EFFECT OF THE WATER SALINITY ON THE CONSOLIDATION AND MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF THE PERSIAN GULF MARINE CLAYS: A CASE STUDY

One of the most important indicators of the development of countries is the development of the marine infrastructure and the expansion of development activitiesin coastal strips, which has become popular in Iran in recent years. On the other hand, the soils of coastal areas have unique characteristics due to their formation and theirstructural nature. High water content, high porosity, low resistance and high corrosive salt content are the most important engineering properties in marine soft soils. Oneof the soils that is always considered is clay that is scattered in many coastal regions of the country, such as Khuzestan and Bushehr. The behavior of clay is thefunction of minerals and pore water. The chemical status of pore water may be significantly altered by the exchange of exchangeable cations in clays that in most cases affectits engineering characteristics. Most engineering problems in clay take place due to the physical-chemical changes of the pore water. On the other hand, the environmentalconditions and climate change are such that changes in the pore water salinity in the adjacent clay, therefore it is necessary to recognize this interaction in the soil of eachregion. The effect of change in the water salinity on the marine clay behavior in the Persian Gulf area has not been well investigated yet. Therefore, it is necessary to study theeffect of water salinity on the above-sea and the compressibility and the parameters of the consolidation of marine clay as well as parameters such as horizontal andvertical permeability coefficients in geotechnical terms. This issue should be investigated in southern soils of the country that are in opposition to salt changes to make. Inthis research, the clay-water approach in natural conditions has been selected from the southern coast of the country and the effects of salinity changes on different levels ofstress have been investigated on the consolidation behavior marine clay, by considering the soft clay located in the Bushehr city.