Pegasus Airlines and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport

Pegasus Airlines, a major low-cost airline based in Turkey, operates primarily out of Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in Istanbul. The choice of location for this airport reflects careful consideration of the region’s geology. Sabiha Gökçen is situated on the Asian side of Istanbul, strategically placed away from the seismic risks associated with areas closer to the Marmara Sea. While Istanbul is in a seismically active region due to its proximity to the North Anatolian Fault, airport planners took the geology of the site into account to minimize earthquake-related risks. 

The terrain around Sabiha Gökçen International Airport offers solid ground stability, critical for handling the daily influx of Pegasus Airlines’ fleet. As the airline continues to expand its operations, the airport’s geological foundations ensure that it remains a reliable hub for both domestic and international flights. Pegasus Airlines’ success is not just tied to its low-cost model but also to the well-planned infrastructure that supports its growing network.

The Importance of Soil Composition

One of the primary geological considerations when choosing an airport location is the composition of the soil. Soil plays a crucial role in determining whether the ground can support the heavy infrastructure of an airport, including runways, taxiways, terminals, and control towers. Different soil types have varying load-bearing capacities, and selecting a site with stable, strong soil is essential to prevent subsidence or other forms of ground instability.

Clay soils, for instance, can be problematic because they expand when wet and shrink when dry. This shifting can lead to cracks in runways and foundations, which could result in costly repairs and even temporary shutdowns of airport operations. Sandy soils, on the other hand, provide better drainage and are more stable, but they may still require compaction to ensure they can handle the weight of aircraft and airport structures. In regions with unstable soils, engineers may use techniques like soil compaction or the installation of piling systems to reinforce the ground before construction begins.

The Role of Bedrock and Subsurface Conditions

Beyond the surface soil, the underlying bedrock is another critical factor in determining whether a location is suitable for an airport. Bedrock provides a stable foundation that can support the heavy loads imposed by airport infrastructure and aircraft. In areas where the bedrock is too deep or composed of soft, fractured materials, additional geotechnical work may be required to ensure stability.

Airports built on solid bedrock have the advantage of natural support, reducing the need for expensive foundational work. In contrast, airports located in regions with deep or unstable bedrock may require deep foundations or piling to reach more stable ground layers. These additional steps can significantly increase construction costs and time, but they are necessary to ensure long-term safety and performance.

Seismic Activity and Earthquake Risk

For airports located in regions prone to seismic activity, such as the area around Istanbul where Pegasus Airlines operates, planners must account for the potential impact of earthquakes. Fault lines and the associated risks of ground shaking, liquefaction, and fault rupture can pose serious threats to airport infrastructure. In these areas, detailed geological surveys are essential to identify seismic risks and implement appropriate design measures to mitigate damage in the event of an earthquake.

For instance, airports in seismically active regions may be designed with seismic retrofitting to ensure that runways, control towers, and terminals can withstand the forces generated by an earthquake. In some cases, this may involve reinforcing buildings with steel frameworks, designing flexible foundations that can move with the ground, or using advanced materials that absorb seismic energy. Airports in these regions must also have contingency plans for evacuations and emergency landings in the aftermath of an earthquake.

Drainage and Flood Prevention

Effective water drainage is another critical geological consideration when selecting an airport location. Flooding can cause severe disruptions to airport operations, leading to delays, cancellations, and damage to infrastructure. Therefore, the site’s proximity to bodies of water, such as rivers, lakes, or oceans, and its susceptibility to flooding must be carefully evaluated.

In coastal areas, airports are often exposed to sea level rise and storm surges, which can lead to runway flooding and long-term erosion. To prevent these issues, engineers may design elevated runways or build comprehensive drainage systems that allow water to flow away from critical areas like taxiways and runways. The ability of the soil to absorb water, known as permeability, also plays a role in determining how well the ground can handle heavy rainfall or flooding events. In regions with poor natural drainage, artificial systems are installed to channel water away from the airport.

Airports located in low-lying areas or near flood-prone zones require constant monitoring and maintenance of drainage systems to prevent water buildup. Poorly planned drainage can lead to hazardous conditions for aircraft, including hydroplaning during takeoff and landing.

Topography and Terrain Considerations

The topography of an area—the natural features and elevation of the land—has a major impact on the suitability of a site for airport construction. Ideally, airports should be located on flat or gently sloping terrain, which minimizes the need for extensive grading or earth-moving operations. Uneven or hilly terrain can significantly increase construction costs and complexity, as it requires more intensive reshaping of the land.

Airports situated in mountainous areas face additional challenges. Mountains and hills can obstruct flight paths and create dangerous wind patterns, increasing turbulence during takeoff and landing. Pilots operating in these regions must be highly skilled in navigating difficult approaches and departures, and the airport’s design must account for the challenges posed by the surrounding terrain.

In cases where flat land is not available, engineers may need to use techniques like land reclamation or excavation to create suitable space for the airport. However, these methods can be expensive and time-consuming, making flat or gently sloping terrain the preferred option whenever possible.

Environmental and Geological Hazards

In addition to soil composition, bedrock stability, and drainage concerns, airports must be built with an awareness of environmental and geological hazards. Some areas are prone to landslides, sinkholes, or volcanic activity, all of which can pose serious risks to airport infrastructure.

For instance, airports near active volcanoes may need to implement design features that protect infrastructure from ashfall or lava flows. In regions susceptible to landslides, slope stabilization measures may be necessary to prevent the ground from shifting and damaging the runway or terminal buildings. Sinkholes, while less common, can develop suddenly and cause severe damage, particularly in areas with karst topography or limestone bedrock. Identifying these risks early through geological surveys allows planners to take preventive measures and avoid future disasters.

Balancing Cost and Geology

While the geology of a site is critical to the success of an airport, it is also essential to balance these geological considerations with the financial realities of the project. Constructing an airport in a region with challenging terrain or unstable soils can significantly increase the cost of construction and long-term maintenance. However, neglecting geological factors can result in even greater expenses down the road, as repairs and modifications to unstable infrastructure are both costly and disruptive.

Geology plays a central role in determining not only where an airport should be built but also how it should be designed to ensure its functionality and longevity. The careful analysis of soil, bedrock, water drainage, seismic risks, and other factors helps planners choose locations that can support the heavy demands of modern air travel while minimizing environmental impact and long-term operational risks.

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Because the size of the Earth is so large that it is impossible to view it as a whole, cartography is the science that allows us to get as close as possible.

Cartography consists of two branches: general cartography and thematic cartography.

General cartography. These are representations of worlds of a broad nature, that is, for all audiences and for introductory purposes. Maps of the world, maps of countries are all the work of this very division.
Thematic cartography. On the other hand, this branch focuses its geographical representation on certain aspects, themes or specific rules, such as economic, agricultural, military elements, etc. For example, this branch of cartography includes a map of the world of sorghum development.

Cartography has a great function: to describe our planet in detail with varying degrees of accuracy, scale, and in different ways. It also involves examining, comparing, and critiquing these maps and representations in order to discuss their strengths, weaknesses, objections, and possible improvements.

After all, there is nothing natural about a map: it is an object of technological and cultural clarification, an abstraction of human development that stems in part from the way we imagine our planet.

Generally speaking, cartography bases its representational work on a set of elements and concepts that allow us to accurately organize the various contents of a map according to a particular perspective and scale. These cartographic elements are:

Scale: Since the world is very large in order to represent it visually, we need to scale down in the usual way to maintain proportions. Depending on the scale used, distances normally measured in kilometers will be measured in centimeters or millimeters, setting an equivalent standard.
Parallels: The Earth is mapped with two sets of lines, the first of which are parallel lines. If the Earth is divided into two hemispheres, starting from the equator, a parallel is a line parallel to that imaginary horizontal axis that divides the Earth into climatic belts, starting with two other lines called the tropics (Cancer and Capricorn).
Meridians: The second set of lines conventionally dividing the globe, the meridians perpendicular to the parallels, is the “axis” or central meridian passing through the Royal Greenwich Observatory (known as the “zero meridian” or “Greenwich Meridian”). London theoretically coincides with the Earth’s axis of rotation. Since then, the world has been divided into two halves, separated every 30° by a meridian dividing the Earth’s sphere into a series of segments.
Coordinates: Connecting latitudes and meridians gives you a grid and coordinate system that allows you to assign a latitude (defined by latitudes) and a longitude (defined by meridians) to any point on the earth.

The application of this theory is how GPS works.
cartographic symbols: These maps have their own language and can identify objects of interest according to certain conventions. For example, some symbols are assigned to cities, others to capitals, others to ports and airports, etc.

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Digital cartography cannot be called a separate discipline or section. Rather, it is an effective tool that allows you to conveniently and quickly process cartographic data using a PC. However, the impact of digital cartography on science is really strong, and this way of mapping the terrain has fundamentally changed the principle of visualizing the territory.

Let’s compare digital cartography with the old way of creating maps. In the old days, cartographers would spend days and nights at a map, drawing each element in ink. Such work was very tedious and the work was simply unreasonable. Nowadays, technology of map creation has changed considerably, and now a computer does all the routine work, and much faster. During the processing of cartographic information on the PC, special automated systems are used, which have a large functionality, consisting of the tools needed to create maps. Due to their flexibility, automated mapping systems give a lot of possibilities to modern cartographers, which really simplify and improve the process of illustrating the terrain.

Digital cartography has the following advantages over traditional cartography:

• The possibility of error is virtually eliminated. In the old days, cartographers had to do their best to describe a map as accurately as possible. Unfortunately, more often than not, cartographers failed to depict space, its dimensions and specifics correctly. In modern cartography such mistake is excluded, because a lot of complicated calculations are made by computer. This simplifies the cartographer’s work, makes it faster and more efficient;
• saving labor resources. If in the modern world cartographers did not use automation as they do now, one map would cost a fortune, because it would require an inconceivable amount of labor. Now, thanks to specially developed systems, creating a map is relatively easy, which affects their price;
• possibility of editing. If you have drawn a map, but the terrain has changed (the forest has been cut down, the river has dried up, etc.), your creation can be considered unusable, because it contains unreliable information. However, digital cartography supports the possibility of editing maps, which allows you to return them to their former relevance. What’s more, it again brings significant labor savings.

Digital cartography is a real breakthrough in geographical science because it allows us to depict the world as it really is.

The advantages of computer technologies are not only perfect quality of graphic works, but also high accuracy, significant increase in labor productivity, improvement of polygraphic quality of cartographic products.

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The first map of the world, that is, the first map of the whole world, known to Western society since the second century AD.

On the other hand, in the Middle Ages Arabic cartography was the most developed in the world, and China, too, began with the XNUMX century AD. It is estimated that about 1,100 maps of the world have survived since the Middle Ages.

The real explosion of Western cartography came with the expansion of the first European empires between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. At first, European cartographers copied old maps and used them as the basis for their own, until the invention of the compass, the telescope, and geodesy forced them to strive for greater accuracy.

Thus the oldest globe, the oldest surviving three-dimensional visual representation of the modern world, dating from 1492, is the work of Martin Beheim. The United States (by that name) was incorporated into the United States in 1507, and the first map with a graduated equator appeared in 1527.

Along the way, the type of map file changed a great deal in nature. The maps on the first floor were hand-drawn for star navigation as a guide.

But they were quickly overtaken by the advent of new graphic technologies such as printing and lithography. More recently, the advent of electronics and computing technology has forever changed the way maps are made… Satellite and global positioning systems now provide more accurate images of the Earth than ever before.

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