Physical, geotechnical and morphological characteristics of peat soils from Sarawak

Abstract

In Malaysia, Sarawak has the largest area of peat-land in the country, covering approximately 1.66 million hectares. With the rapid industrialisation and population growth, construction is scheduled almost all over the place including the area of peatland. As peat or highly organic soil is a major problem in infrastructure development of the tropical and coastal regions, we should initially discern the physical and geotechnical properties of these soils. The current study describes the physical and geotechnical properties of tropical peat soils from Matang, Sarawak. Different physical properties e.g. organic content (OC), liquid limit (LL), fiber content (FC), and specific gravity (Gs) and geotechnical properties e.g. compaction, and Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test have been conducted on remoulded peat soil samples. The results show that peat has very high moisture content and organic content; low specific gravity, dry unit weight and UCS value. Also, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images were taken for some peat soil samples in order to study their microstructures.