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Austin is blessed from the geotechnical engineer’s perspective with an extraordinary variety of geologic hazards and geotechnical challenges that include caves, expansive clays, running sands, faults and fault gouge, random groundwater levels and man-placed fill such as found at old quarries filled with who knows what.
If you are new to Austin, (Welcome!), and you are an architect, structural or civil engineer , (or you employ architects, structural or civil engineers – thank you! ) it is only natural to bring your own template of design solutions or expectations from wherever you practiced your profession.
“A savvy geotech report is your first defense against a nasty surprise.”
Everything you know from the ground up will likely transfer very easily. However, for foundations and pavements you are best served by a qualified local geotechnical firm ( i.e. a firm with a long history in Austin) to help navigate the Austin’s hidden underground world of geologic hazards and geotechnical challenges.
Here is a list of some, not all, of the geologic and geotechnical hazards commonly found in the Austin / Central Texas area:
- Caves and karst features – principally encountered in the Edwards formation, rarely in the Austin formation.
- Expansive soils -you will find these almost everywhere, but the most troublesome are the clays of the Eagle Ford, Del Rio and Taylor formations.
- Running sands – these are found in deep alluvium – particularly downtown near Lady BirdLake.
- Faults, and fault gouge – These are found in abundance along the 5- mile wide belt of faults known as the Balcones fault zone.
- Man-placed fill – can be found anywhere.
- Random Groundwater levels -Just what it says.
Tried and true geotechnical solutions are available to effectively mitigate these challenges for your project’s foundations and pavements. These solutions include specialized approaches to foundation design and construction. Each of these will be discussed in a series of subsequent post to this site.
For your project, a savvy geotechnical study is your first defense against a nasty surprise.