Geotechnical and mineralogical characterization of fine grained soils affected by soil slips

摘要

Soil slips affect essentially the degraded or weathered covers of soil,and could be particularlydangerous because of their kinematic mechanism and their spreading over wide areas during rainstorms. The highincidence of soil slips in an area of Central Calabria (Southern Italy) prompted a research aimed at geotechnicalcharacterisation of fine-grained soils involved in this kind of instability. This paper illustrates the geotechnicaland the mineralogical characterization carried out on samples coming from three sites representative of the widerstudy area,where sedimentary terrain (Plio-Pleistocene) crops out. Classification and direct shear tests have beenconducted on undisturbed specimens and artificially degraded specimens. The results supply a reference frameof the soils physical-mechanical characteristics. Correlating the geotechnical analysis with the mineralogical-geochemical investigations allows a wider characterization of the sediment properties.