Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology and Geotechnics 645 TRA1SPORT DISTA1CE I1FLUE1CE FROM SOURCE AREA O1 MECHA1ICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AGGREGATES EXPLOITED O1 JIU RIVER FLOW BETWEE1 VALEA SADULUI A1D IO1EȘTI, GORJ COU1TY PhD. Stud. Eng. 1istor Catalin 1 Assist. PhD. Eng. Danciu Ciprian 1 Assoc. Prof. PhD. Eng. Ec. Moraru Roland 1 Assoc. Prof. PhD. Eng. Ec. Goldan Tudor 1 1 University of Petrosani - Romania ABSTRACT With changes in Romania’s development strategy, as a result of accession in the European Union, but also with climate change increasingly affecting more lives in that increased upper and lower limits of temperature and precipitation, it was necessary to develop new asphalt recipes and to employ of conditions applying new screening criteria, to aggregates in accordance with these changes. Within this context, the present paper proposes a study that relates the distance transport of aggregates from the source area, with the changes in their mechanical properties. The study was carried out using, as a reference system, aggregates a series of quality standards used in the characterization of physical-mechanical point of view of the construction materials used for terrestrial communications infrastructure development. To address this problem there have been established a number of criteria among which the most important are the distance between sampling points, the mineralogical - petrographic composition and physical-mechanical properties of aggregates. Thus we chose a standard distance of 20 km between each collection point, amounting to a total distance of 100 km. Regarding the mineralogical - petrographic analysis, we have established four classes of particle size represented by the following sorts: 4-8 mm, 8-16 mm, 16-25 mm and 40-63 mm. These classes correspond to grades used mostly in construction and maintenance of inland terrestrial communications. By their light we tried to establish a series of correlations between these properties, correlations to be summarized in the paper. Keywords: mineralogy, petrography, mechanical properties, aggregates. I1TRODUCTIO1 In the Jiu River hydrographical basin, geography, geology and climate have an important role in decomposition of surface rocks, fragmenting them and then transporting them from the originating location. Water, in its various forms, and even moving air, are destructive forces in open areas and rugged terrain, causing the main processes by which rocks disintegrate [1]. Fragmentation is the final result of the loss of mineral aggregate rock cohesion, subjected to the action of external factors. The disaggregation speed and intensity depend on both the petrographic nature of pre-existing rocks and their position in relation to climate and terrain factors [1]. 11th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM2011 www.sgem.org