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Gravitational Sedimentation Behavior of Sensitive

Marine Ariake Clays
a

Zhenshun Hong ; Takehito Negami ; Hailun Guo

a
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University. Nanjing. P.R. China
b
Saga University, Department of Civil Engineering. Saga. Japan
c
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University. Nanjing. P. R. China
To cite this Article: Hong, Zhenshun, Negami, Takehito and Guo, Hailun ,
'Gravitational Sedimentation Behavior of Sensitive Marine Ariake Clays', Marine
Georesources & Geotechnology, 22:1, 49 - 63
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10641190490467765

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Marine Georesources and Geotechnology, 22: 4963, 2004

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Inc.
ISSN: 1064-119X print=1521-0618 online
DOI: 10.1080=10641190490467765

Gravitational Sedimentation Behavior of Sensitive

Marine Ariake Clays
ZHENSHUN HONG
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering
Southeast University
Nanjing, P.R. China

TAKEHITO NEGAMI
Department of Civil Engineering
Saga University
Saga, Japan

HAILUN GUO
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering
Southeast University
Nanjing, P. R. China
It has been well documented that natural marine Ariake clays are sensitive clays. In
this study, extensive data of marine Ariake clays are obtained to investigate the
gravitational compression behavior for sensitive clays. Analysis results indicate that
the compression behavior of remolded Ariake clays is not different from that of other
remolded=reconstituted soils. But natural Ariake clays do not follow the gravitational compression pattern reported by Skempton (1970) for natural sedimentary
soils. At a given value of effective overburden pressure, the void ratios of natural
Ariake clays are almost independent of liquid limits. Most natural Ariake clays lie
above the sedimentation compression line proposed by Burland (1990). When the
liquid limit is larger than 90% and the ratio of natural water content over liquid limit
ranges 0.81.1, the natural Ariake clays lie around the sedimentation compression
line. In addition, the natural Ariake clay with higher value of the ratio of natural
water content over liquid limit lies above the natural Ariake clay with lower value of
the ratio of natural water content over liquid limit. Salt removal is the most probable
cause for such a phenomenon.
Keywords gravitation sedimentation compression, liquid limit, natural Ariake
clays, overburden pressure, ratio of natural water content over liquid limit,
remolded Ariake clays, sedimentation compression line

Received 28 July 2003; accepted 15 March 2004.

Address correspondence to Dr. Zhenshun Hong, Institute of Geotechnical Engineering,
Transportation College, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, P. R. China. E-mail: zshong@
seu.edu.cn

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Z. Hong et al.

Figure 1. Sedimentation compression curves of normally consolidated argillaceous sediments

(Skempton 1970).

Introduction
Skempton (1970) has published the important sedimentation compression curves relating natural void ratio (e0) to effective overburden pressure (p0) for natural sedimentary
soils with a wide spectrum of liquid limits, as shown in Figure 1. At a given value of
effective overburden pressure (p0) the void ratio of a normally consolidated natural
clay depends on the nature and amount of clay minerals present, as indicated by the
liquid limit (wL) (Skempton 1970). It can be seen that the higher the liquid limit, the
higher is the void ratio at any level of effective overburden pressure (Burland 1990).
Natural sensitive soils, however, are excluded from the data reported by Skempton
(1970).
Marine Ariake clays are widely deposited around Ariake Bay of Japan. It has
been well documented that the sensitivity of Ariake clays is very high (Ariake Bay
Research Group 1965, Hong and Tsuchida 1999, and Ohtsubo et al. 1982). Torrance
and Ohtsubo (1995) have reported that Ariake clays have often a sensitivity larger
than 16, with the maximum over 100. Salt removal has been reported to be an
important factor for high sensitivity of Ariake clays (Torrance and Ohtsubo 1995).
The detailed geological setting of the Ariake Bay has been given by Torrance and
Ohtsubo (1995). In this study, extensive data of marine Ariake clays with a wide
spectrum of liquid limits (wL) were obtained from various sites around Ariake Bay.
The gravitational sedimentation behavior for sensitive clays is investigated with the
extensive data of Ariake clays.

Sampling Sites and Physical Properties of Ariake Clays

A lot of high quality undisturbed natural Ariake clays specimens were obtained with
xed piston thin wall samplers from 12 different sites in Saga Prefecture of Japan.

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Sedimentation in Sensitive Marine Ariake Clays

Figure 2. Sampling sites of marine Ariake clays.

The sampling sites are shown in Figure 2. The maximum sampling depth ranged
from several meters to 24 m under the ground surface. The site geology indicates that
natural Ariake clays are in a normal consolidation condition (Hanzawa et al. 1990;
Hong and Onitsuka 1998). The normal consolidation condition indicates that the

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52

Z. Hong et al.

strata have never been under a pressure greater than the existing overburden load
(Skempton 1970).
The basic physical properties of natural Ariake clays are shown in Table 1. It can
be seen that natural marine Ariake clays have a wide spectrum of liquid limits,
ranging from 44.0142.6%. The plastic limit ranges form 20.660.3%. Figure 3
shows the relationship between natural water content (wn) and liquid limit (wL) for
natural Ariake clays. It can be seen that most natural Ariake clays have a natural
water content that is 1.01.5 times the liquid limit. Similar results have also been
reported by Fujikawa & Takayama (1980) and Hong et al. (2003). Figure 4 shows
the relationship between the ratio of natural water content (wn) over the liquid limit
(wL) and effective overburden pressure (p0) for natural Ariake clays. It can be seen
that the ratio of water content over liquid limit is almost independent of the effective
overburden pressure. Skempton (1970) has reported that the relationships of
liquidity index (LI) versus overburden pressure for natural sedimentary soils with a
wide spectrum of liquid limits lie within a moderately narrow band. Based on the
data of Figure 1 reported by Skempton (1970), it can be known that the liquidity
index is smaller than one when the overburden pressure is large than 10 kPa. Sensitive clays, however, are excluded from the data reported by Skempton (1970).
Figure 4 shows that the ratios of natural water content over liquid limit for most
natural sensitive Ariake clays are much higher than one. Hence, most natural Ariake
clays lie above the natural sedimentary soils reported by Skempton (1970) in the plot
of liquidity index versus effective overburden pressure.

Compression Curves of Remolded/Reconstituted Ariake Clays

For investigating the compression behavior of remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays,
10 oedometer tests were performed on remolded Ariake clays obtained from three
sites. Table 2 shows the basic physical indices. The liquid limit ranges from
54.2140.1%. All the clays have an initial water content (w0) which is 1.01.5 times
the liquid limit (wL). It should be mentioned that some of the clays were reconstituted by adjusting their initial water content, the others were only remolded. The
typical compression curves of remolded Ariake clays are shown in Figure 5. At any
given value of consolidation pressure, the larger the liquid limit, the higher is the
void ratio. This result is similar to the natural sedimentation compression curves
relating natural void ratio (e0) to effective overburden pressure (p0) for natural
sedimentary soils reported by Skempton (1970).
Burland (1990) has proposed the intrinsic compression line (ICL) based on
various reconstituted clays. Burland (1990) dened the reconstituted clay as having
an initial water content between 1.0wL and 1.5wL. The ICL can be expressed using
the following equation (Burland 1990).
Iv 2:45
1:285x 0:015x3 ;

where x log p, and p is the effective vertical stress in kPa. The void index (Iv ) is
dened in the following equation (Burland 1990).
Iv e
e100 =e100
e1000 :

53

Depth
(m)

419
25
317
215
212
212
413
413
47
219
110
724

Site

Hama town
Iida town
Kawasoe town
Fukudomi town
Hasuika town
Ariake town
Mikazuki town
Ashikari town
Kose town
Kouhuku town
Otonari town
Higashiyoka town

Density
of Soild
Particles
(g=cm3)
2.502.66
2.552.58
2.632.69
2.512.65
2.512.59
2.582.65
2.522.60
2.512.63
2.622.63
2.562.62
2.582.70
2.552.64

Unit
Weight
(kN=m3)
13.515.6
13.215.9
14.616.9
12.815.2
13.314.9
13.215.1
13.817.2
13.915.7
13.514.5
13.319.1
12.815.8
14.216.1

73.2121.1
123.1150.7
78.699.3
62.1140.8
94.5140.9
80.7146.3
58.9121.2
66.4114.9
85.487.0
70.2130.4
73.2151.0
60.0100.6

Natural
Water
Content
wn (%)

Table 1
Basic physical properties of natural Ariake clays

72.4118.7
91.2103.8
54.297.5
44.0102.7
93.2133.0
86.5128.8
54.0105.0
64.399.9
58.671.5
66.8142.6
54.9121.5
44.188.0

Liquid
Limit
wL (%)

32.050.9
34.260.3
28.938.7
20.648.9
38.448.0
35.846.6
28.544.5
30.741.4
31.234.3
36.146.3
32.241.7
30.046.6

Plastic
Limit
wp (%)

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Z. Hong et al.

Figure 3. Relationship between natural water content and liquid limit for natural Ariake
clays.

Figure 4. Relationship between the ratio of water content over liquid limit and overburden
pressure for natural Ariake clays.

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55

Table 2
Basic physical indices of remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays
Site
Ariake town, Saga
prefecture

Hasuike town, Saga

prefecture

Kawasoe town, Saga

prefecture

Density of Soil
Particles (g=cm3)

Initial Water
Content w0 (%)

Liquid
Limit wL (%)

2.614

109.0

86.5

2.624
2.604
2.623
2.592
2.583

125.3
135.0
146.3
175.4
117.4

98.3
112.5
128.8
140.1
93.2

2.574
2.585
2.693

130.9
136.5
78.6

107.4
119.0
54.2

2.648

88.1

69.9

The quantities e100 and e1000 are the void ratios corresponding to p 100 kPa and
1000 kPa of the reconstituted clays, respectively.
For most Ariake clays, the natural water content (wn) is in the range of 1:0  1:5 wL
as shown in Figure 3. Hence, most remolded Ariake clays are in fact the reconstituted clays dened by Burland (1990). The oedometer test data of remolded=
reconstituted Ariake clays are used to verify the validity of the ICL for Ariake clays.

Figure 5. Typical compression curves of remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays.

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Z. Hong et al.

The oedometer test data on remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays in Figure 5 are

replotted in the plot of the void index (Iv) versus the effective vertical stress (p) as
shown in Figure 6. The value of Iv is calculated by Equation 2 using the directly
measured values of e100 and e1000 . It can be seen that the relationship of Iv against
logp for remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays is in excellent agreement with the ICL
proposed by Burland (1990). Above analyses indicate that the compression behavior
of remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays is not different from that of other reconstituted soils. The compression behavior of remolded Ariake clays follows the
sedimentation pattern for natural sedimentary soils reported by Skempton (1970), in
which, at a given consolidation stress, the higher the liquid limit the higher is the void
ratio.

Relationship between In situ Void Ratio and Overburden Pressure

for Natural Ariake Clays
Figure 7 shows the relationship of natural void ratio (e0) against effective overburden
pressure (p0) for natural Ariake clays obtained from various sites shown in Figure 2.
It can be seen that the data lie in a wide dened continuous band and there is a
tendency of decreasing in situ void ratio with an increase in overburden pressure.
Even for a given sampling site, the gravitational compression curve relating the in
situ void ratio (e0) to the overburden pressure (p0) is not a smooth curve. The
experimental data are quite scattered. Burland (1990) has indicated that there is no
reason to anticipate a smooth sedimentation compression curve. Edge and Sills
(1989) have indicated that rates and modes of deposition are likely to vary
considerably during the formation of a sedimentary soil prole and in these circumstances a wavy curve must be expected.

Figure 6. Normalized compression line of remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays.

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Figure 7. Relationship of in situ void ratio versus overburden pressure for natural Ariake
clays at different sites.

The experimental data in Figure 7 are replotted in the plot of in situ void ratio
versus overburden pressure as a function of liquid limits, as shown in Figure 8. It can
be seen that, at a given value of overburden pressure (p0), the in situ void ratio (e0) is
almost independent of the liquid limit wL . This result is different from the natural
sedimentary compression curves reported by Skempton (1970), in which, at given
value of overburden pressure p0 , the in situ void ratio (e0) depends on the liquid
limit as shown in Figure 1. Hence, natural sensitive Ariake clays do not follow the
gravitational sedimentation pattern reported by Skempton (1970).
As mentioned, in situ sensitive Ariake clays have higher ratios of natural water
content over liquid limit (wn=wL) than the natural sedimentary soils reported by
Skempton (1970). Figure 9 shows the relationship between the ratio of in situ water
content over liquid limit (wn=wL) versus effective overburden pressure (p0) for all the
sites studied. There is a tendency of decreasing the wn=wL with an increase in
overburden pressure with quite scattered data. More importantly, it can be seen that,
at a given value of overburden pressure (p0), the natural Ariake clay with higher
value of the ratio of natural water content (wn) over liquid limit (wL) lies above the
Ariake clay with lower value of the ratio of natural water content (wn) over liquid
limit (wL). The most probable explanation for the above results is that the natural
Ariake clays that were deposited under marine conditions had a high liquid limit
(wL). The leaching that occurred during the postdepositioal period decreased the
liquid limit (wL) (Torrance and Ohtsubo 1995), while the in situ water content (wn)
may have little change. That is, salt removal is a process of decreasing the salt
content in which the liquid limit (wL) was decreased while the natural water content
(wn) may be not signicantly changed, and consequently increases the value of the

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Z. Hong et al.

Figure 8. Relationship between in situ void ratio versus overburden pressure for natural
Ariake clays with different liquid limits.

Figure 9. Relationship between the ratio of in situ water content over liquid limit versus
overburden pressure for natural Ariake clays.

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59

ratio of natural water content over liquid limit (wn=wL). Torrance and Ohtsubo
(1995) have reported that salt removal is an important factor for high sensitivity of
Ariake clays. Further study is needed for investigating the causes of salt removal
responsible for natural Ariake clays.

Sedimentation Compression Line

Based on the data of natural sedimentary soils published by Skempton (1970),
Burland (1990) has proposed the sedimentation compression line (SCL). The SCL is
expressed in terms of in situ void index (Iv0 ) versus effective overburden pressure
(p0). The in situ void index (Iv0 ) is dened as Equation 3 (Burland 1990) which is
similar to the void index Iv in Equation 2 with using in situ void ratio (e0) instead of
the void ratio (e) for normalizing the natural compression curves:
Iv0 e
e100 =e100
e1000 :

Oedometer tests are not routinely performed on remolded=reconstituted soils. When

the oedometer tests are not performed on the remolded=reconstituted soils, the
values of e100 and e1000 can be approximately calculated by the following equations
(Burland 1990).
e100 0:109 0:679 eL
0:089 e2L 0:016 e3L ; and

e100
e1000 0:256 eL
0:04:

where eL represents the void ratio at the liquid limit. Table 3 shows the relationship
of Iv0 versus p0 for SCL proposed by Burland (1990) based on the data of Skempton
(1970). Most of the data reported by Skempton (1970) lie within the range Iv0 0:3
of the SCL (Burland 1990).
Based on the data of natural Ariake clays, Figure 10 shows the relationship
between Iv0 and the ratio of water content over liquid limit (wn=wL). It can be seen
that the wn=wL has a unique relationship with Iv0 . The values of Iv0 are calculated by
Table 3
Coordinates of sedimentation compression line
P0 kPa

Iv0
Given by Burland (1990)

wn=wL

0.4
1
4
10
40
100
400
1000
4000
10000

3.84
3.24
2.42
1.92
1.22
0.77
0.13

0.30

0.94

1.36

1.53
1.39
1.19
1.07
0.90
0.79
0.63
0.53
0.37
0.27

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Z. Hong et al.

Equations 3 through 5. The best-tted equation relating wn=wL to Iv0 can be

expressed as follows:
wn =wL 0:601 0:242
Iv0 :

From Equation 6, the value of wn=wL can be calculated when the value of Iv0 is
known. Hence, based on the data of Table 3, the sedimentation compression line
(SCL) can be expressed in terms of wn=wL versus p0, as shown in Figure 11.
Regression analysis gives the best-tted equation of SCL in the plot of wn=wL versus
Iv0 as follows:
wn =wL 1:38  0:294
log p:

The coefcient of correlation is as high as R2 0:997. Figure 12 shows the relationships wn=wL versus p0 for natural Ariake clays as a function of liquid limits. The
sedimentation compression line (SCL) expressed in terms of wn=wL versus p0 is also
shown in the same gure for comparison. From Figure 12 it can be seen that the
natural Ariake clays with liquid limit larger than 90% and the wn=wL ranging from
0.8 to 1.1 lie around the SCL. Along the SCL, the values of wn=wL decrease with the
increase in overburden pressure. Most natural Ariake clays lie above the SCL. As
mentioned, salt removal occurred in Ariake clay deposits is the most probable cause
for most natural Ariake clays lying above the SCL.

Figure 10. Relationship between the ratio of natural water content over liquid limit and in situ
void index for natural Ariake clays.

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Sedimentation in Sensitive Marine Ariake Clays

Figure 11. Sedimentation compression line in the plot of wn=wL versus p0.

Figure 12. Comparison of natural Ariake clays with SCL.

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Conclusions
Extensive data of marine Ariake clays were obtained and analyzed for investigating
the gravitational compression behavior of sensitive clays. The main conclusions
obtained in this study are summarized as follows.
1. The liquidity indices of natural Ariake clays are generally larger than one.
Most natural Ariake clays lie above the natural sedimentary soils reported by
Skempton (1970) in the plot of liquidity index versus effective overburden
pressure.
2. The compression behavior of remolded=reconstituted Ariake clays is not
different from that of other reconstituted soils. The compression behavior of
remolded Ariake clays follows the sedimentation pattern for natural sedimentary soils reported by Skempton (1970). At a given value of effective
overburden pressure, the void ratios of remolded Ariake clays depend on
their liquid limits.
3. Natural Ariake clays do not follow the gravitational sedimentation pattern
reported by Skempton (1970). At a given value of overburden pressure, void
ratios of natural Ariake clays are almost independent of liquid limits.
4. In the plot of the ratio natural water content (wn) over liquid limit (wL) versus
overburden pressure, at a given value of overburden pressure (p0) the natural
Ariake clay with higher values of the ratio of natural water content (wn) over
liquid limit (wL) lies above the Ariake clay with lower values of the ratio of
natural water content (wn) over liquid limit (wL). Salt removal is the most
probable cause for such a phenomenon.
5. Most natural Ariake clays lie above the sedimentation compression line in the
plot of the ratio of natural water content (wn) over liquid limit (wL) versus
overburden pressure. The natural Ariake clays lie around the SCL when the
liquid limit is larger than 90% and the wn=wL ranges from 0.8 to 1.1.

Notation
e void ratio
e0 in situ void ratio
e100 void ratio of reconstituted clays for p 100 kPa
e100 void ratio of reconstituted clays for p 1000 kPa
eL void ratio at the liquid limit
ICL intrinsic compression line
Iv void index for e
Iv0 void index for e0
LI liquidity index
p effective vertical stress
p0 effective overburden pressure
R2 coefcient of correlation
SCL sedimentation compression line
wL liquid limit
wn natural water content
wp plastic limit

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