Location
New York, New York
Date
14 Apr 2004, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Abstract
The evaporative and sedimentary environment that has prevailed over the southern shores of the Arabian Gulf region (eastern Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates) has produced salt-encrusted flat areas known in Arabic as “sabkha”. Building activities on sabkha areas have posed problems and challenges to the construction industry triggered primarily by the excessive salts present in both the sediments and their shallow ground waters. The paper sheds light on the general setting of sabkha, including: its development, its geology, its hydrogeology and the make up of its sediments. In general, sabkha sediments are cemented and uncemented layers of sand /silt material, interbedded with pockets of clay and mud, where calcium carbonate and more recent digenetic minerals (gypsum, anhydrite) serve as the principal cementing agent. The geotechnical aspects of sabkha are addressed with particular reference to building foundations. Simplified soil profiles from selected sabkha sites with Standard Penetration Test Results are shown. The effectiveness of some soil densification methods, as a means of improving engineering properties of sabkha sediments, is explored. Arrival at appropriate foundation recommendations hinges on a properly conducted site investigation, consistent with field conditions, with a geochemical component as an essential part of the investigation. The most likely problems created by chemical changes within sabkha sediments are: settlement and strength loss due to solution of flowing ground water, and the creation of a chemically aggressive environment in foundations.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
5th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2004 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Akili, Waddah, "Foundations over Salt-Encrusted Flats (Sabkha): Profiles, Properties, and Design Guidelines" (2004). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 30.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/5icchge/session01/30
Foundations over Salt-Encrusted Flats (Sabkha): Profiles, Properties, and Design Guidelines
New York, New York
The evaporative and sedimentary environment that has prevailed over the southern shores of the Arabian Gulf region (eastern Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates) has produced salt-encrusted flat areas known in Arabic as “sabkha”. Building activities on sabkha areas have posed problems and challenges to the construction industry triggered primarily by the excessive salts present in both the sediments and their shallow ground waters. The paper sheds light on the general setting of sabkha, including: its development, its geology, its hydrogeology and the make up of its sediments. In general, sabkha sediments are cemented and uncemented layers of sand /silt material, interbedded with pockets of clay and mud, where calcium carbonate and more recent digenetic minerals (gypsum, anhydrite) serve as the principal cementing agent. The geotechnical aspects of sabkha are addressed with particular reference to building foundations. Simplified soil profiles from selected sabkha sites with Standard Penetration Test Results are shown. The effectiveness of some soil densification methods, as a means of improving engineering properties of sabkha sediments, is explored. Arrival at appropriate foundation recommendations hinges on a properly conducted site investigation, consistent with field conditions, with a geochemical component as an essential part of the investigation. The most likely problems created by chemical changes within sabkha sediments are: settlement and strength loss due to solution of flowing ground water, and the creation of a chemically aggressive environment in foundations.
