Let Geoinvestigate quote for your next desk study or borehole site investigation in Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull, Beverley or Goole. From Geoinvestigate’s Middlesbrough office our team of dedicated geoscientists provide expertise in the Geo-environmental, Geotechnical and Contaminated Land sectors helping architects, builders, land surveyors, structural engineers, insurers, project managers and private home owners to get the right solution no matter the size of their development or how complex the problems with the ground may be.
The soils along the flood banks of the River Humber extending from Goole to Hull have long been notorious for their weak condition including as they do very soft and soft unconsolidated organic silty clays, loose silt and sand and highly compressible peat. Their saving grace is that in many places along the Humber flood plain and in the in Hull itself these weak soils are covered by a stronger capping or “crust” of soft to firm, firm, or firm to stiff clay typically some 1m to 1.50m thick. It is the presence of this layer or “crust” which has made development on the banks of the Humber feasible from Roman to Victorian times and beyond up to the 1960s. After this with the advent of modern day low cost piling and rafting techniques the ground conditions became a less significant factor for construction though the crust still provides a vital platform supporting car parking, roads and floors of various sizes and loadings.
Recently Geoinvestigate achieved a borehole depth of 10m in Hull penetrating the crust and the soft estuarine and lacustrine soils beneath it terminating in glacial basement. The borehole site investigation was achieved using a mini-drop hammer drill rig with a driven duplex casing system extended further using drilling techniques developed in house by Geoinvestigate to get the extra depth.
Grinning ear from ear Jack Harper – Geoinvestigate’s geo-environmental project engineer was obviously chuffed with the performance of the rig but reckoned it wouldn’t have been possible without the companies ace “bohr meister” technician Phil who has developed considerable expertise over the years in drilling and sampling Hull and the Humber’s weak soils. Phil said if you’re drilling in Goole or Hull or on the banks of the Humber you can often feel the crust vibrate as the drop hammer hits the tubes. To start with the tubes slide in easily but they soon build-up friction in the sloppy ground below. It always give me pleasure to see a full tube of peat coming up to surface – then you know the jobs a good un.
Phil has kindly provided our readers with a recent Geoinvestigate site investigation borehole log typical of the soils on the north bank of the river Humber and Hull. Briefly the borehole encountered 0.00m – 1.40m of firm clay crust followed by transitional soft clay at the base of the crust, in turn underlain by very soft organic silty clay and loose sand with peat between 6.00m – 7.30m. Stiff glacial till basement started at 9.40m.
Phil has done a lot of borehole site investigations north of Hull and in Beverley and it always amazes him how the soil conditions change from deep ooze at the Humber to strong stoney glacial drift with chalk bedrock lying near to surface in Beverley. No disrespect to borehole site investigations in Beverley but Phil says he prefers the more difficult geotechnical conditions in and around Hull.
In addition to providing borehole site investigation services Geoinvestigate also provides services in the areas of geotechnical and geo-environmental consultancy, walk-over surveys, borehole drilling, site investigation, Phase 1 desk studies, Phase 2 site investigations, drilling and testing, landfill gas surveys and contaminated land investigations with full remediation and validation strategies.
Geoinvestigate would be pleased to quote for your next geotechnical geo-environmental, engineering geology, contaminated land or borehole site investigation services in Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull, Beverley, Goole, Scunthorpe or Grimsby.