A PRELIMINARY GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF PART OF THE KARAKORAM HIGHWAY
The Karakoram Highway has been constructed through extremely difficult high arid mountainous terrain characterized by long, steep slopes, highly fractured and heavily weathered rocks, extensive areas of debris accumulation and locally high rates of geomorphological activity. The problems for road construction imposed by difficulties of access and remoteness have been compounded by rockslope instability, debris flows, river and meltwater surges, and fluctuating glacier snouts. As a consequence, the employment of sophisticated engineering techniques was abandoned in favour of widespread blasting and an extended period of labour-intensive maintenance. This paper is concerned with an 147 km stretch of the highway and essentially subdivides into two parts. The first part describes the terrain conditions and main hazards posed to road construction, and includes a geomorphological assessment of the chosen alignment. The second section presents the results of a detailed survey of 128.8 km of the highway in terms of the patterns of disruption experienced during the first three years of its life, and the distribution of a variety of hazards which will continue to endanger the road. This survey clearly reveals the importance of a good appreciation of geomorphological processes to highway engineering in arid mountains, as well as indicating the potential for gemorphological inputs to highway design. (Author/TRRL)
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/04812085
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was presented at the Annual Regional meeting of The Engineering Group of The Geological Society held at Birmingham University on 13th-17th September, 1982.
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Corporate Authors:
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY
LONDON, United Kingdom W1V 0JU -
Authors:
- Jones, DKC
- Brunsden, D
- Goudie, A S
- Publication Date: 1983
Media Info
- Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
- Pagination: p. 331-355
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Serial:
- QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
- Volume: 16
- Issue Number: 4
- Publisher: GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
- ISSN: 0481-2085
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Conferences; Construction; Forecasting; Geomorphology; Glacial soils; Highways; Inland waterways; Landslides; Location; Mountains; Road construction; Rocks; Slope stability; Slopes; Terrain; Weathering
- Geographic Terms: China; Pakistan
- Old TRIS Terms: Construction problems
- ITRD Terms: 8023: China; 8525: Conference; 132: Forecast; 4055: Geomorphology; 4011: Glacial; 2755: Highway; 1088: Inland waterway; 4029: Landslide; 9061: Location; 8085: Pakistan; 4154: Rock; 2831: Slope (terrain); 5783: Slope stability; 4035: Terrain; 5281: Weathering
- Subject Areas: Construction; Geotechnology; Highways; I41: General Soil Surveys; I43: Rock Mechanics;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00382476
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
- Files: ITRD, TRIS
- Created Date: Apr 30 1984 12:00AM