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Geotechnical Properties of Urmia Saltwater Lake Bed Sediments

Akbarimehr, Davood; Rahai, Mohammad; Ahmadpour, Majid; Sheng, Yong

Authors

Davood Akbarimehr

Mohammad Rahai

Majid Ahmadpour



Abstract

Urmia Lake (UL) is the sixth-largest saltwater lake in the world; however, there is a dearth of geotechnical studies on this region. Geotechnical characteristics of a site are considered important from different engineering perspectives. In this research, the results of 255 laboratory tests and the data of 55 in situ tests were used to determine the geotechnical properties of sediment in UL. The changes of parameters in depth are presented in this study. The results indicate that compressibility, initial void ratio, water content, over-consolidated ratio (OCR), and sensitivity have larger values near the lake bed. Moreover, increasing the sediment depth leads to significant reductions in these values. According to the sediment strength analysis through the vane shear and standard penetration tests and the unit weight of sediments, there is an increasing trend caused by the increased depths of layers. Diverse applied correlations are proposed and can be used as preliminary estimates in similar types of sediments in engineering projects as well as scientific studies. Furthermore, undrained shear strength and compression index trends in depth and the Su/σ’v Curve against OCR are compared with the literature, and the results reveal similar trends in similar sediments. The main minerals identified in these sediments include calcite, dolomite, quartz, calcium chloride, and halite. The salinity of the lake water is caused by the presence of calcium chloride and halite minerals. The Cao factor observed in chemical compounds can have a significant impact on the cohesion of the soil particles. This research provides comprehensive information on the geotechnical characteristics of UL. Moreover, the results of this study show that UL Sediments are soft and sensitive, especially in shallow depths, and they contain a significant amount of organic content; therefore, it is recommended to use suitable improvement methods in future geotechnical and structural designs. This study and similar surveys can help prepare the groundwork for designing safer marine structures.

Citation

Akbarimehr, D., Rahai, M., Ahmadpour, M., & Sheng, Y. (2025). Geotechnical Properties of Urmia Saltwater Lake Bed Sediments. Geotechnics, 5(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/geotechnics5010001

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 30, 2024
Online Publication Date Dec 31, 2024
Publication Date Mar 1, 2025
Deposit Date Jan 22, 2025
Publicly Available Date Jan 23, 2025
Journal Geotechnics
Print ISSN 2673-7094
Electronic ISSN 2673-7094
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 5
Issue 1
Article Number 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/geotechnics5010001
Keywords Urmia saltwater lake; Bed sediments; Geotechnical tests; Geotechnical properties
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/5007329

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).




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