Iraqi National Journal of Earth Sciences

Abstract

as due to the strategic importance of basrah city, south of iraq, the architectural development of the city requires a great deal of studies of the geo technical properties .engineering behaviors and classification of the soil bearing strata represented by the quaternary deposites for such purposes a number of (121) sites distibuted randomly all around the city through (491) boreholes of depths (10-48) M below mean sea level are studied.
the data are obtained from the test results of (SPT), grain size distribution and the atterberg's limits
the quaternary deposites are classified into two main groups : firstly is the cohesive deposites represented by the recent clay and silty clay as well as alhammar formation deposits. secondly is the cohesionless deposits represented by sands of dibdiba formation
according to the consistency of cohensive deposits and the compactness of the cohesionless deposits, ten strata can be identified starting from the ground surface , as follows.
hard brown silty clay, very stiff brownish-grey silty clay or clayey slit, stiff grey clayey slit, medium stiff grey clayey slit laminated with slit, soft grey clayey slit laminated with slit, medium stiff grey clayey slit, stiff grey clayey slit, very stiff grey clayey slit & sandy clayey slit, hard brown clayey slit and very dense grey sand with slity sand