Identifying parameters controlling soil delayed behaviour from laboratory and in situ pressuremeter testing

The aim of this paper is to present a methodology for identifying the soil parameters controlling the delayed behaviour from laboratory and in situ pressuremeter tests by using an elasto‐viscoplastic model (EVP‐MCC) based on Perzyna's overstress theory and on the elasto‐plastic Modified Cam Clay model. The influence of both the model parameters and the soil permeability was studied under the loading condition of pressuremeter tests by coupling the proposed model equations with Biot's consolidation theory. On the basis of the parametric study, a methodology for identifying model parameters and soil permeability by inverse analysis from three levels of constant strain rate pressuremeter tests was then proposed and applied on tests performed on natural Saint‐Herblain clay. The methodology was validated by comparing the optimized values of soil parameters and the values of the same parameters obtained from laboratory test results, and also by using the identified parameters to simulate other tests on the same samples. The analysis of the drainage condition and the strain rate effect during a pressuremeter test demonstrated the coupled influence of consolidation and viscous effects on the test results. The numerical results also showed that the inverse analysis procedure could successfully determine the parameters controlling the time‐dependent soil behaviour. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scour depth under pipelines placed on weakly cohesive soils

We here study the scouring processes that evolve around a submarine pipeline placed on a weakly cohesive seabed. We first analyze some laboratory tests carried out by Vijaya Kumar et al. [21], Xu et al. [25] and Zhou et al. [28] that focused on the scouring around a horizontal cylinder lying on a cohesive bed, subject to waves and currents. The specific purpose is that of finding a new formula for the prediction of the equilibrium scour depth under submarine pipelines. After a theoretical analysis of the main parameters, the sought formula has been found to be a function of: (i) the hydrodynamic forces acting on the cylinder (through the Keulegan–Carpenter parameter KC), (ii) the clay content of the soil C_c, and (iii) the burial depth e₀/D. In the presence of small amounts of clay (C_c< 5 %), the scour depth depends directly on KC (as confirmed by many literature works for pipelines lying on sandy soils, e.g. [18]) and inversely on C_c (as already seen for bridge abutments on cohesive soils, e.g. [1]), the best-fit law being characterized by a coefficient of determination R² = 0.62. If some burial depth is accounted for, this being a novelty of the present work, a more general formulation can be used, valid in the presence of weakly-cohesive soils and with burial depths of the pipe smaller than 0.5 (R² = 0.79). For large clay-content ranges (2% < C_c < 75 %), the scour depth depends directly on both KC and C_c, this giving R² = 0.79 (no burial depth) and 0.91 (some burial depth). However, this finding is at odds with the main literature, because, for large amounts of clay, it is fundamental to consider the liquidity index LI, which accounts for some important clay properties, like the plasticity. We argue that the absence of LI is balanced by the direct dependence of the scour depth on C_c. Notwithstanding the small number of available data, a formula for the prediction of the scour depth under pipelines lying on cohesive soils is fundamental for several engineering applications. The present contribution represents the first attempt to build such a formula, when the pipeline is subject to the wave-current forcing and the seabed is characterized by a relatively small clay content.     

Relict sand wedges in soliflucted London Clay at Wimbledon, London, UK

Exposures on Wimbledon Hill, SW London, in the Palaeogene London Clay Formation, are described. The 3° slopes are mantled by clayey solifluction (head) deposits, comprising two superimposed sheets, each around 1.2 m thick. The lower sheet exhibits relict sand wedges forming polygons 1.0-1.5 m across, up to 50 mm wide and 1.25 m deep. These have no surface expression. The wedges are sand-filled and modify significantly the hydrogeology and properties of the solifluction mantle. There are no sand wedges in the upper solifluction sheet.The mechanics of emplacement of the lower solifluction sheet are explored and the high initial water content estimated. Subsequent desiccation and consolidation have reduced the thickness of this sheet by at least 35%, thus distorting contained features such as the wedges. An active layer about 0.4 m thick is inferred to have formed in the top of the lower solifluction sheet. No direct dating was undertaken but, by analogy with relevant dated sites in southern Britain and the Netherlands it is inferred that the lower solifluction sheet was emplaced during the first part of the Loch Lomond Stadial and frost-cracked during a subsequent, colder and more arid part. On this basis, following filling of the cracks by sand, emplacement of the upper solifluction sheet would have occurred in the later part of the Loch Lomond Stadial.     

Provenance of freshwater pulses in the Gulf of Mexico during the last deglaciation

During the last deglaciation, the decaying Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) delivered huge volumes of meltwater toward the Gulf of Mexico. The present investigation of clay mineralogy and grain-size characteristics of terrigenous sediments deposited in the Orca Basin (Gulf of Mexico) offers a unique opportunity to link the marine record of these meltwater floods with the reconstructed continental glacial history and the modeled drainage patterns. Five peculiar sedimentary levels, characterized by high smectite content and low CaCO₃ content, were identified and occurred simultaneously with major meltwater floods. According to recently published clay mineral distribution maps for North America, these results help to pinpoint the southwestern margin of the LIS as a main contributor to most of the meltwater discharges. In addition, the peculiar mineralogical composition (illite and chlorite-rich) of the sediments characterizing the meltwater episode associated with Heinrich event 1 suggests a provenance from the Great Lakes area, supporting the interpretation of destabilization of the LIS southeastern margin during this event. Decreased terrigenous contribution associated with changing provenance of sediments after 12.9 cal ka BP suggests strong modifications of the continental hydrography in relation to Lake Agassiz history and changes in the morphology of Mississippi delta due to rising sea level.     

Indirect estimation of the clay content of clay-rocks using acoustic measurements: New insights from the Montiers-sur-Saulx deep borehole (Meuse,France)

This work benefited from a comprehensive set of logging and mineralogical data that was acquired from the 2-km-deep EST433 borehole of Montiers-sur-Saulx (Meuse, France). A multiple linear regression analysis was performed on three sets of data: (a) sonic data (P- and S-wave velocities), (b) total combinable magnetic resonance (TCMR) porosity data, and (c) X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. The analysis was performed to estimate the clay content in the Callovo-Oxfordian (COx) claystone and other clay-rocks of the stratigraphic column. The inferred statistical relationships were compared to results obtained from a conventional spectral gamma ray (GR) approach.The results indicate that simple linear regressions using only elastic wave velocities (a) accounted for more than 81% of the vertical variability of the clay content in the COx formation (i.e., coefficient regression R² values greater than 81%) and (b) enable the estimation of clay content with the same accuracy as the spectral GR approach. Both approaches, our acoustic regressions and spectral GR methodology, provide estimate errors that are within the range of uncertainties associated with the XRD analysis applied. Moreover, using the whole set of XRD data showed that the elastic wave velocities and the TCMR porosity as explanatory variables are better predictors of total clay content than swelling clay mineral content.Blind estimations of clay content were performed using data acquired in clay-rocks from the same stratigraphic column and in the COx formation located a few kilometers distant in the EST423 borehole. The results demonstrated that the established regressions must be used with caution when vertically and horizontally extrapolating the estimated clay content. This difficulty is partly explained by the influence of the microstructure of the studied clay-rocks, which was insufficiently taken into account via the petrophysical variables considered in this work.     

Field meeting in the Isle of Purbeck,September 2012, to examine the Upper Kimmeridge Clay and the Lulworth district

An account is given of a Geologists’ Association meeting in the Isle of Purbeck held on 28th–30th September 2012 and the stratigraphy and structures of the rocks examined during the weekend are described. Uppermost Jurassic Stage nomenclature and recent changes to stratigraphical nomenclature in the uppermost part of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation are discussed and the conclusion reached that the long-established divisions (Members) of this Formation are both readily recognisable and have nomenclatorial priority. The recent change to the position of Pallasioides-Rotunda zonal boundary ignores the ammonite fauna and is inappropriate. For the Lulworth district the stratigraphy of the uppermost Jurassic (Portlandian) through Lower and Upper Cretaceous formations are described and their associated structures discussed. The coastal evolution of the Lulworth coast is briefly discussed.     

晚中新世-上新世黄土高原佳县红粘土剖面碳同位素记录与C4植被演化

新生代C4植被开始扩张的年代、过程和驱动机制是全球古气候变化研究的焦点问题.中国黄土高原的黄土-红粘土剖面保存了连续的古生态演化记录,是研究这一关键科学问题的理想载体.本文选择黄土高原北部佳县厚达64m的红粘土剖面(8.2～2.7Ma),对190个层位的次生方解石矿物进行了无机碳同位素测试,由此分析了晚中新世-上新世末的C4植被扩张和演化过程.C4植被持续增长与全球冰盖的扩张基本一致,表明气候变冷很可能导致了黄土高原区域气候的干旱化与降雨季节性的增强.C4植被的扩张存在明显的3个阶段,分别以6.6Ma和3.6Ma为界限,每一次扩张增加10％左右,暗示了全球性的构造事件对黄土高原植被演化的控制.此外,佳县红粘土剖面呈现10次持续时间为10 ～ 20万年的碳同位素正漂移事件,平均每40万年发生一次,说明40万年轨道周期也控制着C4植被的演化.     

Evidence of multi-stage faulting by clay mineral analysis: Example in a normal fault zone affecting arkosic sandstones (Annot sandstones)

Fault affecting silicoclastic sediments are commonly enriched in clay minerals. Clays are sensitive to fluid–rock interactions and deformation mechanisms; in this paper, they are used as proxy for fault activity and behavior. The present study focuses on clay mineral assemblages from the Point Vert normal fault zone located in the Annot sandstones, a Priabonian-Rupelian turbidite succession of the Alpine foredeep in SE France. In this area, the Annot sandstones were buried around 6–8 km below the front of Alpine nappes soon after their deposition and exhumed during the middle-late Miocene. The fault affects arkosic sandstone beds alternating with pelitic layers, and displays throw of about thirty meters. The fault core zone comprises intensely foliated sandstones bounding a corridor of gouge about 20 cm thick. The foliated sandstones display clay concentration along S–C structures characterized by dissolution of K-feldspar and their replacement by mica, associated with quartz pressure solution, intense microfracturation and quartz vein precipitation. The gouge is formed by a clayey matrix containing fragments of foliated sandstones and pelites. However, a detailed petrographical investigation suggests complex polyphase deformation processes. Optical and SEM observations show that the clay minerals fraction of all studied rocks (pelites and sandstones from the damage and core zones of the fault) is dominated by white micas and chlorite. These minerals have two different origins: detrital and newly-formed. Detrital micas are identified by their larger shape and their chemical composition with a lower Fe–Mg content than the newly-formed white micas. In the foliated sandstones, newly-formed white micas are concentrated along S–C structures or replace K-feldspar. Both types of newly formed micas display the same chemical composition confirmed microstructural observations suggesting that they formed in the same conditions. They have the following structural formulas: Na_0.05 K_0.86 (Al _1.77 Fe_0.08 Mg_0.15) (Si_3.22 Al_0.78) O₁₀ (OH)_2. They are enriched in Fe and Mg compared to the detrital micas. Newly-formed chlorites are associated with micas along the shear planes. According to microprobe analyses, they present the following structural formula: (Al_1,48 Fe_2,50 Mg_1,84) (Si_2,82 Al_1,18) O₁₀ (OH)₈. All these data suggest that these clay minerals are synkinematic and registered the fault activity. In the gouge samples, illite and chlorite are the major clay minerals; smectite is locally present in some samples.In the foliated sandstones, Kubler Index (KI) ((001) XRD peak width at half height) data and thermodynamic calculations from synkinematic chlorite chemistry suggest that the main fault deformation occurred under temperatures around 220 °C (diagenesis to anchizone boundary). KI measured on pelites and sandstones from the hanging and footwall, display similar values coherent with the maximal burial temperature of the Annot sandstones in this area. The gouge samples have a higher KI index, which could be explained by a reactivation of the fault at lower temperatures during the exhumation of the Annot sandstones formation.     

欧亚黄土沉积环境对比研究

本文对采自中国、法国、比利时等国43块黄土样品进行实验室处理后,分析对比了它们在碳酸盐含量、粒度组成、重矿物组成及粘土矿物成分方面的共同特性及差异性。结果表明,中国黄土碳酸盐含量稳定,西欧不同类型的黄土碳酸盐含量差别很大。在粒度组成上,欧亚黄土并没有本质的差别,但西欧不同层位的黄土粒度组成呈有规律变化。对西欧重矿物的分析可以追溯黄土的物质来源,粘土矿物含量在欧亚不同黄土中也有差别。比较结果说明,欧洲的黄土堆积受第四纪冰期、间冰期的气候波动影响较大,中国黄土在堆积期间始终处在干旱、半干旱的气候条件下。     

Changes in grain-size and sedimentation rate of the Neogene Red Clay deposits along the Chinese Loess Plateau and implications for the palaeowind system

In recent years, the Red Clay deposits underlying Quaternary loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau (north China) have attracted more attention because they show a direct and continuous record of past atmos- pheric circulation and palaeoclimatic change. Investiga- tions on Red Clay deposits through multidisciplinary methods have demonstrated an aeolian origin for the Red Clay, like the overlying Quaternary loess. The Red Clay formed during the Miocene and Pliocene[1―13]. However, the type o…