The impact of climate change on historical buildings

Global warming and climate change are a joint problem of all humanity in today's world. Increasing consumption with the increase of human population; by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, it causes thinning of the ozone layer, increasing global temperature values and climate change. While many living organisms are affected by climate change, historical buildings also suffer greatly. One of the human-caused effects that accelerate global warming and climate change are dams and hydroelectric power plants. Dams, whose construction has been stopped in developed countries and which are continuing rapidly in developing countries, cause changes in the climate of the regions where they are built. Greenhouse gases released from dam lakes also accelerate global warming. While many archaeological sites and historical buildings are flooded with the construction of the dam, the structures outside the dam lake are damaged by the effect of the dam lake. While preparing this thesis; it is aimed to determine the effects of the dams on the historical masonry structures in the region where they are built. In this direction; in Halfeti, which has been under the influence of a dam lake for a long time, and Hasankeyf, which has been under the influence of a dam lake for a long time, the impact of the dam on masonry historical structures has been examined. The photographs of the buildings in Halfeti belonging to the past and the photographs taken today; the photographs taken before the dam water rose in Hasankeyf and the photographs taken shortly afterwards were used to determine the damages caused to the historical buildings. In the first part of the thesis; the problem is defined and the purpose, importance and method of the thesis are explained; literature summary is given. In the second part of the thesis; global warming and climate change are defined and their effects on the world and Turkey are given. The effects of global warming and climate change on historical structures are expressed with examples from the world and Turkey. In the third part of the thesis; masonry stone structures were damaged. In the fourth chapter of the thesis; the historical masonry structures in Halfeti and Hasankeyf regions were examined and the damages caused by the dams on the structures were determined. In the last part of the thesis; in line with the detected damages; the effects of dams on historical structures were mentioned and suggestions were made for future dam projects.