The second Mediterranean Symposium on Landslides

Hammamet (Tunisia) 5, 6, 7 October 2023

ABOUT THE DEFORMABILITY OF TECTONIZED CLAY SHALES

A. d’Onofrio1, L. Olivares2, L. Picarelli3, G. Urciuoli1,

1
Università di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
2
Università della Campania, Aversa, Italy
3
Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, CMCC, Lecce, Italy

Tectonized clay shales and flysch deposits are widespread all along the Apennines chain in Italy
and in other countries of the Mediterranean basin. These complex materials consist of aggre-
gates of small platy fragments with polished surfaces (shear lenses) crossed by persistent shear
discontinuities; this fine-grained mass may also include deformed layers or isolated lapideous
blocks or fragments. Structure strongly affects the hydraulic and mechanical properties; the
topic of this paper is just discussing the influence of structure on some aspects of the stress-
strain behaviour.

Keywords: tectonized clay shale, mesofabric, torsional laboratory tests, linear and volumetric
thresholds

INTRODUCTION

Highly fissured and sheared clay shales are widespread all along the Apennines chain in Italy.
Their complex structure, which is the result of the geological events that led to formation of the
chain, strongly affects the mechanical properties and often makes unsuitable the usual methods
of analysis that are based on the principles of Soil Mechanics. This raises some problems in the
design of man-made works and in stability analyses. The paper focuses on some aspects of the
mechanical behaviour of two tectonized clay shales outcropping in Southern Italy.

STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF TECTONIZED CLAY SHALES

The principal structural features of tectonized clay shales are an intense fissuring, the frequent
presence of a lapideous component in the form of deformed layers or of single blocks or frag-
ments plunged in the clayey mass and the deteriorability of the hard fine-grained component.
The hardness of the clayey component and the complexity of the overall structure are respec-
tively due to the high compressive and to the associated deviatoric component of the stress field
that led to formation of the Apennines chain.
Due to the major role of structure on material behaviour, in Italy these deposits are often called
“structurally complex formations” (Esu 1977). In particular, the fine-grained component is
commonly described as a “scaly” clay shale, since it consists of aggregates of small fragments
(shear lenses, called “scales”) with a size of millimeters to centimeters, bounded by polished

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 The second Mediterranean Symposium on Landslides
Hammamet (Tunisia) 5, 6, 7 October 2023

fissures (minor shears), which make the soil as a sort of weak gravel. The mass is in turn crossed
by persistent shear discontinuities (principal shears).

ROLE OF STRUCTURE ON MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Since the Seventies, in Italy the hydraulic and mechanical properties of tectonized clay shales
have been the object of some targeted investigations (AGI 1979, Bilotta et al. 1985, Picarelli et
al. 2002). Such investigations, which are generally carried out based on the typical procedures
of the Soil Mechanics, highlighted the major role of structure on the soil response. In particular,
as discussed by d’Onofrio et al. (2023), laboratory tests allow to focus on the influence of soil
microstructure (i.e., the arrangement and bonding among soil particles into the single “scales”)
and mesofabric (i.e., the arrangement of “scales” and of minor shears), whereas, in principle,
they cannot account for the role of the macrofabric (i.e., the arrangement of fissures, principal
shears and lapideous elements, when present, at the scale of meters and of tens of meters),
which affect the engineering works. The influence of the macrofabric is in fact only sometimes
and randomly captured by triaxial tests if major discontinuities cross the investigated speci-
mens. A response to this important issue can be provided only by field tests and experiments
and by the back analysis of the behavior of artifacts, excavations and natural slopes.
The influence of soil structure on the mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of “scaly” clay shales
is certainly a key issue that deserves in depth investigations and sophisticated models. This
paper, which is based on the results of laboratory tests, provides some data and considerations
about the role of mesofabric on the deformability of “scaly” clay shales.

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

The experimental program which focuses on the domain of small strains, is being carried out
on the “scaly” fine-grained component of the Grottaminarda Red Flysch, and in particular, on
the “mc” (grey marly clays) and the “cs” (“varicoloured” clay shales) facies (d’Onofrio et al.
2023) that widely outcrop along the Southern Italian Apennines. The program consists of un-
drained torsional shear tests on 36 mm undisturbed specimens free of lapideous fragments,
which are often present in these soils. The results are being compared with the data obtained in
analogous tests previously carried out on both undisturbed and reconstituted specimens of the
highly plastic Varicoloured Bisaccia “scaly” clay shale (Olivares 1996). Table I summarizes
the main index and state properties of the specimens used in the investigations.
Table. I: Index and state properties of the investigated materials

Formation Clay content (%) Plasticity Index (%) Void ratio

Grottaminarda (mc facies) 40-60 31-58 0.479-0.755
Grottaminarda (cs facies) 20-40 25-112 0.480-0.802
Bisaccia 57-64 88-135 0.485-0.654

This paper focuses on the material behaviour at small strain levels, and in particular on the
linear and volumetric thresholds of the investigated soils, a factor that can be strongly influ-
enced by material structure. The tests adopted in this investigation program allowed to examine
the role of the mesofabric.

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 The second Mediterranean Symposium on Landslides
Hammamet (Tunisia) 5, 6, 7 October 2023

SOME RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION

A synthetic representation of the material behaviour at small to medium strain levels is provided
by Figure 1, which plots the normalized shear modulus of the Bisaccia clay shale, as obtained
in resonant column tests (RC) on six undisturbed specimens consolidated at effective pressures,
p’, comprised between 50 and 900 KPa (the back pressure was 200 kPa). In the same plot are
reported the results of six torsional shear tests carried out on specimens retrieved from both
facies of Grottaminarda formation subjected to a confining pressure ranging between 95 kPa
and 475 kPa. The results are compared to the those of similar tests carried out on seven normally
consolidated and overconsolidated (OCR ≤ 8) reconstituted specimens (50 ≥ p’ ≥ 390 KPa) of
the Bisaccia clay (Fig. 1b). The figure displays different soil responses. In particular, assuming,
as usual, the shear strain corresponding to G = 0.95G0 (G0 being the initial modulus) as the
linear threshold strain, the plot shows that it ranges between 0.015% and 0.3% in the case of
reconstituted specimens, and of 0.005-0.2% in the case of undisturbed specimens. It is worth to
mention that the G0 modulus of the undisturbed specimens keeps values around 150 MPa. Fo-
cusing on normally consolidated and overconsolidated reconstituted specimens, it is worth to
mention that the linear threshold increases with both OCR and p’.

1,1 1,1
1 @G/G0=0,95 1
normalised shear modulus, G/G0

normalised shear modulus, G/G0

0,9 0,9
0,8 0,8
p'=200 kPa‐OCR=2
0,7 0,7
p'=50 kPa‐ OCR=8
0,6 0,6
p'=378 kPa ‐ OCR=1
0,5 0,5
p'=195 kPa‐OCR=1
0,4 0,4
p'=85 kPa‐OCR=1
0,3 p'=400 kPa p'=100 kPa p'=900 kPa 0,3
p'=50 kPa p'=1380 kPa p'=400 kPa p'=182 kPa‐OCR=1
0,2 0,2
p'=142 kPa p'=95 kpa p'=186 kPa p'=365 kPa‐OCR=1
0,1 p'=120 kpa p'=342 kPa p'=425 kPa 0,1
0 0
0,0001 0,001 0,01 0,1 1 0,0001 0,001 0,01 0,1 1
shear strain,  (%) shear strain,  (%)

Figure 1 Normalized shear modulus of a) intact Bisaccia “scaly” clay shale (full dots) and Grottaminarda red
flysch (open dots) and b) reconstituted Bisaccia clay .

The research program that is being carried out on the Grottaminarda clay shales consists of
similar tests that until now have been performed only on undisturbed specimens. Interestingly,
the plasticity index of the two investigated facies covers a wider range of values than that of the
Bisaccia clay shale (Table I), allowing to investigate with some accuracy the role of plasticity
on the material response in the same formation (see below).
A synthesis of the results is presented in Figure 2, which plots both, the linear and the volumet-
ric threshold strains of the three investigated facies as a function of the Plasticity Index. In the
same figure the shaded areas represent the synthesis of data that can be retrieved from the tech-
nical literature (Mancuso & Silvestri, 1991). As it is clearly shown, both thresholds increase
with material plasticity and this seems to reflect the role of the physic-chemical interaction
among particles, which increases with the Plasticity Index. Looking now at the mechanical re-
sponse of the “scaly” facies that are the object of this paper, it is well evident that the Bisaccia
clay shale presents lower thresholds with respect to what would be predictable based on the
value of the Plasticity Index. This seems to be an effect of structure; considering in particular

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 The second Mediterranean Symposium on Landslides
Hammamet (Tunisia) 5, 6, 7 October 2023

that, due to mesofabric, these materials appear as sort of granular soil with weak particles, the
response displayed by the Bisaccia clay shale seems to be a consistent result, suggesting that
the coupled effect of its “granular” fabric and of the low interparticle shear strength due to high
plasticity is the cause of the lower thresholds. Moving to the Grottaminarda clay shales, which
present a lower average plasticity, the differences with respect to the data provided by the tech-
nical literature seem to decrease. This might be due to the opposite contribution of the interpar-
ticle shear strength which is probably higher due to the lower plasticity.

1 1

volumetric threshold strain, v

Grottaminarda Red Flysch
linear threshold strain, l (%)

Reconstituted Bisaccia clay shales

intact Bisaccia clay shales
0,1

(%)
0,1

0,01
Grottaminarda red Flysch
reconstituted Bisaccia clay shale
intact Bisaccia clay shale
0,001 0,01
0 50 100 150 0 50 100 150
Ip (%) Ip (%)
a) b)

Figure 2. Relationships between a) linear and volumetric thresholds and plasticity index
(modified after Mancuso & Silvestri 1991).

CONCLUSIONS

The aim of this investigation is providing some information about the role that the mesofabric
can play on the behaviour of “scaly” clay shales in the range of small to medium strains. The
data that are being collected suggest that the “granular” structure of these materials tend to
lower both the linear and the volumetric threshold.

REFERENCES

A.G.I. (1979). Some italian experiences on the mechanical characterization of structurally complex formations.
Proc. IV Int. Congr. Rock Mechanics, Montreux, 1: 1-20.
Bilotta E, Pellegrino A, Picarelli L (1985). Geotechnical properties and slope stability in structurally complex clay
soils. Chapter 3: Physical and mechanical properties. Golden Jubilee Volume: 195-214, Associazione Geotecnica
Italiana.
d’Onofrio A, Picarelli L, Urciuoli G. (2023). The shear strength of two tectonized clay shales. Rock Mechanics
and Rock Engineering, submitted for publication.
Esu F (1977). Behaviour of slopes in structurally complex fomations. Proc. Int. Symp. "The Geotechnics of
Structurally Complex Formations", Capri, 2: 292-304.
Olivares L (1996). Caratterizzazione dell’Argilla di Bisaccia in condizioni monotone, cicliche e dinamiche e ri-
flessi sul comportamento del “Colle” a seguito del terremoto del 1980. PhD Thesis, Università di Napoli Federico
II.
Picarelli L, Olivares L, Di Maio C, Silvestri F, Di Nocera S, Urciuoli G (2002). Structure, properties and mechan-
ical behaviour of the highly plastic intensely fissured Bisaccia Clay Shale. Int. Workshop on “Characterisation and
Engineering Properties of Natural Soils”, Singapore, 2: 947-982.
Vucetic M, Dobry R (1995). Effects of soil plasticity on cyclic response. Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering
Division, ASCE, 111(1): 89-107.

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