OVERCONSOLIDATION OF ALLUVIAL CLAYS.

Alluvial clay, widely distributed throughout the world, is generally in an overconsolidated state. The phenomenon occurs in spite of the fact that the clay has not undergone stress release. This is attributed to development of an additional structure induced by aging. In this paper, the overconsolidated state of three alluvial clays found in Tokyo Bay, Singapore, and the Arabian Gulf are presented as well as a discussion of the causes of overconsolidation and the formation process of each day. Characteristics of overconsolidation caused by aging such as secondary compression, chemical bonding, and desiccation stress are first discussed. Effective overburden stress, OVER BAR sigma //v//o, consolidation critical stress, OVER BAR sigma //c, and overconsolidation ratio, OCR, of the three clays are presented.