Abstract            Volume:6  Issue-7  Year-2018         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

Geotechnical characterization of gully erosion affected soils in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria was carried out. Soil samples were collected from two locations impacted by gully erosion at varying depths of 0-15cm, 15-30cm and >30cm using soil auger. The same depths were maintained in sampling the non-gully impacted area (control). Geotechnical properties such as permeability, bulk and dry densities, Atterberg limits, compaction, shear strength and grain size were determined using standard procedures prescribed by ASTM D3418-05. The results showed that all the samples were non-plastic. Permeability values ranged from 4.0x10^-2 to 3.8x10^-3cm/s in the gully affected areas, and from 2.5 x 10^-2 to 1.0 x 10^-3cm/s in the control location. Similarly, the bulk density of the eroded areas was from 1.76 to 1.81g/cm³ while the control were from 1.48 to 1.62g/cm³. The shear strength at a constant maximum normal stress of 177.8KN/m² varied from 78.5 to 86.9 KN/m² at the gullied areas, while the control values were from 87.9 to 89.9 KN/m². The values of all the parameters increased with depth.

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