Geotechnical properties of Pusan clays

The Nakdong River plain is one of the few areas in Korea where soft clays have been deposited. Although many site investigations related to large-scale reclamation works have been carried out over the past 10 years, soil profiles still need to be better characterized. The Pusan clays at this location constitute an interesting topic for researchers both in and outside Korea due to their geological complexity, unusually great thickness, very low overconsolidation (OCR) values, large consolidation settlement, and the effects of artesian pressure. This paper represents the first comprehensive review of Pusan clays and collates extensive existing and new geotechnical data. These data are then analyzed within the frameworks of both classical and new developments in soft clay engineering to address the problems mentioned above.