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Engineering properties of marine sediments in Mali Ston Bay (Croatia) based on “Mainland-Pelješac” bridge investigations

2012; Institute of Geology Zagreb; Volume: 65; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4154/gc.2012.14

1333-4875

Renato Buljan, Davor Pollak, Vlatko Gulam,

Maritime Navigation and Safety

Buljan et al.:Engineering properties of marine sediments in Mali Ston Bay (Croatia) based on "Mainland-Pelješac" bridge investigations AB STRA CTThe complete geological characteristics of the wider area of the Pelješac peninsula are presented: lithostratigraphy, structural/tectonic geology and seismotectonics.The main emphasis is on the engineering geological characteristics of the clastic sediments in Mali Ston Bay, encountered during investigations for the building of the "Mainland-Pelješac" bridge project.The bridge has large proportions, as it is 2404 m in length and has 14 under-sea pylons.It required thorough and expensive in-situ and laboratory investigations which enabled the development of a detailed and reliable engineering model of the Quaternary clastic sediments at the exploration site.The results clearly indicate three different engineering units which are predominantly classifi ed according to their obvious differences in consistency: Unit A -very soft and soft sediment; Unit B -soft to fi rm sediment and Unit C -fi rm sediment.Given the total sediment thickness, (locally over 100 m), the generally poor engineering properties, and the high seismic risk of the area, the substrate for the foundations is unfavourable.The units which are classifi ed according to their engineering properties also tightly correspond to the depositional environments which represent a much wider area than just the exploration site.Therefore the authors presume the presence of units A, B and C in the wider area with similar geological settings to that in the proximity of the Zrmanja, Krka, and Cetina deltas.