Liquefaction Assessment of Northeast Arkansas, USA

The northeast Arkansas (NEA) region in the USA is vulnerable to liquefaction due to the sediment soil of the Mississippi Embayment (ME) and the seismicity of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). Past evidence of sand boiling or geological-based soil susceptibility to liquefaction in this area strongly supports the future vulnerability. In this study, the design moment magnitude (MM) of an earthquake of 7.6 and a shallow ground water table depth of 1 m were considered during liquefaction evaluation in the fully automated ‘Cliq’ software. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) values at cone penetration test sites were obtained from site-specific ground motion response analysis using the nearest neighbor method. The liquefaction assessment in terms of seismic demand and soil resistance to cyclic stress was conducted and post-earthquake deformations were estimated. A total of 131 cone penetration test data of different sites were analyzed. The liquefaction contour maps of Mississippi County generated using the ArcGIS pro tool showed that most of the sites of in NEA are in danger of major liquefactions, but there was a wide variation of liquefaction potentials. The generated maps can be helpful in lifeline and highway layout and planning, site selection and design work of critical structure and bridge, and preliminary estimates of post-liquefaction deformation in low-risk projects.