Liquefaction Potential Map of Charleston, South Carolina Based on the 1886 Earthquake
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 6
Abstract
A liquefaction potential map of the peninsula of Charleston, S.C., is presented in this paper. Liquefaction potential is expressed in terms of the liquefaction potential index developed by Iwasaki et al. and calculated using 44 cone penetration test profiles. The cone profiles are supplemented with information from the 1:24,000 scale geologic map by Weems and Lemon, several first-hand accounts of liquefaction and ground deformation that occurred during the 1886 Charleston earthquake, and liquefaction probabilities determined by Elton and Hadj-Hamou based on standard penetration tests. Nearly all of the cases of liquefaction and ground deformation occurred in the Holocene to late Pleistocene beach deposits that flank the higher-ground sediments of the Wando Formation. To match the observed field behavior, a deposit resistance correction factor of 1.8 is applied to cyclic resistance ratios calculated for the -old Wando Formation. No corrections are needed for the younger deposits. In additional to 1886 field behavior, the deposit resistance corrections are supported by ratios of measured to predicted shear-wave velocity.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported, in part, by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior, under Grant No. UNSPECIFIED06HQGR0058. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the United States Government. The support of the USGS is greatly appreciated. The writers also thank the many individuals who assisted with data collection, in particular, William M. Camp and Timothy J. Cleary of S&ME; Thomas J. Casey and William B. Wright of WPC; and Cedric D. Fairbanks, Nisha P. Mohanan and Aniket Shrikhande graduate students at Clemson University. Scott Brame of Clemson provided training in GIS; and Janice Comfort of Clemson assisted with the search for first-hand earthquake accounts. The many helpful review comments by the anonymous reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 6 • June 2008
Pages: 815 - 828
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 6, 2007
Accepted: Oct 10, 2007
Published online: Jun 1, 2008
Published in print: Jun 2008
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