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Influence of porefluid salinity on instability of sensitive marine clays: A new approach to an old problem
Author(s) -
Carson M. A.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
earth surface processes and landforms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9837
pISSN - 0197-9337
DOI - 10.1002/esp.3290060602
Subject(s) - salinity , geology , sediment , landslide , seismic refraction , geomorphology , hydrology (agriculture) , oceanography , geochemistry , geotechnical engineering , geophysics
The geographic association between earthflow occurrence, sensitivity of the sediment and salinity of the interstitial fluid has been examined in an area of exposed marine (Champlain Sea) deposits in the Lachute region northwest of Montreal, Quebec. Mapping of earth resistivity, as a means of calculating porefluid salinity, revealed that areas of large earthflows (>20 ha) coincided with sediment of very low porefluid salinity. Earthflow scars were absent from intervening areas of higher salinity (>5 gl −1 ). Mapping of the thickness of the clay deposit by seismic refraction showed, furthermore, that low porefluid salinity occurred only in areas of relatively thin (<25 m) deposits resting upon more permeable drift or rock. Finally, laboratory tests confirmed that high sensitivity was restricted to areas of low porefluid salinity. The study thus provides a geomorphological verification of the importance of ‘salt depletion’ as a prerequisite for earthflow occurrence, and, by implication, presents mapping of porefluid salinity as a method of delineating zones which should be safe from landslide retrogression in this type of sediment.