Geological conditions and geotechnical characteristics of young shallow sediments of the southern shore of the Caspian Sea

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Global warming and the consequent climate changes have significantly declined the precipitation level in Iran and increased domestic migration to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. This issue has accelerated construction activities and led to rapid infrastructure development in these areas. The sustainable development requires a comprehensive understanding of geological and geotechnical conditions. The information on geological and engineering properties of shallow soils has wide applications in construction activities and the preparation of geotechnical hazard zoning maps. The study aims to investigate the geological and geotechnical characteristics of young coastal sediments of the southern Caspian Sea basin up to a depth of 30 m using borehole information. To this end, the available boreholes were superimposed on the map of the southern coast of the Caspian. Next, two-dimensional geological sections were drawn manually by correlating the homogeneous layers. The results showed that the coastal shallow soils are mainly Sandy and include four geological layers: poorly graded Sand (SP), Sand with fines (SC/SM), low-plasticity Clay (CL), and Gravel layer (G). Based on the obtained results, the grain size of the sediments shows a clear relationship with the width and slope of the coastal plain. In this respect, fine-grained sediments are often more abundant on the eastern coast than on the central-western coast. Finally, the geotechnical characteristics of each layer, including Atterberg limits (LL and PL), consolidation, undrained shear strength, and drained shear strength, were calculated by analyzing the results of the laboratory tests conducted on the samples obtained from different depths.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Article Title [Persian]

_

References

Alavi, M., 1996. Tectonostratigraphic synthesis and structural style of the Alborz mountain system in northern Iran. Journal of Geodynamics, 211: 1-33.
Aldiss DT, Black MG, Entwisle DC, Page DC, Terrington RL 2012 Benefits of a 3D geological model for major tunnelling works: an example from Farringdon, east-central London. UK. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 45: 405-414.
Amanti M, Muraro C, Roma M, Chiessi V, Puzzilli LM, Catalano S, Tallini M 2020. Geological and geotechnical models definition for 3rd level seismic microzonation studies in Central Italy. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, 18: 5441-5473.
Axen GJ, Lam PS, Grove M, Stockli DF, Hassanzadeh J., 2001. Exhumation of the west-central Alborz Mountains, Iran, Caspian subsidence, and collision-related tectonics. Geology, 296: 559-562.
Baecher G.B., 2023. Geotechnical Systems, Uncertainty, and Risk. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 1493: 03023001.
Bjørlykke K., 1974. Depositional history and geochemical composition of Lower Palaeozoic epicontinental sediments from the Oslo Region Vol. 305. Trondheim, Norway: Universitetsforlaget.
Brunet MF, Korotaev MV, Ershov AV, Nikishin AM 2003 The South Caspian Basin: a review of its evolution from subsidence modelling. Sedimentary geology, 156 (1-4): 119-148.
Buccianti A, Mateu-Figueras G, Pawlowsky-Glahn V., 2006. Compositional data analysis in the geosciences: from theory to practice. Geological Society of London.
Casagrande A., 1936. The determination of the preconsolidation load and its practice significance. Procceding 1st International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 60-64.
Chaminé HI, Fernandes I., 2022. The role of engineering geology mapping and GIS-based tools in geotechnical practice. In Advances on Testing and Experimentation in Civil Engineering: Geotechnics, Transportation, Hydraulics and Natural Resources, Springer International Publishing pp. 3-27.
Chu J, Wu SF, Chen H, Pan XH, Chiam K., 2021. New Solutions to Geotechnical Challenges for Coastal Cities. Geotechnical Engineering Journal of the SEAGS & AGSSEA, 501.
Coughlan M., Trafford A., Corrales S., Donohue S., Wheeler A.J., Long M., 2023. Geological and geotechnical characterisation of soft Holocene marine sediments: A case study from the north Irish Sea. Engineering Geology, 106980.
De Rienzo F., Oreste P., Pelizza S., 2008. Subsurface geological-geotechnical modelling to sustain underground civil planning. Engineering geology, 96 (3-4): 187-204.
Delgado J., Alfaro P., Andreu J.M., Cuenca A., Domenech C., Estevez A., Soria J.M., Tomas R., Yebenes A., 2003. Engineering-geological model of the Segura River flood plain. Engineering geology, 68:171-187.
Dong M., Neukum C., Hu H., Azzam R., 2015. Real 3D geotechnical modeling in engineering geology: a case study from the inner city of Aachen, Germany. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 74: 281-300.
dos Santos J.C., Coutinho R.Q., 2022. Geological and Geotechnical Characterization of Soils from the Barreiras Formation in a Subarea of Study in Maceio, Alagoas State, Brazil. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 1-27.
Esfehanizadeh M., Nabizadeh F., Yazarloo R., 2015. Correlation between standard penetration N SPT and shear wave velocity VS for young coastal sands of the Caspian Sea. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 8: 7333-7341.
Fattahzadeh S., Azadi M., Jahanian H., 2022. A laboratory and in-situ investigation of silica colloid injection on reducing liquefaction potential in young coastal sediments in the south of the Caspian Sea. Geopersia, 122: 223-239.
Firoozfar A., Bromhead E.N., Dykes A.P., Neshaei MAL., 2012 Southern Caspian Sea coasts, morphology, sediment characteristics, and sea level change. In Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy, 17 (1): 12.
Folk R.L., 1980 Petrology of sedimentary rocks. Hemphill publishing company.
Fookes P.G., 1997 Geology for engineers: the geological model, pre-diction, and performance. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 30: 293-424.
Fookes P.G., Baynes F.J., Hutchinson J.N., 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 Company, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. 1: 370-460.
Hashemi M., Nikoudel M.R., Hafezi Moghaddas N., Khamehchiyan M., 2014. Engineering geological conditions of the Holocene sediments of Anzali area South Caspian Coast North Iran. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 7: 2339-2352.
Hashemi M., Nikoudel MR., Moghaddas NH., Khamehchiyan M., 2013. Engineering geological assessment of the Anzali Coastal region North Iran, South Caspian Coast to sustain urban planning and development. In New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Coastal Engineering Geology, ISCEG-Shanghai 2012, pp. 135-140 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Holland K.T., Elmore P.A., 2008. A review of heterogeneous sediments in coastal environments. Earth-Science Reviews, 893-4: 116-134.
Horozal S., Chae S., Seo J.M., Lee S.M., Han H.S., Cukur D., Masteali & Son J.H., 2021. Quaternary evolution of the southeastern Korean continental shelf, East Sea: Paleo-incised valley and channel systems. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 128: 105011.
Jackson J., Priestley K., Allen M., Berberian M., 2001. Active tectonics of the South Caspian Basin. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2001: T41F-06.
Juang C.H., Gong W., Martin II J.R., Chen Q., 2018. Model selection in geological and geotechnical engineering in the face of uncertainty-does a complex model always outperform a simple model?, Engineering Geology, 242: 184-196.
Juang CH., Zhang J., Shen M., Hu J., 2019. Probabilistic methods for unified treatment of geotechnical and geological uncertainties in a geotechnical analysis. Engineering geology, 249: 148-161.
Khoshravan H, Barimani H 2012 Seismic vulnerability, Caspian Sea southern coast. Quaternary International, 261: 9-13.
Krassakis P., Karavias A., Nomikou P., Karantzalos K., Koukouzas N., Athinelis I., Parcharidis I., 2023. Multi-Hazard Susceptibility Assessment Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process in Coastal Regions of South Aegean Volcanic Arc Islands. GeoHazards, 41: 77-106.
Lahijani H., Tavakoli V., 2012. Identifying provenance of South Caspian coastal sediments using mineral distribution pattern. Quaternary International, 261: 128-137.
Lahijani H.A., Azizpour J., Arpe K., Abtahi B., Rahnama R., Ghafarian P., Mahmoudof S.M., 2023. Tracking of sea level impact on Caspian Ramsar sites and potential restoration of the Gorgan Bay on the southeast Caspian coast. Science of The Total Environment, 857: 158833.
Lahijani HAK., Abbasian H., Naderi Beni A., Leroy SAG., Haghani S., Habibi P., Shah-Hosseini M., 2019. Sediment distribution pattern of the South Caspian Sea: possible hydroclimatic implications. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 566: 637-653.
Leroy S.A., Gracheva R., Medvedev A., 2022. Natural hazards and disasters around the Caspian Sea. Natural Hazards, 1-44.
Mansouri Daneshvar M.R., Ebrahimi M., Nejadsoleymani H., 2019. An overview of climate change in Iran: facts and statistics. Environmental Systems Research, 81: 1-10.
Masteali SH., Bettinger P., Bayat M., Amiri BJ., Awan HUM., 2023. Comparison between graph theory connectivity indices and landscape connectivity metrics for modeling river water quality in the southern Caspian sea basin. Journal of Environmental Management, 328: 116965.
Milkov A.V., 2005. Global distribution of mud volcanoes and their significance in petroleum exploration as a source of methane in the atmosphere and hydrosphere and as a geohazard. In Mud Volcanoes, Geodynamics and Seismicity: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Mud Volcanism, Geodynamics and Seismicity Baku, Azerbaijan 20–22 May 2003, 29-34. Springer Netherlands.
Morgenstren N.R., Cruden D.M., 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.
Naderi Beni A., Lahijani H., Moussavi Harami R., Leroy SAG., Shah-hosseini M., Kabiri K., Tavakoli V., 2013. Caspian sea-level changes during the last millennium: historical and geological evidence from the south Caspian Sea. Climate of the Past, 94: 1645-1665.
Parry S., Baynes F.J., Culshaw M.G., Eggers M., Keaton J.F., Lentfer K., Paul D., 2014. Engineering geological models: an introduction: IAEG commission 25. Bulletin of engineering geology and the environment, 733: 689-706.
Paul HE., Eide CH., Haflidason H., Watton T., 2022. A conceptual geological model for offshore wind sites in former ice stream settings: the Utsira Nord site, North Sea. Journal of the Geological Society, 1795: 2021-163.
Peck R.B., 1969. Advantages and limitations of the observational method in applied soil mechanics. Geotechnique, 192: 171-187.
Petrone P., Allocca V., Fusco F., Incontri P., De Vita P., 2023. Engineering geological 3D modeling and geotechnical characterization in the framework of technical rules for geotechnical design: the case study of the Nola’s logistic plant southern Italy. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 821, 12.
Poorbehzadi K., Yazdi A., Sharifi Teshnizi E., Dabiri R., 2019. Investigating of Geotechnical Parameters of Alluvial Foundation in Zaram-Rud Dam Site, North Iran. International Journal of Mining Engineering and Technology, 11: 33-34.
Pradhan U., Mishra P., Mohanty P.K., 2022. Beach and nearshore sediment textural characteristics of a monsoonal wave–dominated micro-tidal, human perturbed environment, Central East Coast of India. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 157, 667.
Razmi Z.N., Moghaddas N.H., Sadeghi H., Harami S.R.M., Farajkhah N.K., 2023. review of Shallow Water Flows SWF and evaluation of this problem by 3D seismic data in the South Caspian Basin, Iran. Iranian Journal of Geophysics IJG, 173.
Reynolds A.D., Simmons M.D., Bowman M.B., Henton J., Brayshaw A.C., Ali-Zade A.A., Koshkarly O., 1998. Implications of outcrop geology for reservoirs in the Neogene Productive Series: Apsheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan. American Association of Petroleum Geologists bulletin, 821, 25-49.
Robert A.M.M., Letouzey J., Kavoosi M.A., Sherkati S., Müller C., Vergés J., Aghababaei A., 2014. Structural evolution of the KopehDagh fold-and-thrust belt NE Iran and interactions with the South Caspian Sea Basin and Amu Darya Basin. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 57: 68–87.
Spagnoli G., Shimobe S., 2020. Statistical analysis of some correlations between compression index and Atterberg limits. Environmental Earth Sciences, 7924, 532.
Wilson M.J. 2004. Weathering of the primary rock-forming minerals: processes, products and rates. Clay Minerals, 393: 233-266.
Yanina T., Bolikhovskaya N., Sorokin V., Romanyuk B., Berdnikova A., Tkach N., 2021. Paleogeography of the Atelian regression in the Caspian Sea based on drilling data. Quaternary International, 590: 73-84.
Zhou Z., Wu Y., Fan D., Wu G., Luo F., Yao P., Coco G., 2022. Sediment sorting and bedding dynamics of tidal flat wetlands: Modeling the signature of storms. Journal of Hydrology, 610: 127913.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 16 August 2024
  • Revise Date: 18 October 2024
  • Accept Date: 29 December 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics