Approach 



Samples of a dalcareous ooze have been obtained and are being 

 evaluated via conventional soils testing and data analysis techniques. 

 Physical property and engineering index parameter tests have been 

 completed and the data evaluated in order to compare the pelagic 

 sediment samples with terrestrial soils. Test results describing 

 the primary consolidation behavior have been evaluated and are 

 presented herein, followed by the results of short-term shear deformation 

 tests describing the shear failure condition of the sediment. 



The secondary consolidation and shear creep behavior of this 

 material are the subject of present testing and evaluation, to 

 be published at a later date. The secondary consolidation behavior 

 of many soils has been examined by others with the intention of 

 developing a satisfactory universal treatment of the phenomenon 

 [14-21], but none of these treatments has proven universally successful 

 (Reference 22, p. 142). Similarly, the shear creep phenomenon has 

 been examined by others in many soils [23-27] , but the fundamental 

 concepts needed to develop practical design tools to control creep 

 effects are not yet available (Reference 22, p. 144). This future 

 study will examine the applicability to calcareous ooze of the 

 previously developed predictive techniques for secondary consolidation 

 and shear creep phenomena, and will evaluate sediment grain character 

 changes during consolidation and shear creep to assist in understanding 

 and developing a predictive model for calcareous ooze load -deformation- 

 time behavior . 



SAMPLE ACQUISITION AND INDEX PROPERTIES 



Coring and Core Transport and Storage 



Calcareous ooze samples were obtained from the USNS WILKES 

 in the central Caribbean (Venezuelan Basin) approximately at latitude 

 15 OO'N, longitude 69 20'W. It was desirable for this study to 

 obtain samples of large horizontal area to provide adjacent test 

 specimens from the same horizontal strata, that is, to provide 

 specimens of near identical initial condition. Thus, a spade box 

 corer [28], (see Figure 1) with a sample box 0.20 x 0.30 x 0.46 m 

 high, was used to obtain two cores at each of two sites (four cores 

 total) about 7.5 km (4 naut . mi.) apart in 3,930 m water depth. 

 Topography slopes gently upward to the northwest with no significant 

 undulations (i.e., no abyssal hills). The box corer samples included 

 material from sediment depths of 30-490 mm to 100-560 mm depending 

 on the depth of corer penetration; that is, corer tip penetration 

 varied from 490 to 560 mm. The driving head to which the core box 

 is fastened permits clearance for the 100 mm of material above 



