account for the rapid uplift of the Anatolian Plateau. There is a residual topography of ∼1.7 km that cannot be explained by crustal roots. Based on our gravity models, we suggest that part of the eastern Anatolian Plateau is dynamically supported by asthenospheric flow in the upper mantle.

Introducing evidence from more than 600 secret Ottoman documents, this book demonstrates in unprecedented detail that the Armenian Genocide and the expulsion of Greeks from the late Ottoman Empire resulted from an official effort to rid the empire of its Christian subjects.