Ground Shrinking and Swelling: UK Geohazard Note
Ground Shrinking and Swelling: UK Geohazard Note
Ground Shrinking and Swelling: UK Geohazard Note
May 2012
Differential subsidence due to down-slope side of What are the consequences of it occurring?
house moving on shrinkable soil. Image © Chris Page.
Damage to buildings may occur when the volume
change of the soil, due to shrinking or swelling, is
What is a shrink–swell? unevenly distributed beneath the foundations. For
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UK Geohazard Note
May 2012
UK Examples
In the UK, the effects of shrinking and
swelling were first recognised by geotechnical
specialists following the dry summer of 1947;
since then the cost of damage due to shrinking
and swelling clay soils has risen dramatically.
After the drought of 1975–76 insurance
claims came to over £50 million. In 1991, after
the preceding drought, claims peaked at over
£500 million.
Cracks in Gault Clay, Munday’s Hill Quarry, Leighton
Towns and cities built on clay-rich soils
Buzzard. Image © NERC.
most susceptible to shrink–swell behaviour
are found mainly in the south-east of the
country. Here, many of the ‘clay’ formations 2006). The Association of British Insurers has
(e.g. London Clay, Oxford Clay, Gault Clay, estimated that the average cost of shrink–swell
Kimmeridge Clay) are too young to have been related subsidence to the insurance industry stands
changed into stronger ‘mudstones’, leaving at over £400 million per year (Driscoll and Crilly,
them still able to absorb and lose moisture. 2000).
Clay rocks elsewhere in the country are older
and have been compacted and hardened by
deep burial and are less able to absorb water. Scientific detail
Some shrink-swell prone clays (e.g. around
Monitoring and measurement
The Wash and under the Lancashire Plain)
are deeply buried beneath other (superficial) The main factors chosen as relevant to the
soils that are not susceptible to shrink–swell determination of shrink–swell and the ability to
behaviour. However, some superficial deposits assess it on a national basis are:
such as alluvium, peat and laminated clays • Volume change potential (VCP) of bedrock and
can also be susceptible to soil subsidence and superficial deposits
heave (e.g. in the Vale of York and the Cheshire
Basin). • Thickness and type of superficial deposits
• Variation in till (superficial deposits laid down by
the direct action of glacial ice)
What is the cost to the UK economy? The selection of those factors accord with the
Shrinking and swelling of the ground (often assessment methodologies outlined by the Building
reported as subsidence) is one of the most damaging Research Establishment (BRE 1993).
geohazards in the UK today costing the economy A meaningful assessment of the shrink–swell
an estimated £3 billion over the past 10 years (ABI, potential of the UK requires a considerable amount of
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UK Geohazard Note
May 2012
high-quality, consistent and well distributed spatial recognised that future climate change is one of the
data. The BGS ‘National Geotechnical Properties biggest problems that the UK faces and, if current
Database’ contains a large amount of index test predictions are correct, we can expect hotter, drier
data. At the time of writing, the database contained summers in the south-east of England and milder,
data from more than 80 000 boreholes, comprising wetter winters, in the rest of the UK (Jones, 2004).
nearly 320 000 geotechnical samples, with 100 000
containing relevant plasticity data, which is used to
calculate the VCP.
In addition to the shrink-swell properties of the The Association of British Insurers predicts that
bedrock being classified, consideration is also given subsidence (downward movement of the ground
to the thickness and variation of superficial deposits surface) claims will reach £600 million a year by
including variations in the type of glacial till. All of 2050 and the AA, which monitors over 40 different
these factors have been considered when producing home insurers, is predicting that the average home
the GeoSure shrink–swell hazard maps. insurance premium will rise significantly in the
years ahead (Jones, 2004).
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UK Geohazard Note
May 2012
Further information
Contact the BGS Shallow Geohazards team by:
Email – enquiries@bgs.ac.uk
Telephone – 0115 9363143
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