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Nature of Sensitive Clays from Québec

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Landslides in Sensitive Clays

Part of the book series: Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research ((NTHR,volume 36))

Abstract

Quantitative mineralogical analyses of sediment samples from 18 sites in Québec indicate that plagioclase is the most abundant mineral in all soils and that chlorite is generally the dominant clay mineral followed by illite and expandable clays consisting of mixed-layer clays minerals involving vermiculite. The study also illustrates how specific surface area and constitutive water content can be used to evaluate departures from average in the mineralogical composition of sensitive clays. The relationship between activity and specific surface area of sensitive clays shows that when compared to soils from different sedimentary basins that have different mineralogy, they are characterized by a much lower activity and specific surface area.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Robert Ledoux and Marc-André Bérubé who greatly helped ensuring that the methods used for the mineralogical analysis were appropriate and used carefully. We also thank the support of the Ministère des transports du Québec for providing the samples. This research was supported by grants from the NSERC and Fonds FQRNT. Finally, we would like to thank Kenneth Torrance for his constructive comments that greatly helped the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’études sur les risques naturels, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Laval University, Québec City, QC, Canada

    Jacques Locat

  2. DSG Management Group Inc, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Daniel St-Gelais

Authors
  1. Jacques Locat
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  2. Daniel St-Gelais
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Correspondence to Jacques Locat .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Trondheim, Norway

    Jean-Sébastien L'Heureux

  2. Department of Civil Engineering and Water Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, Québec, Canada

    Ariane Locat

  3. Department of Civil Engineering and Water Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, Québec, Canada

    Serge Leroueil

  4. Service de la géotechnique et de la géologie, Ministère des Transports du Québec, Quebec, Québec, Canada

    Denis Demers

  5. Department of Geology adn Geological Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, Québec, Canada

    Jacques Locat

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Locat, J., St-Gelais, D. (2014). Nature of Sensitive Clays from Québec. In: L'Heureux, JS., Locat, A., Leroueil, S., Demers, D., Locat, J. (eds) Landslides in Sensitive Clays. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7079-9_3

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