Feasibility study of the southern extension land for the Mila town (North-East of Algeria) with a view to their urbanization: geotechnical and geophysical approach

This work presents the geotechnical and the geophysical characterizations of soil for an area forming the southeast extension of the Mila town (Marechau region). This area shows traces of ancient land movements, permanent flows, clayey lithology, and irregular morphology with a steep slope. To make decision for building it, we analyzed their soils by carrying out the core drilling tests, the dynamic penetration tests, the laboratory tests, the determination of the electrical resistivity in order to describe and to study the vertical and the lateral variability of the underlying geological formations, and measured the electrical resistivity to map the depth of bedrock roof. We also describe the three-dimensional organizations of underlying geological materials that make up the study area. The core drilling test results gave a clayey soil with limestone blocks. The dynamic penetration test shows two categories of soil. The laboratory tests confirm that the materials analyzed are clayey nature, saturated, very plastic, over-consolidated and medium to very compressible, with medium to strong swelling potential, and medium aggressiveness on concrete. The tomography results show a single layer land of a clayey nature with massive rocks embedded in it. The combination of these results with location, land morphology, tectonic and their sismotectonic aspect indicate that the area is at high-risk, and their urbanization requires rigorous and mandatory precautionary measures.