Geotechnical characterization of the estuarine deltaic deposits in the Guayaquil

Abstract

Guayaquil city is located on the West margin of the Guayas River along the Pacific coast of SouthAmerica. According to research and zoning from previous studies a large area of the city sits on estuarine deltaic deposits which consist of weak and highly compressible clays with diatoms. The nature of these soft clays may determine difficulties in the use of some methods or equations, and consequently in the reliability of the obtained interpretation of the results. This paper focuses on evaluating the most recommended methods and equations for this type of deposits. In this respect, a detailed geotechnical and geophysical characterization of the study area has been carried out. Borehole logs, standard penetration tests (SPT), piezocone tests (CPTu), seismic dilatometer test (SDMT), non-invasive geophysical survey and laboratory tests were performed and compared toanalyze static and dynamic geotechnical parameters of these soft clays, resulted sensitive to the presence of diatoms.