On estimating the thickness of the Saalian ice sheet from a vertical profile of preconsolidation loads of a lacustro-glacial clay

Abstract

The consolidation history of cohesive soils can be estimated on the basis of the one-dimensional consolidation theory of Terzaghi. An effective stress profile, which existed during the steady state of the Saalian ice sheet, has been reconstructed from the results of a series of oedometer consolidation tests on a vertical sequence of Pot Clay (Marum, Province of Groningen, The Netherlands). From this effective stress profile and from geotechnical and structural properties, a fossil overburden pressure of 2100 kN/m2 could be estimated, which would have required an ice cover of at least 195 m thick. A comparison of the results of this study with geotechnical data from other locations in the northern Netherlands and a comparable research in northern Germany confirmed the regional significance of the study described in this paper.