GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS OF GRAVEL REMOVAL 

 H. P. Thomas and R. G. Tart, Jr. 



INTRODUCTION 



The initial geotechnical effort on ttie project consisted of a litera- 

 ture review and evaluation of questionnaires sent to highway departments 

 around the United States. Results of this effort were presented in a prelim- 

 inary report (Woodward-Clyde Consultants 1976). This section presents the 

 findings of a geotechnical review that consisted of an office evaluation of 

 the limited data from the 25 study sites made available to the project 

 geotechnical engineers. This section identifies general geotechnical consid- 

 erations that should be considered in gravel removal projects. The major 

 data sources were: the mining plans that varied greatly in detail from site 

 to site (for some sites no mining plans are available); aerial photography 

 that varied from site to site in scale, coverage (both historical and 

 areal), and quality; and site photographs collected during biological and 

 hydrological field inspections. This section is, in many cases, generic and 

 general in its treatment because of the limitations of the available data. 



The objectives of this evaluation were to identify: 



1) Engineering techniques that led to efficient development and opera- 

 tion of gravel removal areas; 



2) Engineering techniques that mitigated environmental disturbance; and 



3) Engineering techniques that could have been used in various condi- 

 tions that would have led to more efficient operation with less 

 environmental disturbance. 



3! I 



