**Author details**

*Natural Hazards - Risk, Exposure, Response, and Resilience*

ization and population growth were also emphasized.

quality of life.

**3. Conclusions**

New problems will be added to the existing problems if all these natural and environmental factors that have an impact on the sustainability of the environment and the quality of life of all kinds of living beings are not determined, and hazards, risks and other problems that may arise are not kept under control in time. Therefore, the attempts of regional or local authorities to maintain environmentalist works, as well as at the dimension of countries, and the compliance with the EIA/SEIA reports in constructions are important for the sustainability of the

In this study in which geological and geomorphological and natural and environmental risks in gypsum areas were examined, natural hazards, environmental problems, and risk situation were dissociated and discussed. In other words, upon evaluating the available data, it was suggested that the problems arising from the gypsum karst may occur and may increase over time with the contributions of the intense seismic activity, geological units specific to karstic environments, heavy rainfall due to erosion, and occasional human interventions. On the other hand, all events such as soil and water pollution caused by gypsum in evaporite areas, salinization in the soil, and underground/surface waters as a result of the dissolution of gypsum, corrosion on the ground and structures, swelling and collapses on the ground, and the development of various karstic structures (dissolution/ erosion/collapse areas, caves, fractures, cracks, etc.) underground were described as environmental problems. The hazards, environmental problems, and risks that may arise in gypsum areas, in the site selection of settlement areas due to urban-

In conclusion, it was strongly emphasized that gypsum areas with all types of features specific to karstic areas are risky areas in terms of natural hazards and environmental problems and that they would also maintain various environmental problems in the future. Accordingly, it was proposed for countries and regional and local authorities to prepare various risk maps showing the limits of hazardous and safe areas for the prevention of economic losses and the sustainability of all living things, to be always sensitive to environmental hazards within these limits, and to carry out monitoring studies. Furthermore, since the amount of dissolution and damaged area in gypsum may increase under the effect of water over time, these areas are defined as risky areas for settlement in geological engineering studies. Therefore, it will be useful always to pay the necessary attention to foundation engineering because, in the future, corrosive areas that will cause damage to the structure and ground in the foundation of the structure may occur and decompose concrete and building systems, and grounds may collapse by dissolution. Therefore, it would be useful to be cautious in geologically gypsum areas since natural hazards and environmental problems will always

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pose risks in these areas.

Sevda Özel Department of Geophysical Engineering, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey

\*Address all correspondence to: sozel@cumhuriyet.edu.tr

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
