CORRELATION OF MINERALOGY AND INDEX PROPERTIES WITH RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF IRAKLION MARLS

The marly formations of the city of Iraklion in Crete, Greece, are described and classified according to their mineralogy and physical properties. The residual angle of friction of these marls was determined using ring shear apparatus and the results were correlated with mineral composition and index properties, such as Atterberg limits and grain size distribution. Furthermore, for better understanding of the determined interrelationships between the physical characteristics and the residual strength of these marls, a number of marl-bentonite mixtures were also tested. Thus, the influence of the variation in clay mineral content on the residual strength was studied and correlations with clay-sized fraction and plasticity index were attempted.