Abstract
Gale Common is the disposal site for some 1 million tonnes of Pulverised Fuel Ash per annum. By the end of the century the lagoons with their 8 km of retaining embankments will form an artificial landscaped hill some 47 m in height.
The paper discusses the geological and sedimentary characteristics of the 12 m of Quaternary sediments which overlie Permo-Triassic bedrock at the site. Variations in the geotechnical properties (particularly cv and ') of the 25-Foot Drift foundation clay are related to macro-and micro structure and to the depositional conditions which obtained in the near-shore zone of Lake Humber during Devensian times.
The stability of the lagoon embankments which are being constructed in conditioned P.F.A. and colliery shale is considered in relationship to the underlying sediments.