A Review of the Behaviour and Engineering Properties of Carbonate Soils H.G, POULOS, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney SUERIARY This report reviews the nature and origins of carbonate soil deposits, and then discusses methods OF classifying sueh soils. Data on their engineering behaviour is then presented, including shear strength properties, conpressibility and consolidation characteristics, snd their reponse to cyclic loading, INTRODUCTION The surface of the deop-sea floor is covered predominantly by three types of sediments: brown Clays, siliceous soile and calcareous soils. Many fof the latter two types of sediments contain the Femains of organic ocean life and are coamonly termed oozes, More than one-third of the present day deep-sea floor is covered by sedinents containing over 30% calcium carbonate. Environmental conditions between the Iatitudes of 30 degrees Nand 30 degrees S appear to be particularly favourable for the deposition of Carbonate sediments. These are primarily of Biogenic origin although in. ‘sone areas physico-chemical precipitates of calcium carbonate do exist. The inereasing engineering activity offshore has resulted in a corresponding increased interest in the engineering behaviour of offshore sediments. Limited experience with offshore foundations in Carbonate Soils has indicated that conventional hnethods of geotechnical analysis do nat appear to Successfully predict the performance of foundations in such soils and that such soils may therefore warrant. special consideration. Anang the factors Unich may contribute to the difficulty in Interpretation of the engineering properties of carbonate sediments are the folloving (Rezaky 1974): (2) They exhibit extrene variations in void ratios due to variations in the size and shape of the carbonate particles. (i) they donot compact to as lov a void ratio, ag fonacarbonate sediments. (441) the carbonate grains and particles have very lov strength compared to those of quartz sands. (iv) they are very susceptible to post-depositional alteration e.g. Bissolution, cementation, bioerosion and chemical alteration due to bacterial Setivity. With comented deposits, the ature and anount of cement may” also Significantly influence engineering behaviour. 7 Carbonate soils are of major significance in Australian offahare construction, as they are present in both the major offshore oil and gas producing areas, Bass Strait and the North-West Shell. In. this paper, an attenpt is made to review the nature of carbonate deposits and the svailable data fon their engineering behaviour, and to gain a better Understanding of the reasone for the apparently linusual behaviour of foundations (particularly pile Foundations) in these deposits, "The origins of catbonate deposits are considered first and then appropriate classification systems are reviewed. Data on the engineering behaviour of these deposits are then discussed, including shear strength Characteristics, compressibility and consol idat ion properties, and their behaviour vhen subjected to pyelic loading. ORIGINS AND FORMATION OF CARBONATE DEPOSITS The biogenic fraction in carbonate sediments is composed primarily of the skeletons of marine organisms Living in the upper vaters of the ocean. Tn the inshare environment, these organisms consist of molluscs, algae, corals, foraminifera, sponges, echinoide, ‘asteroids, crinoids etc, ‘in deeper Waters the. dominant’ organiens consist of Foraminifera, pteropads and radiolani, and icroscopic plants including coccoliths and diatons. Arter death, these organisms sink slovly to the Seafloor. The type af organioms that reach the bottom depends considerably on their solubility. Caleareous organiome are nore soluble than organisms of siliceous origin, and tend to be found in waters Up to depths of about 4000 to 5000 metres, — In Geeper vaters, the seafloor sediments are primarily siliceous, and the absence of calcareous deposits is probably "due to. the fact that precipitates of Carbonates are dissolved in vater at great depth (Noorany and Gizienski, 1970). The grain size of carbonate sedinents varies widely Fron sand to clay size, although most of the inerals calcite and.” aragonite, uhich are Considerably softer than the quartz ‘commonly found Sn'many terrestrial sands; consequently, the grains Of carbonate deposits can crush relatively easily. The deposits are frequently non-plastic and cream to unite in. colour, although. come deposits contain ‘anounts of clay and may exhibit sone plasticity.Carbonate sediments may become lithified either by cenentat ion of compaction. The cementation process is a grouth of crystals on the surfaces of sediment grains, whereas the compaction process ia due to high overburden pressures (possibly in combination vith solution of particles under ‘high pressure). Cenentation at or near the sediment-water interface occurs. in layers or Tenses of | irregular distribution, and is not @ reqular orderly process, There is not’ a progressive increase in cementation vith depth and ‘layers of well-cenented carbonates nay alternate with layers that contain absolutely no coment. The real extent of the cemented layers ay also vary considerably. The irregular nature of the submarine cenentation is difficult to explain on @ purely physico-chenical basis, but may be influenced by the presence of organic canpounds trapped vithin the sediments. Unlike the inorganic ‘component's, only small amounts (1-28) af organic natter may’ strongly influence the post-deposit ional behaviour of a sediment (Rezak, 1974). Fookes and Higginbotham (1975) suggest that cementation is often caused by oniy small changes in factors such as temperature or carbon dioxide concentration, and that it may take place almost concurrently ‘vith deposition, Thus similar assenblages of particles ay occur in both cemented and uncemented forms vithin short distances. Regardless of uhere or hov It occurs, the primary effects of cenentation are to decrease the porosity by the filling of void spaces and ta increase rigidity by ‘welding! adjacent grains. "Cementation obviously plays an important role’ in determining the engineering behaviour of carbonate deposits. CLASSIFICATION OF CARBONATE SEDINENTS A classification system was proposed by Fookes and Higginbotham (1975), who chose grain-size and post-depositional induration ae the main parameters |f engineering significance, although they also Fecagnised the possible importance of other factors euch as mineral composition, origin, and strength. The proposed system ie shoun in Fig. 1. Fookes and Higginbotham also made reference to previous work by Krynine (1948) and Pettijohn (1957) Tor some impure carbonate rocks, and. suggested that sub-classification of indurated sediments could be fnade on the basis of the percentages af carbonate fand non-earbonate constituents. fig. 2 shous a typical such system for a material containing quartz particles and clay mineral. CARBONATE A stone cidyey or felideewus Sandy ‘or Arenaceous Limestone so 50 Caleareous calcareous sdstone Chaystone Sandstone chaystone Argilacoous Arenaceous QUARTZ Sandstone so Claystone — Clay Fig.2 Classification of mixed indurated ‘carbonate-sand-clay sediments (Fookes @ Higginbottom, 1975) (sends sovnrdsuntforaity of grain site and toss of original ester) Lamune Foam a # ‘CARBONATE SAND | CARBOYATE GRAVEL T I [thy Gam | Get eae ate Ctra femme i a|smeur | SEES | SPSkaR™ eee | Bo Ffinte | cettttiees | macose ae | RE fg | : fae | Ey at ent |g | tei | gE - “| | | (Getabliaea sserative sane a In sane backed pare sathoste seinen for eneinsrine prpsts 18 (Pootes 6 Wizeintntton, 1975)(ZZ6l) SDMIWM GNV WYVID JO WALSAS NOILVOISISSV 1D dsasOd0ud €'Ols 9 {TO STOOL — aurvancronco wesseneD 1 BOLSAAN moumebued oceatey noveet | Maly mercted == mroysawt gvunosAD~ — THRU w WRONG — ess mes | meant mens rer — Sigpty eared anya newoue2-voe 1D Wee oven pase1. Grainsize of Main fraction 2. Name Ja. Degree of induration (Zine grained deposits) 3b. Degree of cenentation (mediun-coarse grained deposits) 4. Bedding and Lamination 5. Origin of carbonate (mediun-coarse grained deposits) 6. Colour 7. Minor fractions Figs 4 Description of carbonate sediments The above system vas extended by Clark and Walker (1977) to encompass the whole range of materials between the extrenes of total carbonate and total on-carbonate, cosbined vith increasing strength and variations of particle size. Their system is shown in Fig. 3, and the separation of materials is based on three’ paraneters: grain size, carbonate content and strength, They introduced some now terme such as. caleilutite, caleisiltite, calcarenite and calcirudite to replace terme such 85 carbonate claystone, carbonate siltstone -etc.y inorder to avoid. ‘confusion vith mixed of on-carbonate materials. The words clay, silt, sand and gravel are purely indicative of grain size ‘and thus ‘each category has been further qualified in terms of mineralogy. In the range of 90-50% carbonate content, the remaining constituents are described a8 'eillceous', Belov the 50% carbonate Line, “ealcareous' has” been used to represent general carbonate presence when Field identification of the specific carbonate type is uncertain. The importance of carbonate content in determining the behaviour of carbonate sediments has been emphasized by Denars ot al (1976), uho found that, for carbonate contents in excess of 40%, soild exhibited essentially granular behaviour, vhile soils with lese than 40% carbonate tended to exhibit cohesive behaviour. They maintained that the carbonate content is ‘en index. property and should be determined routinely along with other index properties. A modified version of Clark and Walker's system has been adopted by King etal (1980). Full classification includes the folloving itess: (i) grainsize (i) ane of base material (411) degree of induration or cementation (Gv) bedding and Lamination (v) origin of carbonate (vi) colour (vii) minor fractions fine/medium/coarse see classification diagram very soft/soft/firm/stiff/very stift/nard/ weak /mod.weak /mod.strong/strong/extr.strong uncemented/very weakly cemented/weakly cenented/firmly cemented/well cemented/nard cemented thinly laminated/laminated/thinly bedded/ medium bedded/thickly bedded bicclastic/clastic/oolitic/reefoidal Munsell soil colour charts clean/with some/muddy/silty/sandy/gravelly (King et a1, 1980) The terms associated with the above items are shown in Fig. 4. The nane of the material is based on Clark and Walker's schene, and is shown in Fig. 5 far sediments vith a carbonate content greater than 90%. For lesser carbonate contents, the prefix ‘eatbonate! is altered as follows: Carbonate Content Prefix 50 - 90 siliceous carbonate 10 - 50 calcareous silica 0-10 silica In describing bedding and laminations, the folloving seale is adopted: very thickly bedded > 2m thickly bedded 000m = 2m medium bedded 2000 - 2000 thinly bedded (60mm ~ 2000 very thinly bedded 20mm = 60mm Leminated 60m = 20am thinly laminated < 6am ‘he origin of the carbonate material is described by cone of the folloving terme: (2) elastic = sediment consisting of grains Which have an inorganic origin and have been transported and deposited as grains. (b) —bioclastic - sediment consisting of grains hich have an organic origin and have been transported and deposited ae grains, fossils ‘and fossil fragnents. (ce) colitie __= sediment consisting of coated ‘grains vhich may or may not have a nucleus. Graine ‘are generally less than 2 mm ond vell-rounded. Coating consists of chenically-precipated carbonate.(ager Te 3 6uFx) Teuoqns WOO= 06) SINSWIGES FIVNOBUWD JO NOLLWOINISSYTS << Id aNoisawit aNITIWLsAND NOLS3WIT BNITIWISAUD jae jonane | tawe/onenmer/> puozeseal SNOLS3WI7 T1143) —-3NOLSSWIT G3NIYUD NIA 5 a.4v¥3W01 DNC = eer Avon versie ger | ove | 034N339 SLINaHYOTD aiunisiotvs | auunuowwa} | g< | o2venant aM 7am a3uN3w30 oaivunant os), a on» [31 saat weld a3Avuo anys ans onw = 2 | ONBWAD Siynoguyo auynosuyo auvwosuva | aivnosuv> pa [ORAVHNON! | | anna xowvam| | 5 ‘a3iN3W39 jozivunani z-o0| Awwam z-0| AvWvam auaal | os: 29] wpa oun | os 202 | wipe} ‘ours | asi | oun Awan wnw choumnanaa] $$ «6 $F BU 3 8 |w/nw 2] norwunant pai! yo | 303 F 8G ; 3 soni] 40 sissy aavo3a . a BG ssisau| 3auo30 ano9) AZISNIVWO ONISWIHDN! ano2) GENIUS _SSUVOD —WNIGEW GaNVES_SNia au[HOLE 1 EFFECTIVE STRESS STRENGTH PRRAPCTERS foterence | sett Carbonate | Location | test | preasurerer | ot | ot amare tne Content Type | vertical stres| = Pa wee | degrees Ting st at | Carbonate | 0 | aw cs 60 Ws | 976 | Mom oF OS toate a8) | Sie hattratia Samples cw | soar sz | 396 | mean of 20 tents Noces ot at | siticeoue | 20.65 | Labrador | cau 27 | s137 | connted Sample ‘sra) | Cotesia! basin Conrining pressures olichtly ‘greater than eff. overburdea preasure Dette et at | iccrastic | >8 | x rronw. | cio | 100 0 |4s.s.51.0 | sinter vpups tor att a| Gorey” | cathnate olla, of depend on com ex | 23000 39 | 29.30 | Faning atl, ard crushing, span) solley “ely at values for cw | 0 0 | azae.s fat cw | co 0 | ao.s.a2 Dewars ot ai | various various | varine | cu | 7-70 oa 27.7.51.5 | crtoot of carbonate content ste) franineds See fable 2 Poutos et a1} carbonate | 7 fase strait| cio | 159.997 0 | soar | 2% depends on confining precaure. IU = consolidated undrained triaxial test (hydrostatic consolidation) CID = consolidated drained triaxial test (hydrostatic consolidation) (6) reefoidal = rock of which the original Effect of Crushing components vere bound together during deposition by organic activities, ae shown by. intergroun skeletal matter, and renain substantially in the position of grovth. This classification system is the most, comprehensive of those reviewed and an attempt will be made in the folloving sections to classify materials according to. this systen; however, inadequate information in sone of the published data may make classification difficult. or impossible. ‘SHEAR STRENGTH PROPERTIES A summary of some available data on the effective shear strength properties of carbonate deposits is given in Tables 1 and 2. The effective friction angle 8! is generally higher than for many silica sands. Various aspects of behaviour are discussed below: OLE 2 ~ cFreeT OF caROONATE INTENT Gi STRONY PARAMETERS ai, 76 ‘carbonate Content “ os 7 wa 07 25-80 ° Be 0.35 0.60 o7 a0 0.00 >o 07 ws 0.25 Fetture stesin (Loken at minum value of pore pressure parameter A (hy) 23 — ae typically. When defined in terms of pesk stress ratio, # de creased vith increasing confining pressure, Datta et al (1979a) attribute this decrease to the effects of particle crushing and have found the following npftical relationship between” the degree of particle crushing and the ‘decrease in’ friction angle: « -0.6 Ry = (a) + @ here K = maximum principal effective stress ratio Ky = value of K for confining pressure of 100 to C= crushing coefficient, defined as: % particles finer than Dis of _ original soi] after being subjected to stress particles or original soil Finer thon Dye of original soil we) (the denominator of Coin Eq. 2 is, by definition, 10), Values of Ceof up to 7 were measured by Datta et al for soils subjected to high confining pressures and. then failed in drained triaxial eonpression. In a subsequent series of undrained triaxial tests, Datta et al (19795) found that 8, defined in terms of peak offective stress ratio, ‘again decreased vith increasing confining pressure, but that if defined in terms of maxinum deviator stress, 6 renained sensibly constant and independent of confining pressure, Houever, the latter value of # vas in all cases less than the value defined in terms of peak stress ratio,‘Eitneg omnes af @ 60 a a eal Sra FIGS STRESS STRAN-VOWME CHANGE BEHAVIOUR ‘GF CALCAREOUS SAND TDota st 91579) The tests of Datta et al (19799) also shoved that increased crushing altered the behaviour from that Of a dilatent brittle material to a more plastic haterial, exhibiting volune reduction during shear. This aspect is choun in Fig. 6. For effective stresses in excess of about 200 kPa, the Mohr envelope was found to be nonlinear, vith the slope of the curve decreasing. This curvature occured at 8 mich lover confining pressure than a normal terrestial silica sand. Similar results have been obtained for Gass Strait soils by Poulos et al (1982). Datta et al concluded that the occurrence of crushing increases with increasing confining pressures, application of shear stress, increasing Gngularity of particles, increasing size of, particles, inerease in intraparticle voids and plate-like shell fragnents, and decrease in mineral hardness. In a further paper, Datta et al (1980) carried out tests vhich "indicated that _erushing depends essentially on the permanent strain developed in the Soil and is nat influenced by the type of loading (e.g. whether static or cyclic). Effect of Carbonate Content. Denare et al (1976) investigated the effect Carbonate content on shear strength. The values of si they obtained ‘are generally considerably lover than in other tests. Hovever, they found. that vith increasing carbonate content, #* increased, vhile the pore’ pressure parameter at’ failure (Ar ) decreased (see Table 2)- Effect of Comentation Nacei_ et al (1974) carried out consolidated Undrained triaxial tests on cenented. carbonate Sodiments (probably siliceous caleilutite in the King et al classification). It as noted that, at small straine (up to 0.5%), the cemented samples developed virtually no pore pressure, but at larger Strains, particle cementation began to breakdown and Significant pore vater pressures began to develop, vith the pore pressure parameter A reaching 1.2 at a dtrain of 58. A fou drained tests were also carried out and confirmed the values of C' and #! obtained Fron the consolidated-undrained tests, A typical test result is shown in Fig. 7 and indicates again a Change in strees-strain response at about 0.5% Strain, presumably due to the breakdoun “of Conentation, az in the undrained tests. con ocean si TAGLE 5 WORAINED STREET PARWETERS Reference Sean Casbarate | Location En oe Tomar Type Eantent ve Woes ot ot | Sittccoue | 25-05 “Labrador 05-07 O06 ‘coented son fiona) "| atestutite faein fining presen, ality iiedon presures Taerenann & | Dense Relantic Tas ate Yo consolisation use Nowstan | Cateareous sean ar 2h \Eateareou Soncolsdated a0) aeiantic Ko consolidation voor 7 eee Sample non-plastic. (Cateareovs sy calcaneove Poettic s8 29 Ko consolidation used. laze 7 een STugnely plastic. (Calesreoue silt)Undrained Shear Strength The results of consolidated-undrained triexial tests can be interpreted, in terme of total stress, to give an undrained shear strength, For most. purposes, this is only useful for relatively Fine-grained soils in which undrained conditions ‘may exist under the field loading. — Table 3 ‘summarizes sone of the data on undrained shear strength of carbonate sediments, 4 _ being normalized vith respect to the effective consolidation pressure, p. With the exception of the obviously overconsolidated dense Atlantic ooze, the values of sy /p and Apare similar to values experienced for tefFestial silts. CONSOLIDATION PROPERTIES. Unit Weight Extensive tests on carbonate silte and sands fron NortheWestern Australia have revealed that the specific gravity of the soil particles is 2.65. This value is consistent with values deduced from the data of Bryant et al (1974), In the Australian deposits, the void ratio typically vas between 1.05 and 1,35, so that the saturated unit veight Yeot of the soils vas of the order of 17,0Kk\/m and’ the dry unit weight was about 12.5 kN/n’, For the majority of soils tested by Bryant et al (1974), the natural void ratios ranged betueen 1.7 and 3.0) 50 that Yeap was in the renge 11 - 16 kN/n*. Conpressibility A summary of some available data one-dimensional oedoneter tests is given in Table 4. Compression index values are generally given for a stress range of 100 to 1000 kPa, At relatively lov effective streeses, the void ratio versus log effective stress curve is generally linear and similar to most terrestial silty clays, but “at higher effective stresses, there is & departure fron linearity, the compressibility decreasing significantly, The shape of some of the curves is similar to that for’ extracsensitive clays, as shoun in Fig. 8. from ‘Stress (kPa) 165-4120 40cm 57% aso FIG YOO RATIO vs EFFECTIVE STRESS cuRvEs oF ‘SEDMENIS_ COMPOSED OF AN AVERAGE OF 50% CARBONATE MATERAE Teryont 5) O74) The most comprehensive tests vere carried out by Bryant et al” (1974) who carried aut more than 120 tests on samples taken fron 70 cores, mainly from the Gulf of Mexico, Various types of materials, vith a wide range of carbonate contents, were tested, “The results indicate that the compression index "Ce generally decreases vith increasing carbonate’ content; this trend is consistent with the transition in behaviour from cohesive to granular with “inersasing carbonate content (Demars et aly 1976). Fig. 9 plots the variation of Co with carbonate content, as determined from the tests of Bryant et al. the results for the soft normally consolidated deposits follou a reasonably consistent trend, but the very stiff samples from considerable TABLE 4 SUMRMRY OF CORPRESSIBILETY DATA Teferace | Zan Garemate | _tacation | Compression | Racagression Tom ie ont Te ‘er * e oa Ting oak $e = Tan 02 Tem «08 tent oan fostratsa | fongetGrisoze | C33 28.5) INacci ot al | 25-65 ‘Labrador = 0.65, = 083, Comented sample C, for| ‘se Soein Forge of strees 78-100 ies, ‘Siniler reultet for Teargice ryan ce at | Various | Various att or | veries with 4 Gor etece rage 100 wi fexico, | caida Content Sout one foe 0.13.0. Sc errs 3) FIST tay Fale Tnoromie conte os 5 oy | an ? err ton Posto ot ox | castorate | ar ee 0.0) ~o.le S Seedepth had significantly lover Cevalues, although Ce Jid again. decrease with inereasing carbonate content « the order of .04 + 402 vhereas for content of about 258, Cris about 0.14. ‘The reconpression index Crtends to be of carbonate & e “comoresson index Ce V tit, Somes from Depths between Sansairn ee ‘Corbonate Content Note-Compression iaex Ce tan between FAS Booka to G9 VARIATION OF Cy WiTH CARBONATE CONTENT FS ARAN T ESS OF Bryer ata) Bryant et al (1974) concluded that the results of ‘eedoneter consolidation tests on carbonate soils vere similar to those for non-carbonate silty Clays. Hovever, carbonate sediments did not compact to as low'a void ratio as non-carbonate and occasionally exhibited behaviour similar to that of 2 highly sensitive clay. The age of the sediment was also found to influence the results, with older sediments tending to be stronger’ and less: compressible than more recent sediments. Coefficient of Consolidation, cy Very Little information is available on cy values. Herrmann and Houston (1976) report a value of cyof 3.2 mm /eee (in the normally-consolidated range) for calcareous ooze (possibly a calcareous silt in the King et al classification). Tests on samples fof carbonate silt by King etal (1980) gave an average cyvalue of about 0.7 mn?/sec, this value being relatively insensitive to ‘the effective stress aver a range between 200 and 600 kPa. KgValues Herrmann and Houston (1976) have reported the folloving values of coefficient of earth pressure at rest, Kot Pacific calcareous ooze + 0,55 Loose Atlantic calcareous ooze 0.45 Dense Atlantic calcareous ooze + 0.36 Tests on Bass Strait carbonate sand by Poulos et al (1982) indicate a value of Kgof about 0.33 for normally-consolidated soil, rising vith increased foverconsolidation ratio (OCR) 1.5 for OCR = 12. 25 [BEHAVIOUR UNDER CYCLIC LOADING A rumber of undrained triaxial tests have been carried out to assess the effects of eyclic leading fon the response of carbonate soils, the undrained eyelic shear strength and the development of excess pore pressure are considered below. Cyclic Shear Strength The eyelic shear strength will bo considered here to be the cyclic deviator stress (in a triaxial tests) or the eyelic horizontal shear stress (ins sinple shear test) at which the sample fails during a tyelic loading tests after a certain number’ of Gyeles. Failure ie generally considered to occur When 3 specified cyclic strain (e.g. 10%) has developed. i 8 ‘= + oe ee ee Cyclic triaxial tests on two carbonate soil: described ae "ealcareous oozes", were carried out by Houston and Herrmann (1980) and’ Herrmann and Houston (1976, 1978). Undisturbed samples of a Pacific caleateous ooze, and both undisturbed — and feconstituted samples of an Atlantic calcareous doze, vere tested. Although not stated, it is Tively “that bath ‘soil types had high carbonate contents as they exhibited silty behaviours they vould probably be classified as carbonate silts in the King et al. classification system, Initial Consolidation vas carried out under a isotropic stress condition to a K stress state, and the Samples were subsequently tested under’ undrained tyelie conditions. The data for the undisturbed Atlantic ooze is shown in Fig. 10. For no static bias, i-e. cyclic loading about zero mean stress, this’soil exhibited an extromely Toy cyclic strength, Hovever, vith static bias, a very much larger cyclic strength was obtained, even vith 9 Static bias as high ae 80% of the static undrained compressive strength, These results are consistent Vith tests on sand reported by Ishihara and Yasuda (4960). the test results are replotted in Fig. 11 to indicate the dependence of cyclic shear strength on both static bias and the number of cycles. The Shaded ‘area indicates the range of uncertainty of the results, It should be noted that the conbined static and cyclic deviator stress components can Sometines exceed the static compressive strength, due presumably to the effect of the relatively rapid Toading rate during the cyclic tests.§ g (i State Corrosive Strong) 8 Stoic Oevator Strase Carmpanent ° 3085 yee Strase_Comeenant (ve State CompressnaStangth) PIG. CYCLC STRENGTH CONTOURS FOR ATLANTIC CALCAREOUS ODZE Houston & Herrman 1980) Similiar cyclic strength curves are presented by Houston end Hermann (1980) for loose reconstituted sonples of Pacific ooze and Atlantic ooze. On a normalized basis, the cyclic strengthe for pure Stress reversal (no static bias) are. significantly higher than for the undisturbed samples, though onan absolute basis, the undisturbed simples are stronger. The static bais again tends to increase the cyclic strength, and this effect is in contrast to. results| for non-carbonate terrestial clays. Andersen (1976) reports very Little effect of static bias on the cyclic behaviour of ramen lay, while Houston and Herrmann (1980) find. that state bias actually decreases the cyclic strength of San Francisco Bay Aud, Although there is relatively little data available it does appear that the cyclic strength, Characteristics of carbonate soils vith high carbonate content are quite similer to that of many ‘sands, and that in the absence of static bias, this cyclic strength can be very lov in relation to the static undrained strength of the soil. The application of static bias tends to significantly increase the cyclic strength. Development of Excess Pore Pressures Herrmann and Houston (1978) measured both peak and pean excess pore pressures developed during cyclic Toading of the eoile mentioned above. The peak values of pore pressure vere often observed to exceed the confining pressure, but the occurrence of dramatic sudden liguefaction-type failure was rare and Limited to specimens subjected to pure stress reversal (i.e. no static bias). The values of tug/ose , at failure (du, = mean excess pore. pressure oc = effective lateral consolidation pressure) vere generally significantly greater than the values for static failure. For the resedinented Atlantic ooze, the mean values of ug/ole. at. failure were 0.56 forne static bias and 0;24 for 40% static bios, vhereas the value Bg/ole tor otatie failure veo O-ll. Dotta et al (13800) reported results of measurenents of excess pore pressures in a carbonate sand subjected to Fepeated compressive stress cycles under undrained Uriaxial conditions, The soil was tested an 1ts densest state, The effects of number of cycles Ny stress level ‘and confining pressure were studied, and attention vas also paid to the magnitude of Strains involved, the amount of crushing and. the subsequent statie behaviour after cyclic loading. Esch Sample wae cubjected to 400 eyeies of ‘tress under one-way cyclic conditions (i.e, zero to tmaxinun stress to zero) at a frequency of 0.5 Hz and then sheared under static conditions to 20% strain. It vas found that the moan excess pore pressure developed during cyclic loading could be expressed ‘as follous: My s+ K Jog N vhere C= value of tuq/a}e after 1st cycle K = cyclic pore pressure paranoter 8, +20%ghan# ‘o Seca et br g ae Hi gt ag AIG WARATION OF FORE PRESSURE FACTOR K “WIN SIRESS LEVEL (Dotto tot 1800) Both C and K varied with stress Ivel and confining pressure, and values of K for various stress levele fare shovn in Fig. 12, The teste also indicated that ‘the pore pressures developed in the soil under repeated compressive cycles are strongly related to the static pore pressure reponse of the sail, and are considerably ‘less than values reported in the Literature for the case of pure stress reversal (zero static bias). It vas also found that soils which crush readily have a tendeney to develop positive pore pressure during cyclic loading. For tests in which cyclic loading did not cause Failure, the prior cyclic loading did not affect either the maximum deviator stress or the excess pore pressure at failure. Hovever, this conelusion may ‘only be valid for the carbanate sands tested in their densest state. CONCLUSIONS Soils containing ‘carbonates behave similarly to on-carbonate soils in many respects, and many of the mechanical properties "are of comparable magnitude. Hovevery the crushability of many Carbonate’ sediments ‘at relatively lov stresses (onpared to quartz-rich soils), and the cementation which may develop between particles, play important roles "in. determining "the strength and compressibility parameters of such soile, Tuo of