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Engineering Geology in Washington, Volume I Wubingloii Division of Geology and Eulh Resowces Bulletin 78

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Engineering Geology in Washington, Volume I Wubingloii Division of Geology and Eulh Resowces Bulletin 78 Engineering Geology in Wuhington, Volume I W uhington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Bulletin 78 Collapsing and Expansive Soils TIIOMAS J. BEKEY Rittenhouse-'Zeman & Associates, Inc., INTRODUCTION (1985), the material in Washington may be classified .as a clayey Ioess containing about 32 percent fine fraction Four types of soil in Washington are subject to large­ and 64 percent loessial fraction (0.01-0.05 mm). Brow­ scale settlement or expansion when wetted or partially zin reports that the Palouse Formation is more than 100 dried. Of the soils subject to collapse or rapid consolida­ ft thick in the Walla Walla area. The formation is tion when saturated. the most widespread is the loessial described there as having a mealy cohesion and display­ silt common throughout most of eastern Washington. It ing low to low-medium plasticity when wet. is called the Palouse silt or Palouse Formation and is of During test drilling, standard penetration test values Pleistocene age, although extensive portions of these ("N") on the order of 20 to 30 blows per foot of penetra­ loessial soils are somewhat younger. The second rela­ tively common settlement-prone soil is peat. Peat is tion are typical. Representative moisture content values present in almost all parts of the state; however, its of 15 to 30 percent have been measured at the lateral extent at any one location typically is relatively Washington State University (WSU} campus at Pullman. Atterberg limits typically might include: Plastic Limit, limited. Peat is subject to large-scale settlement under loading, drying, and, theoretically, oxidation. The third 20 to 25; Liquid Limit, 35 to 45; and Plasticity Index, 10 soil type subject to collapse when moistened is a unique to 20. group of silty and clayey soils that are subject to A wide variety of foundation treatments has been hydrocompaction. These materials are limited to the used for structural support in loess. Where the soil has drier eastern portions of the state; they have been been wetted to some degree or other, such as on much of reported in the Ephrata and Wenatchee areas only. Final­ the WSU campus, some preconsolidation of the loess ly, in isolated areas near Seattle, expansive clays, has generally occurred. At the university, foundation derived from the deep weathering of clay shales, are systems used for building support include conventional present. These soils have not been reported in other parts footings, drilled piers, Augercast piling, driven "H" of the state; however, they may be present in areas un­ piling and displacement piles. derlain by clay shales. PEAT LOESS According to Rigg (1958), peat deposits are present Wind-deposited or eolian silt, termed loess, blankets in 28 of the 39 counties in Washington, with the extensive parts of eastern Washington.~ loessial silt majority in the Puget Sound basin. Individual deposits is primarily rock flour derived from Pleistocene glaciers range in size from less than I acre to more than 3,500 which invaded the northern parts of the state. The bulk acres. Thicknesses of as much as 63 ft have been of the loess deposits are located in the Palouse area recorded, with minimum thickness being simply a high­ around Colfax and Pullman, Washington, and Moscow, ly organic, saturated topsoil horizon. Idaho, although extensive exposures are reported from north of Spokane to south of Walla Walla and west to Peat may be fibrous or contain raw to partly disin­ near Yakima. A major portion of these eolian deposits tegrated sedges and mosses. Also present may be Sphag­ belongs to the Palouse Formation. In some areas, a num peat, sedimentary peat, woody peat, and, to a lesser younger loess overlies the Palouse sediments and later extent, salt-marsh peat near the coast. According to Rigg deposits. This younger loess apparently was derived (1958), about half of the peat bogs contain one or more from erosion of the Palouse silts and overlying Touchet layers of volcanic ash. Radiocarbon dating (Rigg, 1958) beds, from younger rocks in part, or by deposition of of peat from several lakes and bogs reveals that. in rock flour created by late Pleistocene glaciation (New­ western Washington, peat has apparently been ac­ comb, 1961). cumulating at a rate of about 1 in. every 41 yr since the Typical Washington loess consists of tan to brown silt retreat of the last ice sheets about 10,000 to 14,000 yr with some clay and fine sand. According to Browzin ago. 136 ENGINEERING GEOLOOY IN WASHINGTON Marachi et al. (1983) report peat moisture contents HYDROCOMPACTION ranging from 100 percent to 500 percent. This range ap­ pears to be similar to values measured on samples ob­ Hydrocompaction occurs when dry, undercon­ tained recently by the author in King, Pierce, and solidated silty and clayey soils, in an arid or semiarid en­ Snohomish counties. The dry density of the peat may vironment, lose strength on wetting and, as a result, range from 10 to 40 pcf, with those displaying the settle or collapse. Ground subject to hydrocompaction lowest dry densities having the highest moisture content. commonly develops soil cracks and sinkholes, similar to Regardless of the measured physical properties of the those in karst topography. Surface structures may be material, any increase in loading on peat results in settle­ warped or shifted out of shape, with the most severe dis­ ment of the surface. Generally, where the depth of peat tress typically affecting darns, canals, irrigation exceeds the depth of fill which may be placed atop it, facilities, and wells. Soils subject to hydrocompaction settlements of 6 to 10 in. per foot of fill depth should be apparently are not present in western Washington, owing anticipated. Typically, roughly half the settlement oc­ to the moderate to high rainfall; they are relatively rare curs over a 6-month to 2-yr period, with the balance in the eastern part of the state, being reported only in talcing place over about 20 yr. However, these settle­ Ephrata and Wenatchee. ments are not uniform, and any structures constructed It appears, in Washington, that soils susceptible to atop such a fill will be subject to differential move­ hydrocompaction were deposited in interfan areas, pos­ ments. sibly by Pleistocene mudflows. Prokopovich (1984) in­ A bearing capacity failure may occur where more ferred that, in California, these soils could have been than a limited depth of fill or a heavy load is installed frozen prior to drying, with the freezing conditions atop peat. In such instances, the peat is displaced lateral­ "puffing" the saturated silty and clayey deposits. He then ly, creating "mud waves" to the sides of the embankment proposes that, rather than thawing, the California or structure being constructed. The fill or object then deposits were "freeze-dried", a process induced in part typically sinks vertically through the peat, possibly until by relatively dry westerly winds. Similarly. in it rests on the basal material beneath the bog. Filling Washington, cold, dry katabatic winds, possibly off over peat in this manner generally traps some of the or­ Pleistocene glaciers, could have desiccated such ganic material beneath or within the fill mass, permitting mudflow deposits. long-term differential settlements to occur. During the Although soils susceptible to hydrocompaction have late 1930s in Germany, attempts were made to improve been reported in Ephrata and Wenatchee in eastern the effectiveness of this approach by detonating ex­ Washington, they also may be present near Yakima and plosive charges beneath road embankments crossing Ellensburg and in other localities wherever silty and peat bogs in an attempt to liquify the soft, compressible clayey strata may have been subject to rapid erosion and material and accelerate the settlement process. The in­ deposition downstream under flash flood conditions. tentional bearing capacity failure mode of construction However, the area of deposition of these types of soils of has had only limited application or success in this necessity would be situated above the elevation of the country. ground-water table and be arid or semiarid, and the site, An alternate method of limiting post-construction set­ subsequently. could not have been subjected to flooding, tlement involves the construction of light-weight fill on irrigation or other prolonged wetting. top of the peat, this fill consisting of wooden building Washington soils subject to hydrocompaction have debris, hog fuel, or wood chips. Such a fill, being moisture contents ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent primarily wood or wood derived, would tend to float. and dry densities of 75 to 85 pcf. Standard penetration When building debris is used, the fragments theoretical­ test samples have "N" values on the order of 2 to 4. ly would tend to lock or knit together into a structure These values may not be totally representative, however, capable of spanning local soft areas. This type of fill because one site explored settled owing to a ruptured normally is capped by crushed rock or pit-run gravel. water main and the other was subjected to intennittent Construction of streets and roads in this manner has had irrigation activity. both successes and failures. Recently, some environmen­ talists have objected to the construction of fills of this EXPANSIVE CLAY SOILS type, contending that they could generate a leachate. However, leachate derived from wood debris or chips Expansive soils in Washington typically have probably would not differ materially from the water in developed atop deeply weathered rocks containing illite the underlying peat soils, which is in contact with and montrnorillonite clays. Such clays commonly are similar organic matter. derived from the weathering of volcanic ash or feldspar- BEK.BY-COLLAPSING AND EXPANSIVE SOILS 137 rich rocks. Data in Washington are limited on the forma­ Stabilization of expansive soils normally can be ac­ tions that display these characteristics.
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