DOLMEN CITY PROJECT REPORT

Prof. Dr. Viqar Husain (Convenor SEGMITE) Department of Geology, University of Karachi

1. Surface Geology of the Area: The topography of the Dolman city area is plain and
it is built along the sea cost on the recently filled silt and sand sediments. In the Clifton area and in the vicinity of Dolman city, following three types of costal sediments occur (Fig.1). i) Sand bar deposits: The sand bar deposits comprise of medium to coarse sand, micaceous and shifing sand dunes. ii) Coastal sand dune deposits: These are medium sized and shifting sand dunes. iii) Beach sand deposits: These are medium to coarse grained, unconsolidated sand with pebbles and broken shells. These have been marked but keep on shifting by wind into small coastal dunes.

LEGEND Coastal Geology

Fig. 1 Surface Geology Map of Clifton Area, Karachi

2. Subsurface Geology The subsurface geological bore hole data show that major sediments include filled material (water saturated) upto 6 meters depth. While, silty fine sand, medium hard siltstone and clay stone sediments occur upto 15 meters below the surface. Whereas, below this depth, there is solid strata comprising of hard sandstone and siltstone upto the depth of 46 meters (Table 1). Table 1. Subsurface Geology in the Clifton Area, Karachi 0/6 meters 6-8 meters 8-15 meters Fill Material Grey, loose to medium Dense, silty, fine SAND, trace to little mica Grey, medium dense, silty, fine, SAND, Grayish brown, medium hard, SILTSTONE / CLAYSTONE, Low plasticity Grey, friable to medium Hard, SANDSTONE, Fine to Medium grained Grey, medium hard, SILTSTONE Grey, friable to medium hard, SANDSTONE, fine grained

15-33.meters 33-34.5 meters 34.5-46 meters

3. Structural Geology and Geomorphology

The geology and structural details of the Karachi urban and coastal zone areas lying within Karachi synclinorium is known relatively to the lesser extent and no-body knows if an active fault may be lying concealed a few feet below the surface. The coastal zone lies in the south of Karachi region. It consists of vegetated tidal mud flats, beach sands, coastal dunes, coastal terraces, rock arches, wave cut platforms, bars and pits. The coast is emergent type. Offshore bars, beach barriers like sands pit indicate coastal emergence in recent times. Sandspit and Manora islands are part of an offshore bar behind which a lagoon is formed. This lagoon serves as Karachi Harbour. Dolman city and the Clifton area is part of the coastal zone of Karachi. There are extensions of the active faults from east (Rann of Kutch Fault), west (Jhill and Manghopir faults) and north (Pab and Surjan faults) under the Karachi Metropolis, which

might be running through coastal zones and also underneath Clifton and DHA buildings. In addition to the above faults, other such structures may be present concealed under the Recent sediments

4. Seismology of the Area

Pakistani areas are related to interaction of three lithospheric plates, i.e., Indian, Arabian, and Eurasian plate (Fig. 2). In 1945, an inter-plate earthquake of M 8.1 struck the Makran coast of Pakistan and produced 1-3 meters of coastal uplift. Other large earthquakes hit Pakistan coast in 1765 and 1851. In fact, no part of Pakistan can said to be completely safe from earthquakes. The dominant tectonic feature of the KarachiMakran region is the extensive fold and thrust belt that extends from north western India to southern Pakistan. History of the region reveals that the seismically active areas around Karachi are: (a) Kithar fold and thrust belt/OrnachNal-Chaman transform fault zone. (b) Makran subduction zone and (c) Intracrationic rift zone of Indian Gujrat. All these seismically active areas lie within a range of few hundred km from Pakistans most populous and coastal city of Karachi. The structures associated within these areas have potential of generating highly damaging earthquakes and have already played significant role in the earthquake/seismic history of the region.

Fig. 2. Plate-tectonic sketch map showing location of Karachi and Makran with respect to major plate boundaries (after Jacob and Quittmeyer, 1979).

Indus offshore basin is an Atlantic-type passive margin basin, which straddles the continental crust of extension of Sindh platform and Kirthar Fore Deep as well as oceanic crust of Arabian Sea. West of Indus offshore, a mid-oceanic ridge was produced as an effect of rafting of the Indian plate and eventually thinning of the lithosphere of this plate is named as Murray Ridge. Northward in Pakistan offshore, the Murray Ridge extends to unite the Ornach-Nal-Chaman Fault system onshore, displaying a strike-slip boundary between the major tectonic plates of India and Eurasia (Baloch and Quirk, 2003). Makran coast and its interior is one of the very active seismic regions. Earthquakes of high intensity have occurred here. The tectonic instability of this region lies in the fact that there are large number of reverse and tear faults. The greatest earthquake that occurred in this region was on 27th November 1945. A shock of 8.1 magnitude hit the coastal areas of Makran. Its epicenter was about 60 miles from Makran coast and 160 miles north-west of Karachi. The Karachi itself was rocked and people felt tremors strongly. The earthquake was accompanied by a tidal wave as high as 40 feet with a speed of 140 miles per hour. Many fishing villages of Sindh and Balochistan were swept away. Karachi luckily escaped because the tidal wave coincided with the ebb tide. Had it coincided with high tide, the Karachi Coast would have been under water within no time (KDA, 1970).

5. Liquefaction Features Caused by Earthquake

Liquefaction is a total loss of strength due to undrained restructuring. Disturbance, by shearing or vibration, destroys soil skeleton, with loss of grain contact and decrease of porosity, soil load is transferred to pore water, water pressure> normal stress = 0, and soil acts as a liquid. Drainage reduces pore water pressure, allows grain contact and thixotropic recovery of strength (Waltham, 2002). During the earthquake, strong shaking produces liquefaction in the fine sands and silts. This causes the mineral grains to settle and expel their interstitial water to the surface. If the pore-water pressure rises to a level approaching the weight of overlying soil, the granular layer behaves as a viscous liquid rather than a solid and leads to collapse of even engineered structures. Liquefaction has been abundant in areas, where groundwater lies within 10 meters of the ground surface (Husain et al., 2004). Investigators typically have designated sites as Liquefied on the basis of the presence of surficial liquefaction features, such as venting of sediment to the

surface (i.e., sand boils), ground cracking associated with liquefaction (e.g., lateral spreading), or surface settlements. Other evidence of liquefaction included tilting or settling of overlying structures and floating of underground structures (Olson et al., 2002). The liquefaction process is extremely damaging to all sorts of engineered structures, it has caused major destruction in both Alaska and San Francisco (Pinty, 2003). The ground failure that resulted from liquefaction during New Madrid, Bhuj and Hazara-Kashmir earthquakes was severe, which included the vertical displacement of 3 to 6 feet and lateral displacement up to 33 feet (Tuttle, 2001). A recurrence of that type of event would have severe consequences for engineered structures. The Bhuj earthquake provided an opportunity to study an earthquake that was very similar to the New Madrid event it was a very large earthquake and it occurred in an intraplate like setting (Tuttle, 2001). The New Madrid and Kutch regions are both located more that 300 km from active plate boundaries. If we study modern earthquakes that produce liquefaction we can better interpret the geologic record of liquefaction during past events. This helps us anticipate what is likely to happen in the future, so that we can make informed decisions about reducing and mitigating hazards (Tutttle et al., 2002).

6. Surface and Ground water Quality

The surface water available in the area is sea water which is highly saline. The ground water table lies at 1.6 to 2.3 meters depth. The ground water quality is very saline having total dissolved solids about 2000mg/l. The chloride contents rages from 75566 to 9550 mg/l and the concentration of sulfate range between 1188 to 1242. It is therefore, very poor quality ground water and unsafe for any use.

7.

Possible Impacts of Construction Activities on Environment

The negative impact of the building on the environment will not be negative, provided solid waste and sewage waste from this building is not thrown directly in the sea. It is quite scattered populous area and this building is not going to impact the air quality of the area.

8.

Seismic Threat Potential and Mitigations

The Dolman city is a high rise building like many other such constructions in the vicinity. In view of the serious earthquake threats to the Karachi-coast because of three tectonic paltes junction about 150 mile offshore and past seismic history, it is necessary that this building is made earthquake resistant. Further, this building has been constructed on recently filled sediments which are liquefiable because of high water content in them.Moreover, high water table of 2 meters in the area also poses serious liquefaction threat to this building resulting in tilting or damage of the structure during any major earthquake, as soils with water table less than 10 meters deep are considered liquefiable.

9.

Mitigations

The foundation of the building should be rested on hard sandstone and clay stone which lies about 15-20 meters below the depth. It will save the Dolman city from any liquefaction threat during earthquake. Further, deep piling of the foundation will also save it from liquefaction feared to be caused by high water table (about 2 meters) in this area.