Clay Fabric of Very Fissile Paleozoic Gray Shales

Main features of mudslides in tectonised highly fissured clay shales

Mudslides are widespread in the world, especially in areas occupied by highly-fissured plastic stiff clays. Despite their strong impact on structures, infrastructures and, in general, human activity, the knowledge concerning the causes and mechanisms of mudslides is still rather limited. The paper reports some results of long-term research on mudslides in tectonised highlyfissured plastic clay ...

Effect of the local clay distribution 4 on the effective elastic properties of shales

Softening and instability of natural slopes in highly fissured plastic clay shales

Softening is often considered to be the main cause of first-time slides in OC clay, but so far the mechanics of softening has not been satisfactorily explained. Bearing on laboratory data and field observations about landslides in tectonized highly plastic clay shales of Italian Apennines, the paper describes a process of soil weakening that could explain some failures of natural slopes.

Preferred Orientations and Anisotropy in Shales: Callovo-oxfordian Shale (france) and Opalinus Clay (switzerland)

Anisotropy in clay-rich sedimentary rocks is receiving increasing attention. Seismic anisotropy is essential in the prospecting for petroleum deposits. Anisotropy of diffusion has become relevant for environmental contaminants, including nuclear waste. In both cases, the orientation of component minerals is a critical ingredient and, largely because of small grain size and poor crystallinity, t...

Clay fabric intensity in natural and artificial fault gouges: Implications for brittle fault zone processes and sedimentary basin clay fabric evolution

[1] The role of phyllosilicate fabrics in fault gouge is a poorly understood component of the mechanical and hydrologic behavior of brittle fault zones. We present 90 fabric intensity measurements using X-ray texture goniometry on 22 natural clay-rich fault gouges from low-angle detachment faults (Death Valley area detachments, California; Ruby Mountains, Nevada; West Salton Detachment Fault, C...