Title: Site Characteristics of a Weathered Old Alluvium in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Abstract: The old alluvium underlying the metropolitan San Juan area of Puerto Rico was formed in early Pleistocene and has undergone substantial post-depositional weathering in the tropical climate, resulting in a unique combination of mineralogy, appearance, and macrostructure. This paper presents the site characteristics of this special geomaterial — a highly weathered old alluvium. As a result of tropical weathering, the fraction of clay minerals decreases with depth, while primary weathering resistant minerals have greater proportions in depth. It is the finely divided Fe-oxides that give this material a red to brown color. The macrostructure is affected by both deposition and post-depositional weathering. Stratification is formed through initial deposition, while weathering tends to reduce such large-scale heterogeneity by converting coarse grains into clays. However, localized weathering along cracks and root paths introduces small-scale non-uniformity — white veins into the site and causes additional difficulties in how to model this material and interpret its properties.
Publication Year: 2005
Publication Date: 2005-03-18
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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