CHARACTERISTICS OF EMBEDDED PEAT IN COASTAL ENVIRONMENTS

This study examines the engineering characteristics and properties of peat soils in coastal environments in Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Turkey and USA. The engineering properties to be examined are consolidation characteristics, Atterberg limits, density, organic content, shear strength, and moisture content. Moisture content and organic content are good indication of the occurrence of peat soils because these parameters are inherently high in this soil type. In addition, peat soil is highly compressible and is known to be problematic for geotechnical construction. The peat layer has an adverse effect on the long-term settlement of road embankments. A case study of peat soil deposits in Surfers Paradise in Australia will be presented in the paper. Peat soil in the study area is embedded at depth ranging between R.L. -10 to R.L. - 19.6 m below the ground surface and it has a thickness ranging from 0.1 to 7.0 m in some locations. It possesses low shear strength of between 30-40 kPa and the moisture content can be up to 247 %. Four empirical equations have been established for the peat soils and they are compared with those published in the literatures.