Geological and engineering geological characteristics of surface alluviums in the Gorgan city

Subject Areas : Mineralogy

Rasool  Yazarloo ¹ (Department of Geology, Faculty of Basic Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.)
ماشالله  خامه چیان ² (Department of Geology, Faculty of Basic Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.)
محمدرضا  نیکودل ³ (گروه زمین شناسی مهندسی، دانشگاه تربیت مدرس، تهران)

Received: 2021-01-21 Accepted : 2021-05-13 Published : 2021-05-13

Keywords: Shear strength, engineering geological characteristics, Depositional environment, Gorgan,

Abstract :

Engineering properties of soils and the 3D modeling of geological formations are widely used in site investigations and the preparation of geological hazard maps. The present study was conducted to characterize the engineering geological properties of the young surface alluviums of the Gorgan city (Iran) to a depth of 25 m and 3D modeling of their geology using boreholes data. To this end, after determining the location of the available boreholes on the aerial map of Gorgan, four hypothetical cross-sections were considered in the North-South and East-West directions. Then, the borehole data were marked on each section and their 2D geological cross-sections were manually drawn using correlation of the similar layers. In the next step, by expanding the information of these sections, a 3D geological model of Gorgan city was prepared using a conceptual-observational method. According to the evidence from the boreholes and field observations, the depositional environment of Gorgan alluviums was an alluvial fan created by the Ziarat River. Additionally, in terms of engineering characteristics of alluviums, the Gorgan subsurface soils can be divided into four engineering units, including upper clay unit (UCU), middle gravel unit (MGU), lower clay unit (LCU), and sandy unit (SU), which share the same engineering characteristics. Finally, the results of tests performed on samples from different depths were employed to calculate the engineering geological characteristics of each unit, including Atterberg limits, compressibility, undrained shear strength, and drained shear strength parameters.

References:

1. Aldiss DT, Black MG, Entwisle DC, Page DC, Terrington RL (2012) Benefits of a 3D geological model for major tunneling works: an example from Farringdon, east-central London, UK, Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 45: 405-414.


2. Bina M, Arian MA, Pourkermani M, Bazoobandi MH, Yazdi A (2020) Study of the petrography and tectonic settings of sills In Lavasanat district, Tehran (north of Iran), Nexo Revista Cientifica 33(2): 286-296.


3. Casagrande A (1936) The determination of the preconsolidation load and its practice significance. Proc. 1st International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Cambridge, Mass, 3:60–64.


4. Dassargues A, Biver P, Monjoie A (1991) Geotechnical properties of the Quaternary sediments in Shanghai. Engineering Geology 31: 71–90.


5. de Rienzo F, Oreste P, Pelizza S (2008) Subsurface geological–geotechnical modelling to sustain underground civil planning. Engineering Geology 96:187–204.


6. Delgado J, Alfaro P, Andreu JM, Cuenca A, Domenech C, Estevez A, Soria JM, Tomas R, Yebenes A (2003) Engineering-geological model of the Segura River flood plain, Engineering Geology 68:171–187.


7. Fookes PG (1997) Geology for engineers: the geological model, prediction, and performance. Quaternary Journal Engineering Geology 30:293–424.


8. Fookes PG, Baynes FJ, Hutchinson JN (2000) Total geological history: a model approach to the anticipation, observation and understanding of site conditions. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, Melbourne, Australia, Technomic Publishing Co, Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA 1: 370-460.


9. Frechen M, Kehl M, Rolf C, Sarvati R, Skowronek A (2009) Loess chronology of the Caspian Lowland in Northern Iran, Journal of Quaternary International 198: 220–233.


10. Hao Q, Guo Z, Qiao Y, Xu B, Oldfield F (2010) Geochemical evidence for the provenance of middle Pleistocene loess deposits in southern China, Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 3317–3326.


11. Hettiarachchi H, Brown T (2009) Use of SPT blow counts to estimate shear strength properties of soils: energy balance approach. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 135: 830–834.


12. Jackson J, Priestley K, Allen M, Berberian M (2002) Active tectonic of the south Caspian basin, Geophysics Journal International 148:214–245.


13. Jones NL, Wright SG (1993) Subsurface characterization with solid models, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 119: 1823–1839.


14. Kehl M (2009) Quaternary climate change in Iran-The state of knowledge, Erdkunde 63: 1–17.


15. Knill JL (2003) Core values: the First Hans Cloos Lecture, Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 62:1-34.


16. Kuster Y, Hetzel R, Krbetschek M, Tao M (2006) Holocene loess sedimentation along the Qilian Shan (China): significance for understanding the processes and timing of loess deposition, Quaternary Science Reviews 25: 114–125.


17. Lemon AM, Jones NL (2003) Building solid models from boreholes and user-defined cross-sections, Computational Geoscience 29: 547–555.


18. Liu WF, Leung YF, Lo MK (2017) Integrated framework for characterization of spatial variability of geological profiles, Canadian Geotechnical Journal 54(1): 47-58.


19. Marache A, Denys B, Piette C, Thierry P (2009) Geotechnical modeling at the city scale using statistical and geostatistical tools: the Pessac case (France), Engineering Geology: 107(3-4):67-76.


20. Morgenstren NR, Cruden DM (1977) Description and classification of geotechnical complexities, In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Geotechnics of Structurally Complex Formations, Associazone Geotecnica Italiana, Rome, 2:195-204.


21. Panzera F, Lombardo G, Imposa S, Grassi S, Di Maio E (2018) Correlation between earthquake damage and seismic site effects: The study case of Lentini and Carlentini, Italy, Engineering Geology 240: 149-162.


22. Parry S, Baynes FJ, Culshaw MG, Eggers M, Keaton JF, Lentfer K, Novotný J, Paul D (2014) Engineering geological models: an introduction: IAEG commission 25, Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 73(3): 689–706.


23. Sharifi Teshnizi E, Yazdi A, Rahnamarad J (2021) Geotechnical Characteristics of Liquefaction in Shahid-Rajaei Port Site (Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province) by Using GIS, Geotechnical Geology 17 (2), 613-626.


24. Stapledon DH (1982) subsurface engineering-in search of a rational approach, Australian Geomechanics News 4: 26-33.


25. Sullivan TD (2010) The geological model, in: Williams AL, Pinches GM, Chin CY, McMorran TJ, Massey CI (eds), Geologically active, Proceedings of the 11th Congress of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment, Auckland, NewZealand. CRC Press, London, 73(3):689-706.


26. Tonini A, Guastaldi E, Massa G, Conti P (2008) 3D geo-mapping based on surface data for preliminary study of underground works: a case study in Val Topina (Central Italy), Engineering Geology 99: 61–69.


27. Vatcher J, Mckinnon S, Sjoberg J (2016) Developing 3-D mine scale geomechanical models in complex geological environments as applied to the Kiirunavaara Mine, Engineering Geology, 203:140-50


28. Wang H, Wellmann JF, Li Z, Wang X, Liang RY (2017) A segmentation approach for stochastic geological modeling using hidden Markov random field, Mathematical Geosciences, 49(2) 145-177.geochemical anomalies from background, Journal of Geochemical Exploration 77: 167–175.


29. Yazdi A, sharifi teshnizi E (2021) Effects of contamination with gasoline on engineering properties of fine-grained silty soils with an emphasis on the duration of exposure, Springer, SN Applied Sciences 3:704.