Properties of peat relating to instability of blanket bogs

摘要

Instability and failure of hillslopes mantled with blanket peat occurs naturally in cool temperateregions that favour the development of blanket bogs. Such peat failures are most common in the UK and Ireland,where they pose potential hazards to properties and infrastructure. These blanket bogs are also particularlysusceptible to engineering-induced instability. This paper identifies an urgent need for new approaches to theassessment of blanket peat stability,particularly through appropriate geotechnical characterisation,and examinessome of the principal issues identified during recent research that now need to be addressed including validationor modification of existing methods of quantitative stability analyses for use with peat.