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Mechanical and Physical Characterization of Tabriz Marls, Iran

Article  in  Geotechnical and Geological Engineering · February 2011

DOI: 10.1007/s10706-011-9464-3

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Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:219–232
DOI 10.1007/s10706-011-9464-3

ORIGINAL PAPER

Mechanical and Physical Characterization

of Tabriz Marls, Iran
Ali Hooshmand • Mohammad H. Aminfar •

Ebrahim Asghari • Hamid Ahmadi

Received: 15 January 2011 / Accepted: 6 October 2011 / Published online: 19 October 2011
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract Three types of marls can be found in the suitable in situ test for characterizing the deformation
Tabriz area (Iran): yellow, green, and gray/black modulus of marl. Deformation modulus obtained from
marls. In the present paper, strength and deformation pressuremeter and plate loading tests were approxi-
characteristics of Tabriz marls and their stress–strain mately 4–5 times the results of uniaxial compressive
behavior are investigated by various in situ and test and the deformation modulus obtained from
laboratory tests. In order to study the deformation seismic data was about 30–50 times the static defor-
behavior of these marls, various experiments such as mation modulus. Stress–strain curves showed that the
the pressuremeter test, plate loading test (PLT), maximum value of strain at the elastic and failure
seismic wave velocity test, uniaxial compression test, points and the minimum value of strength and
standard penetration test (SPT), and direct shear test deformation modulus are corresponding to the yellow
were carried out. Ranges of strain at the elastic and marls while the minimum value of strain and the
failure points were determined. Young’s and shear maximum value of strength and deformation modulus
modulus were obtained. Test results showed that the are corresponding to the gray/black marls. Some
strength characteristics increase with depth. The value empirical relationships between different characteris-
of deformation modulus determined by the pressure- tics of Tabriz marls were also derived.
meter test was in good agreement with those obtained
from the PLT. This implies that pressuremeter is a Keywords Marl  Pressuremeter test  Plate loading
test  Seismic wave test  Direct shear test  Tabriz
A. Hooshmand
Department of Geology, University of Tehran,
Tehran, Iran
e-mail: [email protected] 1 Introduction
M. H. Aminfar (&)  H. Ahmadi
Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tabriz, Marls are one type of geomaterials (soil or rock) which
Tabriz, Iran generally composed of clay minerals and carbonate
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] with various proportions, normally between 35 and
H. Ahmadi 65% (Pettijohn 1975). One of the main problems of
e-mail: [email protected] marls is their high deformation and settlement. In spite
of the good design of the structure and foundation,
E. Asghari
Department of Geology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, because of the lack of precise and reliable determina-
University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran tion of strength and deformation, many buildings and

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220 Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:219–232

structures which were constructed on these types of become exposed to the exterior environment during
soils have been damaged in various countries (Johnes the boring. According to the results of consolidation
and Holtz 1973; Akili and Torrance 1981; Ruwaih tests carried out on the undisturbed samples of Tabriz
1987; Chen 1988; Trenter 1989; Sanad and Bader marls, the over-consolidation pressure of these marls
1990; Mohamed et al. 1991; Nelson and Miller 1992; can reach a value of 5 kg/cm2. In the Vali-e-asr region
Yong et al. 1996; Alber and Heiland 2001). A large of Tabriz, where the marls are weathered, sliding led to
volume of research has been carried out so far on the the collapse of some buildings. An example of folded
characterizations of marls in different regions of the marly stones is shown in Fig. 1.
world. The major subjects of these studies were In the study area of Tabriz, three types of marls
investigating some certain properties such as the including the yellow, green and gray/black marls can
stabilization of marly soil by lime, the role of clay be found which are located above each other (Fig. 2).
minerals on marl stability, determining the amount of Some basic information about the characteristics of
clay-carbonate content of marls, the influence of Tabriz marls, including the USCS classification,
porosity on the shear strength of marls, etc. (Yong moisture, expansive pressure, etc. is presented in
et al. 1996, Yong and Ouhadi 1997, 2007; Mohamed Table 2. The relationship between the liquid limit and
2000; Lamas et al. 2002, 2005; Corthésy et al. 2003; the plasticity index of marls is depicted in Fig. 3.
Al-Rawas et al. 2005; El Amrani et al. 1998; Laboratory tests may not be sufficient to characterize
Anagnostopoulos et al. 1991; Athmania et al. 2010; the marls due to their different behavior under
Athanasopoulos 1995; Shalabi et al. 2009). Laboratory different conditions such as the level of compaction,
experiments are predominantly used for determination clay and carbonate content, moister, saturation, etc.
of marl properties. (Behnia et al. 1993; Ouhadi et al. 1993; Khamehchi-
Marls are exposed in many parts of Iran. In the yan et al. 1994; Ouhadi 1997; Yong and Ouhadi 1997;
present research, characteristics of Tabriz (north El Amrani et al. 1998; Mohamed 2000; Ouhadi and
western of Iran) marls which have large distribution Yong 2003).
in many parts of Tabriz are determined by laboratory The present study includes both the laboratorial and
and in situ tests. The age of these marls attributed to in situ tests. In situ tests were carried out in the test pit
Miocene and Pliocene. Most of the Tabriz marls and boreholes with the maximum depth of 60 m. The
belong to the Baghmisheh beds. Geologically, the carried out tests are as follows:
Baghmisheh beds are located between the upper red
1. Plate loading test (PLT); 15 test pits;
beds and fish beds belonging to Pliocene. The
depth = 10–15 m,
stratigraphical column of Tabriz area is shown in
2. Menard pressuremeter test (MPT); 2 boreholes;
Table 1. Tabriz marls experienced the folding and
depth = 5–45 m,
faulting due to the tectonic movements at the end of
the third geological era (Pasadonian orogeny). Among
the marly layers, some gray/black shale layers can be
detected among which 10–20 cm layers of lignite
mudstone exist. These layers are oriented horizontally
and are cut by the cracks perpendicular to and inclined
towards the layering. The mentioned layers consist of
numerous laminations. This leads to the floating of the
layers along the lamination surfaces when they

Table 1 Stratigraphical column of Tabriz area

Quaternary Alluvium

Pliocene Fish beds (Marl, Lapilli, Diatomite)

Miocene Baghmisheh beds (Marl with shale and lignite)
Upper red beds (Marl, Sandstone, Siltstone) Fig. 1 Outcrop of Tabriz yellow and green marls (Pasdaran
Haighway, Baghmisheh)

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Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:219–232 221

2 Pressuremeter Test

The pressuremeter test standardized by ASTM (1994)

Yellow marl is one of the best in situ techniques to determine the
stress/strain values and deformability of the hard soils
Green marl and soft rocks. The pressuremeter type PDP was used
in the present research. In a pressuremeter test, firstly,
Gray / black marl
the values of DP, DV, and Vm are obtained. DP is the
difference of corrected pressure in linear part of the
graph, DV is the difference of corrected volume in
Fig. 2 Core samples from various Tabriz marls
linear part of the graph, and Vm is the corrected volume
in the middle of linear part of DV graph. Afterwards,
according to obtained values and the value of V0
3. Seismic wave test (downhole method); 2 bore-
(initial volume of measuring section of probe that is
holes; depth = 5–45 m,
measured in ground surface before starting the test),
4. Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) test; 90
Ep is obtained from the following equation (ASTM
undisturbed specimens; depth = 5–60 m,
1994):
5. Direct shear test; depth = 5–60 m,
6. Standard penetration test (SPT); 20 boreholes; DP
Ep ¼ EM ¼ 2ð1 þ mÞðV0 þ Vm Þ ð1Þ
maximum depth = 60 m. DV
Exploration borings were carried out by rotary where Ep is pressuremeter coefficient (Menard’s
drilling with continuous coring method. Thin-walled modulus) in kPa, m is Poisson’s ratio, and V0 is the
sampling tube was used in soft layers while the waxed initial volume of measuring section of probe.
samples were taken from the stiff marly layers. In some The values of pressuremeter modulus obtained
samples, small cracks led to the precocious fracture of from pressuremeter tests are converted to Young’s
the samples. Results of such samples were not consid- modulus as follow:
ered for the analysis. Es0 ð1 þ mÞð1  2mÞ
The present research involves the following studies: Es ¼ ð2Þ
ð1  mÞ
(a) Investigating the application of the pressuremeter
test in marly formations, (b) Study of the geotechnical where Es is the deformation modulus, Es0 is the
properties of marls with the pressuremeter, PLT, confined modulus, and m is the Poisson’s ratio (Amar
seismic wave, UCS, SPT, and direct shear tests, et al. 1991).
(c) Determination of the static and dynamic deforma- One of the most important factors affecting the
tion modulus and the strength of the considered marls, results of pressuremeter tests is the method of borehole
(d) Investigation of the stress–strain characteristics of drilling and placing of probe in the borehole. Disturb-
the marls and determining the value of strain at the ing of material is very important. In the present
elastic and failure points using the UCS test, (e) Deter- research, drilling of boreholes was conducted in the
mination of elastic and plastic zones of considered minimum disturbance.
marls by PLT, and (f) Proposing empirical relation- During the testing in boreholes, amount of pressure
ships for different properties of the studied marls. and volume was measured and recorded. After necessary

Table 2 Some basic information about the characteristics of Tabriz marls

Type of marl USCS LL (%) PI (%) Moisture (%) Void Specific weight Expansive pressure
classification ratio (kg/cm3) (kg/cm3)

Yellow marl CL-CH 55–75 30–35 25 0.75–0.95 1.7 1–2

Green marl CL-CH 50–65 20–25 20 0.65–0.85 1.8 1–2
Gray/black marl CL-CH, MH 40–60 15–20 15 0.5–0.7 1.9 0.5–1.5

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222 Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:219–232

Fig. 3 The relationship

between the liquid limit and
the plasticity index of marls
(Holtz and Kovacs 1981)

corrections, the pressure–volume graphs were extracted. 400

In Fig. 4, graphs respective to one of the pressuremeter 350
tests carried out on Tabriz marls are shown. 300
The measured value of pressuremeter coefficient
Volume (cm )
3

250
was 38–84 MPa. The value of this parameter increases
with depth (Fig. 5). Values of deformation modulus, 200
computed using the available soil coefficients and 150
Eqs. 1 and 2, are presented in Table 3. 100

50

3 Plate Loading Test (PLT) 0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Pressure (MPa)
The plate loading test is one of the important and most
common in situ tests used to characterize the hard soils Fig. 4 Pressure-volume graphs resulting from the pressureme-
ter tests carried out on marls (total number of tests n = 12)
and soft rocks. Plate loading tests are often believed to
be much more reliable than the laboratory tests for
estimating the deformation. Several characteristics settlement. In the present study, the plate diameter was
can be determined with this test. One of the parameters 30 cm. For rigid and circular plates on an elastic and
which can be obtained from results of the plate loading homogeneous extreme half space, I equals to 0.88
test is the deformation modulus of the soil (Es). This (Bowles 1996). Pressure-settlement graphs extracted
parameter can be calculated using the following from plate loading tests are shown in Fig. 6. Assuming
equation: a Poisson’s ratio of 0.33, the deformation modulus for
each layer of marls was calculated using Eq. 3 and
DP

Es ¼  D  1  m2  I ð3Þ presented in Table 4. Results showed that the range of
Ds deformation modulus is 20–80 MPa. It can also be
where DP is the pressure variation, D is the dimension seen that the values of deformation modulus deter-
of the loading plate, m is the Poisson’s ratio, I is the mined by the pressuremeter test are in good agreement
efficacy coefficient which depends on the rigidity and with those obtained from the plate loading test
shape of the loading plate, and Ds is the rate of elastic (Fig. 7).

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