Introduction

Peat soils are also known as organics soils. Peat soil is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic
matter that is unique to natural areas called peat land, bogs, mires, moors or muskegs. The peat land ecosystems is the
most efficient carbon sink on the planet, it is because peat land plant capture CO 2 naturally release from the peat and
maintaining an equilibrium. Peat has been identified as one of the major groups of soils found in Malaysia. There are
2.4 million hectares of peat soil in Malaysia, with 1.5 million hectares occurring in Sarawak alone (Zainorabidin &
Mohamad, 2008). The distribution of peat soils in Malaysia divided with percentage where Sarawak supports the
largest area of peat soils in Malaysia with 1,697,847 ha or 69.08 % and followed by Peninsular Malaysia with 642,918
ha or 26.16% and Sabah contributed 116,965 ha or 4.76 % (Zainorabidin & Mohamad, 2008). Since peat soils are
organics rich materials in nature. It has the unique combination of physical properties of peat such as low bulk density,
high total porosity, and the ability to swell and shrink upon wetting and drying (Rezanezhad et al., 2016). The high
water table and the soft nature of the soil make peat soils soggy and it is not easy to walk on an un-drained peat soil
without sinking down. Peat is often referred to as one of the most problematic soils due to its low shear strength, high
water content, and low specific gravity and it is severely harmfully compressible. Peat exhibits unique geotechnical
properties in comparison with those of inorganic soil such as sand, silt and clay (Abdel-Salam, 2017). As the peat soil
is highly compressible, so it undergoes excessive settlement when buildings are constructed above it, and it causes
consequently instability problems such as slip failure, local sinking and considerable primary and long-term
settlement, even if moderate load is subjected on it (Abdel-Salam, 2017). Recently, the utilization of peat land in
Malaysia is quite low. This is because engineers are reluctant to construct on peat because of difficulty to access the
site and other problems related to unique characteristics of peat. Therefore, not much research has been focused on
the behavior of peat and the development of soil improvement method for construction on peat soil area. Replacing
the peat with good quality soil is still a common practice when construction has to take place on peat deposit even
though most probably this effort will lead to uneconomic design. Approaches have been developed to address the
problems associated with construction over peat deposits. Alternative construction and stabilization methods such as
surface reinforcement, preloading, chemical stabilization, sand or stone column, pre-fabricated vertical drains, and the
use of piles were discussed in literatures. The selection of the most appropriate method should be based on the
examination of the index and engineering characteristics of the soil. The knowledge on the shear strength and
compression behavior is essential as it enables designers to understand the response of the soil to load and to suggest
proper engineering solutions to overcome the problem.
Abdel-Salam, A. E. (2017). Stabilization of peat soil using locally admixture. HBRC Journal, 05.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hbrcj.2016.11.004
Rezanezhad, F., Price, J. S., Quinton, W. L., Lennartz, B., Milojevic, T., & Van Cappellen, P. (2016). Structure of
peat soils and implications for water storage, flow and solute transport: A review update for geochemists.
Chemical Geology, 429, 7584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.03.010
Zainorabidin, A., & Mohamad, H. M. (2008). Engineering Properties of Integrated Tropical Peat Soil in Malaysia.
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 22, 19. https://doi.org/10.3923/jas.2008.4215.4219