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USGS · 70021519

Geomorphological and geotechnical issues affecting the seismic slope stability of the Duwamish River Delta, Port of Seattle, Washington

Robert E. Kayen·Walter A. Barnhardt·Stephen P. Palmer
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Abstract

Young Holocene deposits of the Duwamish River valley underlie a highly developed transportation-industrial corridor, extending from the City of Kent to the Elliott Bay-Harbor Island marine terminal facilities. The deposits have been shaped by relative sea-level rise, but also by episodic volcanism and seismicity. A geologic and geotechnical investigation of these river-mouth deposits indicates high initial liquefaction susceptibility during earthquakes, and possibly the potential for unlimited-strain disintegrative flow failure of the delta front.

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Robert E. Kayen, Walter A. Barnhardt, Stephen P. Palmer. 1999. Geomorphological and geotechnical issues affecting the seismic slope stability of the Duwamish River Delta, Port of Seattle, Washington. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70021519

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