GIS-based analysis of foundation repairs and soil conditions in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, Texas

The Dallas-Fort Worth region is subject to a severe expansive soils hazard, resulting in costly damage to many thousands of residential foundations each year. A GIS is used to examine relationships between a sample of approximately 10,000 foundation repair addresses and geologic and soil conditions....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Geology 2009-09, Vol.58 (5), p.919-928
Main Author: Williams, Harry F. L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Areal geology
Areal geology. Maps
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Exact sciences and technology
Geologic maps, cartography
Geology
Natural hazards: prediction, damages, etc
Original Article
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:The Dallas-Fort Worth region is subject to a severe expansive soils hazard, resulting in costly damage to many thousands of residential foundations each year. A GIS is used to examine relationships between a sample of approximately 10,000 foundation repair addresses and geologic and soil conditions. The study results show that foundation repairs are concentrated in areas underlain by bedrock, surficial deposits and soils that promote high shrink-swell potentials. A linear extensibility index, designed as an index of overall shrink-swell potential explains about 48% of the variation in the prevalence of repairs. Repairs are concentrated on soils that underlay many areas of new urban growth in the DFW region, suggesting that the incidence of foundation repairs in these areas will probably increase in the future.
ISSN:0943-0105
1432-0495
1866-6299
DOI:10.1007/s00254-008-1571-y