Quick clay

Last updated January 04, 2024

Quick clay, also known as Leda clay and Champlain Sea clay in Canada, is any of several distinctively sensitive glaciomarine clays found in Canada, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the United States and other locations around the world.^[1]^[2]^[3] The clay is so unstable that when a mass of quick clay is subjected to sufficient stress, the material behavior may drastically change from that of a particulate material to that of a watery fluid. Landslides occur because of the sudden soil liquefaction caused by external sollicitations such as vibrations induced by an earthquake, or massive rainfalls.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Quick clay main deposits

Quick clay is found only in countries close to the north pole, such as Russia; Canada; Norway; Sweden; and Finland; and in Alaska, United States; since they were glaciated during the Pleistocene epoch. In Canada, the clay is associated primarily with the Pleistocene-era Champlain Sea, in the modern Ottawa Valley, the St. Lawrence Valley, and the Saguenay River regions.^[4]

Quick clay has been the underlying cause of many deadly landslides. In Canada alone, it has been associated with more than 250 mapped landslides. Some of these are ancient, and may have been triggered by earthquakes.^[5]

Clay colloids stability

Quick clay has a remolded strength which is much less than its strength upon initial loading. This is caused by its highly unstable clay particle structure.

Quick clay is originally deposited in a marine environment. Clay mineral particles are always negatively charged because of the presence of permanent negative charges and pH dependent charges at their surface. Because of the need to respect electro-neutrality and a net zero electrical charge balance, these negative electrical charges are always compensated by the positive charges born by cations (such as Na⁺) adsorbed onto the surface of the clay, or present in the clay pore water. Exchangeable cations are present in the clay minerals interlayers and on the external basal planes of clay platelets. Cations also compensate the negative charges on the clay particle edges caused by the protolysis of silanol and aluminol groups (pH dependent charges). So, clay platelets are always surrounded by an electrical double layer (EDL), or diffuse double layer (DDL).^[6] The thickness of EDL depends on the salinity of water. Under salty conditions (at high ionic strength) EDL is compressed (or said to be collapsed). It facilitates the aggregation of clay platelets which flocculate and stick together in a more stable aggregates structure. After the marine clay deposit is uplifted and is no longer exposed to salt water conditions, rainwater can slowly infiltrate the poorly compacted clay layer and the excess of NaCl present in seawater can also diffuse out of the clay. As a result, the EDL is less compressed and can expand. It results in a stronger electrostatic repulsion between negatively charged clay platelets which can more easily become dispersed and form stable suspensions in water (peptization phenomenon). The effect leads to a destabilization of the clay aggregates structure.

In case of insufficient mechanical compaction of the clay layer, and with a shear stress, the weaker EDL compression by the salts in the quick clay results in clay particle repulsion and leads to their realignment in a structure that is weaker and unstable. Quick clay regains strength rapidly when salt is again added (compression of the EDL), which allows clay particles to restore their cohesion with one another.

Formation of quick clay

At the height of the past glaciation (about 20,000 years ago), the land was 'pushed' down by the weight of the ice (isostatic depression). All of the ground-up rock was deposited in the surrounding ocean, which had penetrated significantly inland. The loose deposition of the silt and clay particles in the marine environment, allowed an unusual flocculation to take place. Essentially, this formed a strongly bonded soil skeleton, which was 'glued' by highly mobile sea-salt ions.^[6]

At this point, there was only the formation of very strong marine clay, which is found all over the world and highly stable, but with its own unique geotechnical problems. When the glaciers retreated, the land mass rose (post-glacial rebound), the clay was exposed, and formed the soil mass for new vegetation. The rainwater in these northern countries was quite aggressive to these clays, perhaps because it was softer (containing less calcium), or the higher silt content allowed more rainwater and snowmelt to penetrate. The final result was that the ionic 'glue' of the clay was weakened, to give a weak, loose soil skeleton, enclosing significant amounts of water (high sensitivity with high moisture content).

Quick clay deposits are rarely located directly at the ground surface, but are typically covered by a normal layer of topsoil. While this topsoil can absorb most normal stresses, such as normal rainfall or a modest earth tremor, a shock that exceeds the capacity of the topsoil layer — such as a larger earthquake, a large mass added near a slope, or an abnormal rainfall which leaves the topsoil fully saturated so that additional water has nowhere to permeate except into the clay — can disturb the clay and initiate the process of liquefaction.

Disasters

Because the clay layer is typically covered with topsoil, a location which is vulnerable to a quick clay landslide is usually identifiable only by soil testing, and is rarely obvious to a casual observer. Thus human settlements and transportation links have often been built on or near clay deposits, resulting in a number of notable catastrophes:

In 1702, a landslide destroyed almost all traces of the medieval town Sarpsborg in the Viken county in Norway. 15 people and 200 animals were killed.
On 19 May 1893, a landslide in Verdal, Norway, killed 116 people and destroyed 105 farms. It left a crater several kilometers in diameter.
The most disastrous such landslide to affect North America occurred in 1908, when a slide into the frozen Du Lièvre River propelled a wave of ice-filled water into Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, Quebec, causing the loss of 33 lives and the destruction of 12 homes.
In 1955, a landslide affected part of the downtown of Nicolet, Quebec, causing $10 million in damages.^[4]
In 1957, a large quick-clay landslide occurred in Lilla Edet, by the Göta River, in southwestern Sweden. A large part of a factory slid into the river, causing a thirty meter reduction in the river width. The earth mass coming into the river produced an approximately six meter high wave.^[7]
On March 27, 1964, parts of Anchorage, Alaska built on sandy bluffs overlying "Bootlegger Cove clay" near Cook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, suffered landslide damage during the 1964 Alaska Earthquake. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned into Earthquake Park.
On 4 May 1971, 31 lives were lost when 40 homes were swallowed in a retrogressive flowslide in Saint-Jean-Vianney, Quebec,^[8] resulting in the relocation of the entire town when the government declared the area uninhabitable due to the presence of Leda clay. The event at Saint-Jean-Vianney contributed to the abandonment of the town of Lemieux, Ontario, in 1991, after a 1989 study showed it was also located on the same type of clay along the South Nation River. In 1993, those findings were borne out when the town's abandoned main street was swallowed by a massive 17-hectare landslide.^[9]
On November 30, 1977, the Tuve landslide in western Sweden killed 9 people and destroyed 67 houses.
Another famous flow of quick clay at Rissa, Norway, in 1978 caused about 33 hectares (82 acres) of farmland to liquefy and flow into the lake Botn over a few hours, with the loss of one life. The Rissa slide was well recorded by local citizens and a documentary film was made about it in 1981.^[10]
On 11 May 2010, quick clay took the lives of a family living in Saint-Jude, Quebec, when the land their house was built on suddenly tumbled down toward the Salvail River. The landslide was so sudden that the family members died where they sat; they had been watching an ice hockey game on television.^[11] The slide took out a portion of rural road which took a year to reinstate.^[12]
On 2 February 2015, a landslide collapsed a pillar on the Skjeggestad Bridge in South-East Norway. The landslide was caused by nearby earthworks.
On 3 June 2020, eight buildings were swept into the sea by a landslide in Kråkneset in the Alta municipality in Norway. The landslide was filmed by a resident. There were no casualties, and a dog was rescued from the sea.^[13]
On 30 December 2020, part of a housing area was swept away by a landslide in Ask in the Gjerdrum municipality in Norway, 25 km (15 miles) north-east of the capital Oslo.^[14] The 300 m × 700 m (985 ft × 2300 ft) quick clay landslide wrecked several houses and killed 10 people.^[15]^[14]
On 23 September 2023, near the town of Stenungsund, Sweden, an area of c.15 hectares (37 acres) was affected by a quick clay landslide, which among other things damaged the E6 motorway between Gothenburg and Oslo.^[16]

These landslides are retrogressive, meaning they usually start at water, and progress upwards at slow walking speed, although particularly deep quick clay layers on sloped regions may collapse much more rapidly, or in very large chunks that can slide at great speed due to the liquid nature of the disturbed clay. They have been known to penetrate kilometers inland, and consume everything in their path.^[4]

In modern times, areas known to have quick clay deposits are commonly tested in advance of any major human development. It is not always possible to entirely avoid building on a quick clay site, although modern engineering techniques have found technical precautions which can be taken to mitigate the risk of disaster. For example, when Ontario's Highway 416 had to pass through a quick clay deposit near Nepean, lighter fill materials such as polystyrene were used for the road bed, vertical wick drains were inserted along the route and groundwater cutoff walls were built under the highway to limit water infiltration into the clay.^[17]

In popular culture

The 1967 novel Landslide by Desmond Bagley, tells the story of a quick-clay landslide in Canada. The book was also adapted into a 1992 television film by the same name, directed by Jean-Claude Lord, and starring Anthony Edwards.

Related Research Articles

Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, Al₂Si₂O₅(OH)₄). Clays develop plasticity when wet but can be hardened through firing. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-colored, but natural clays show a variety of colors from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish color from small amounts of iron oxide.

Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, characterized by either steep or gentle slope gradients, from mountain ranges to coastal cliffs or even underwater, in which case they are called submarine landslides.

Gjerdrum is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike.

Rissa is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county in Norway in the Fosen region. The municipality existed from 1860 until its dissolution on 1 January 2018 when it became part of the municipality of Indre Fosen in Trøndelag county. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Årnset. Other villages in the municipality included Askjem, Hasselvika, Husbysjøen, Rørvika, Råkvåg, and Stadsbygd.

Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other sudden change in stress condition, in which material that is ordinarily a solid behaves like a liquid. In soil mechanics, the term "liquefied" was first used by Allen Hazen in reference to the 1918 failure of the Calaveras Dam in California. He described the mechanism of flow liquefaction of the embankment dam as:

If the pressure of the water in the pores is great enough to carry all the load, it will have the effect of holding the particles apart and of producing a condition that is practically equivalent to that of quicksand... the initial movement of some part of the material might result in accumulating pressure, first on one point, and then on another, successively, as the early points of concentration were liquefied.

In soil science, agriculture and gardening, hardpan or soil pan is a dense layer of soil, usually found below the uppermost topsoil layer. There are different types of hardpan, all sharing the general characteristic of being a distinct soil layer that is largely impervious to water. Some hardpans are formed by deposits in the soil that fuse and bind the soil particles. These deposits can range from dissolved silica to matrices formed from iron oxides and calcium carbonate. Others are man-made, such as hardpan formed by compaction from repeated plowing, particularly with moldboard plows, or by heavy traffic or pollution.

Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids and particles but soil may also contain organic solids and other matter. Along with rock mechanics, soil mechanics provides the theoretical basis for analysis in geotechnical engineering, a subdiscipline of civil engineering, and engineering geology, a subdiscipline of geology. Soil mechanics is used to analyze the deformations of and flow of fluids within natural and man-made structures that are supported on or made of soil, or structures that are buried in soils. Example applications are building and bridge foundations, retaining walls, dams, and buried pipeline systems. Principles of soil mechanics are also used in related disciplines such as geophysical engineering, coastal engineering, agricultural engineering, hydrology and soil physics.

Marine clay is a type of clay found in coastal regions around the world. In the northern, deglaciated regions, it can sometimes be quick clay, which is notorious for being involved in landslides.

A mudflow, also known as mudslide or mud flow, is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris and dirt that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significant proportion of clay, which makes them more fluid than debris flows, allowing them to travel farther and across lower slope angles. Both types of flow are generally mixtures of particles with a wide range of sizes, which typically become sorted by size upon deposition.

Claypan is a dense, compact, slowly permeable layer in the subsoil. It has a much higher clay content than the overlying material, from which it is separated by a sharply defined boundary. The dense structure restricts root growth and water infiltration. Therefore, a perched water table might form on top of the claypan. In the Canadian classification system, claypan is defined as a clay-enriched illuvial B (Bt) horizon.

Botn is an inland fjord in the Rissa area of the municipality of Indre Fosen in Trøndelag county, Norway. It flows through a short, small river into the Sundsbukta, a small bay off the Trondheimsfjorden. The village of Årnset lies on the north shore of Botn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolet, Quebec</span> City in Quebec, Canada

Nicolet is the county seat of Nicolet-Yamaska Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada. The population as of the Canada 2016 Census was 8,169. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nicolet.

There have been known various classifications of landslides. Broad definitions include forms of mass movement that narrower definitions exclude. For example, the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology distinguishes the following types of landslides:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alkali soil</span> Soil type with pH > 8.5

Alkali, or Alkaline, soils are clay soils with high pH, a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity. Often they have a hard calcareous layer at 0.5 to 1 metre depth. Alkali soils owe their unfavorable physico-chemical properties mainly to the dominating presence of sodium carbonate, which causes the soil to swell and difficult to clarify/settle. They derive their name from the alkali metal group of elements, to which sodium belongs, and which can induce basicity. Sometimes these soils are also referred to as alkaline sodic soils.
Alkaline soils are basic, but not all basic soils are alkaline.

Lemieux is a ghost town in the Canadian province of Ontario, which was located on the shore of the South Nation River in the Prescott and Russell County township of South Plantagenet. The community was abandoned over a two-year period from 1989 to 1991, after soil testing revealed that the town was built on unstable Leda clay, a type of subsoil which can liquefy under stress, and was consequently in danger of experiencing a landslide similar to the one that destroyed the town of Saint-Jean-Vianney, Quebec in 1971.

Saint-Jean-Vianney was a village in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, which was abandoned after it was partially destroyed in a landslide on May 4, 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Submarine landslide</span> Landslides that transport sediment across the continental shelf and into the deep ocean

Submarine landslides are marine landslides that transport sediment across the continental shelf and into the deep ocean. A submarine landslide is initiated when the downwards driving stress exceeds the resisting stress of the seafloor slope material, causing movements along one or more concave to planar rupture surfaces. Submarine landslides take place in a variety of different settings, including planes as low as 1°, and can cause significant damage to both life and property. Recent advances have been made in understanding the nature and processes of submarine landslides through the use of sidescan sonar and other seafloor mapping technology.

River bank failure can be caused when the gravitational forces acting on a bank exceed the forces which hold the sediment together. Failure depends on sediment type, layering, and moisture content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soil compaction (agriculture)</span> Decrease in porosity of soil due to agriculture

Soil compaction, also known as soil structure degradation, is the increase of bulk density or decrease in porosity of soil due to externally or internally applied loads. Compaction can adversely affect nearly all physical, chemical and biological properties and functions of soil. Together with soil erosion, it is regarded as the "costliest and most serious environmental problem caused by conventional agriculture."

The 2020 Gjerdrum landslide was a quick clay landslide that occurred in the early hours of 30 December 2020 at Ask village, the administrative centre of Gjerdrum, Norway. It spanned a flow off area of 300 by 700 metres and additionally affected 9 hectares by debris flow. Several buildings were destroyed, most of them houses and apartment buildings.

References

1 2 Kerr, Paul Francis (1965). Quick Clay Movements, Anchorage, Alaska: A Preliminary Report. The Office.
1 2 Brand, E. W.; Brenner, R. P. (1981-01-01). Soft Clay Engineering. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-444-60078-3.
1 2 Clague, John J.; Stead, Douglas (2012-08-23). Landslides: Types, Mechanisms and Modeling. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-56039-9.
1 2 3 Perreaux, Les (13 May 2010). "Residents seek reassurance in wake of deadly slide". The Globe and Mail . Montreal. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
↑ "Landslides". Geoscape Ottawa-Gatineau. Natural Resources Canada. 7 March 2005. Archived from the original on 24 October 2005. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
1 2 Rankka, Karin; Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne; Hultén, Carina; Larsson, Rolf; Leroux, Virginie; Dahlin, Torleif (2004). "Quick clay in Sweden" (PDF). Report No. 65. Swedish Geotechnical Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2005.
↑ "Quick clay in Sweden" (PDF).
↑ Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1981). "Landslide in Saint-Jean-Vianney, Canada in 1971". Trivia-Library.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
↑ "Lemieux, Ottawa – Valley Ghost Town". Canadian Geographic Magazine. October 2005. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2007.
↑ BFI | Film & TV Database | The Rissa landslide (1981)
↑ "Family dead in basement after sinkhole ate home" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine . CNN, May 12, 2010.
↑ The road reopened a year after the tragedy. A decimated family in Saint-Jude. VAT News. Published on July 13, 2011.
↑ Eight buildings swept into the sea by landslides in Alta
1 2 "Norway landslide: Houses buried in Gjerdrum village near Oslo". BBC News . 30 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
↑ Krantz, Andreas (2021-01-03). "Sju personer bekreftet omkommet etter skredet i Gjerdrum". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2021-01-05.
↑ "Landslide causes large chunk of Swedish motorway to collapse". Reuters. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
↑ "Conquering the Leda clay" Archived October 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

External links

Rissa Landslide, by University of Washington: short synopsis with link to video clips

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[:0-1] 1 2 Kerr, Paul Francis (1965). Quick Clay Movements, Anchorage, Alaska: A Preliminary Report. The Office.

[:1-2] 1 2 Brand, E. W.; Brenner, R. P. (1981-01-01). Soft Clay Engineering. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-444-60078-3.

[:2-3] 1 2 Clague, John J.; Stead, Douglas (2012-08-23). Landslides: Types, Mechanisms and Modeling. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-56039-9.

[GM2010-4] 1 2 3 Perreaux, Les (13 May 2010). "Residents seek reassurance in wake of deadly slide". The Globe and Mail . Montreal. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 2016-07-21.

[NRClandslides-5] "Landslides". Geoscape Ottawa-Gatineau. Natural Resources Canada. 7 March 2005. Archived from the original on 24 October 2005. Retrieved 2016-07-21.

[Rankka2004-6] 1 2 Rankka, Karin; Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne; Hultén, Carina; Larsson, Rolf; Leroux, Virginie; Dahlin, Torleif (2004). "Quick clay in Sweden" (PDF). Report No. 65. Swedish Geotechnical Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2005.

[7] "Quick clay in Sweden" (PDF).

[Wallechinsky1981-8] Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1981). "Landslide in Saint-Jean-Vianney, Canada in 1971". Trivia-Library.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.

[CGM2005-9] "Lemieux, Ottawa – Valley Ghost Town". Canadian Geographic Magazine. October 2005. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2007.

[10] BFI | Film & TV Database | The Rissa landslide (1981)

[11] "Family dead in basement after sinkhole ate home" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine . CNN, May 12, 2010.

[12] The road reopened a year after the tragedy. A decimated family in Saint-Jude. VAT News. Published on July 13, 2011.

[13] Eight buildings swept into the sea by landslides in Alta

[BBC_Norway_1-14] 1 2 "Norway landslide: Houses buried in Gjerdrum village near Oslo". BBC News . 30 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.

[15] Krantz, Andreas (2021-01-03). "Sju personer bekreftet omkommet etter skredet i Gjerdrum". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2021-01-05.

[16] "Landslide causes large chunk of Swedish motorway to collapse". Reuters. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.

[17] "Conquering the Leda clay" Archived October 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

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