GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PROPOSED IFE DAM SITE AT KAJOLA VILLAGE, ILE-IFE, SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Geological and geophysical investigations were conducted to assess the competence and structural integrity of the foundation site of the proposed Ife-dam at Kajola Village, Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria. Geological investigation along the two (2) proposed dam axes revealed that the overburden material is loose to dense with angular shearing resistance (ɸ) of 27o to 41o. The soils are predominantly elastic silts; cohesive with considerable strength and stability. Geophysical investigation involving the Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding delineated four (4) lithologies namely: topsoil with resistivity of 69 – 558 Ωm and thickness between 1.5 and 4.0 m; weathered sandy layer with resistivity from 123 – 586 Ωm and thickness between 6.5 and 20.4 m; partially weathered/ fractured basement with resistivity from 60 – 220 Ωm and thickness between 6.5 and 14.0 m; and the fresh basement rock with resistivity from 1337 – 10683 Ωm. There are indications of fractures at a depth of 32 m beneath Axis B extending to Axis A at a depth of 35 m. The subsurface materials are suitable to host a dam. Axis B is more appropriate for the dam axis, although the fracture zone should be factored into the design of the dam to prevent water seepage.

Review article: Extreme marine events revealed by lagoonal sedimentary records in Ghar El Melh during the last 2500 years in the northeast of Tunisia

The Tunisian coast has been affected in the past by many events of extreme marine submersion (storms and tsunamis). A high-resolution study along two sediment cores taken from the lagoon of Ghar El Meleh was performed to identify the different paleoextreme events and to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental changes in the northeastern part of Tunisia during the Late Holocene. A very high-resolution sedimentological analysis (granulometric and geochemical) was applied to these cores. These cores were also dated with isotopic techniques (137Cs, 210Pbex, 14C), and the outcomes reveal five phases of paleoenvironmental changes in this lagoonal complex and identify two sediment layers that are in connection with two major historical marine submersion events. The first layer is mentioned as E1 and seems to fit with the great tsunami of 365 cal CE. This event was marked by an increase in the coarse sediment, and it is correlated for the first time with the immersed city of Neapolis in the northern Gulf of Hammamet discovered in 2017 by the same tsunamis of 365 cal CE. The other sandy layer, referred to as E2, was dated from 1690 to 1760 cal CE and is marked by one specific sedimentological layer attributed to a marine submersion event. This layer could be associated with the 1693 tsunami event in southern Italy or an increase in extreme storm events.

Geological and geomorphological conditions of Archar-Orsoya lowland as a factor for the formation of groundwater chemical composition and in risk of its contamination

The Archar-Orsoya lowland is situated in the Danube floodplain west of the town of Lom, NW Bulgaria. It is aligned in a west-east direction along the Danube River and to the south it is bounded by a high landslide slope, built of Pliocene clays and sands. Parallel to the shore, sand dunes are formed with lowered sections between them, in which there are conditions for swamping. The lowland is made up of the alluvial sediments of the Danube, represented by a lower gravelly-sandy layer and an upper sandy-clayey layer. In the gravelly-sandy layer unconfined groundwater is accumulated, with shallow water table – from 0.5 to 7 m beneath the surface. Groundwater is recharged by infiltration of precipitation, surface water and groundwater, which laterally flows into the alluvium from adjacent aquifers. At high waters, the Danube River suppresses the formed groundwater flow and temporarily feeds it. Due to the described formation conditions in the lowland, the chemical composition of groundwater is formed under the influence of intense dynamics and has a low TDS (total dissolved solids). The shallow groundwater table and the corresponding thin unsaturated zone are a prerequisite for easy groundwater contamination with components entering from the surface. Therefore, a map of depth to groundwater table is drawn to identify the most vulnerable areas.

Case-wise analysis of Love-type wave propagation in an irregular fissured porous stratum coated by a sandy layer

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to investigate the dispersion and damping behaviors of Love-type waves propagating in an irregular fluid-saturated fissured porous stratum coated by a sandy layer.Design/methodology/approachTwo cases are analyzed in this study. In case-I, the irregular fissured porous stratum is covered by a dry sandy layer, whereas in case-II, the sandy layer is considered to be viscous in nature. The method of separation of variables is incorporated in this study to acquire the displacement components of the considered media.FindingsWith the help of the suitable boundary conditions, the complex frequency relation is established in each case leading to two distinct equations. The real and imaginary parts of the complex frequency relation define the dispersion and attenuation properties of Love-type waves, respectively. Using the MATHEMATICA software, several graphical implementations are executed to illustrate the influence of the sandiness parameter, total porosity, volume fraction of fissures, fluctuation parameter, flatness parameters and ratio of widths of layers on the phase velocity and attenuation coefficient. Furthermore, comparison between the two cases is clearly framed through the variation of aforementioned parameters. Some particular cases in the presence and absence of irregular interfaces are also analyzed.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, although many articles regarding the surface wave propagation in different crustal layers have been published, the propagation of Love-type waves in a sandwiched fissured porous stratum with irregular boundaries is still undiscovered. Results accomplished in this analytical study can be employed in different practical areas, such as earthquake engineering, material science, carbon sequestration and seismology.

Three thousand year paleo-tsunami history of the southern part of the Japan Trench

This study conducted a field survey and multiproxy analyses on sediment cores retrieved from the Kobatake-ike pond in Choshi City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Kobatake-ike pond is located at a high elevation (i.e., 11 m above present-day sea level) and faces the southern part of the Japan Trench. Three event sand layers were detected within the continuous mud and peat sequences of 3000 years. Based on the multi-proxy analyses, including mineralogical composition, diatom assemblages, and geochemical markers, these sedimentological events were associated with past tsunamis. The most recent event was a sandy layer and is attributed to the AD 1677 Enpo tsunami, which was reported by an earlier study conducted in the pond. Our results demonstrated that two older sand layers are associated with large tsunamis that struck the Choshi area in AD 896–1445 and in BC 488–AD 215. In addition, the age ranges of these events seem to overlap that of large earthquakes and tsunamis known from the central part of the Japan Trench. This implies a possible spatiotemporal relation of earthquake generations between the central and southern parts of the Japan Trench. However, since the error ranges of the ages of tsunami deposits at the southern and central parts of the Japan Trench are still large, further investigation is required to clarify the relations of large earthquakes in both areas.

Soft soils: A study on their electrical resistivity values and geotechnical properties (porosity, SPT and particle size distribution)

Soft soils pose abundant engineering issues due to its low bearing capacity and shear strength. Comprehensive study on soft soil’s physical properties such as shear strength and ability to store water (porosity) could help in devising the optimum ground improvements and foundations techniques. Therefore, physical properties of soft marine clay in Nibong Tebal were thoroughly studied using 2-Dimensional Resistivity Imaging (2-DRI) method in conjunction with porosity measurements, standard penetration test values (SPT-n) and particle size distribution (PSD) analysis. The 2-DRI profile depicts three lithologies, which are unsaturated topsoil, saturated soft clayey soil and saturated sandy soil in the area. The soft soil extends up to 32 m in thickness where it overlies the sandy layer and could be correlated back to lithology profile from borehole record. Additionally, soil samples were collected at three locations along the survey line for porosity measurements via saturation porosimetry method. The samples demonstrate that the clay layer has a very large porosity range and signifies that the soil will compress tremendously under load. On the other hand, SPT-N values of the soft clay is also very low; thus, could be classed as very soft to soft cohesive soil with very low shear strength as compared to a higher range SPT-n values of the sandy layer. The PSD result also compliments the 2-DRI, porosity and SPT results to show distinct differences between topsoil and the soft clay layer in terms of the presence of fine grains. These results further indicate that the thick upper layer is not capable of bearing immense loads such as high-rise infrastructures due to the soil’s high porosity and low shear strength. Hence, the area must undergo ground remediations prior to any infrastructure developments on the land.

Compressive Capacity of Triangular Screw Piles Group Embedded in Soft Clay

Screw piles are used in different projects such as underpinning, lateral support of retaining wall, foundation of tower and under pipeline. In recent years, the use of screw piles became wide in all world as a result of low cost, ease of installation and need simple machines to construct. A laboratory study of triangle pattern of screw piles group embedded in soft clay and extended to sand soil layer is carried out. Different parameters are investigated such as spacing between piles, number of helix plates and slenderness ratios L/ D. The results of this study showed that the efficiency of screw piles group increases when group extended to sandy layer. Also, a study showed that the compressive capacity of triangular pattern group decreases with increase spacing between piles for group of single and double helix plates. The percent’s of reduction are (61, 22, 15) % and (56, 25, 29) % for single and double helix group respectively

A Possible Tsunami Deposit Associated to the CE 1755 Lisbon Earthquake on the Western Coast of Portugal

The CE 1755 Lisbon tsunami was the largest historical tsunami to affect the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North Africa. This study presents the results obtained from the application of different sedimentological techniques (e.g., grain size, morphoscopy, microtextural analysis, geochemistry, radiocarbon dating) on sediments retrieved from the Alcabrichel River alluvial plain (of about 500 m far away from its mouth and approximatively 50 km northwest of Lisbon, Portugal). The results allowed the identification of a sandy layer that was associated with the CE 1755 tsunami. Furthermore, a new microtextural semi-quantitative classification was applied to enhance the identification of extreme marine inundation deposits. Based on sedimentological data, three different tsunami inundation phases were identified, including two inundations and a likely backwash. This innovative work offers physical evidence of the spatial presence of the CE 1755 tsunami event on the western coast of Europe. It also enables a reconstruction of tsunami inundation dynamics, with two flooding waves and an interspersed backwash.