A Review of the Major Problem Soils in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper intends to produce a compendium of geotechnical properties of major problem soils of Nigeria which have critical influence on the design, performance, lifespan, construction cost and maintenance of civil engineering structures. Apart from the well researched lateritic soils of Nigeria, the black cotton soils (BCS) of north-eastern Nigeria, clay shale of north-western Nigeria, organic clay prominent in Lagos and soft sedimentary deposits of the Niger-Delta areas of Nigeria are also considered. Significant geotechnical properties of major problem soils in Nigeria were discovered to be scattered in different publications, magazines, journals, conference proceedings, research papers etc. Consequently, it is the aim of this paper to collate, correlate, analyze and digitize these important geotechnical properties on digital map of Nigeria. A Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software called ArcGIS will be used to generate isopleths in form of contours for these soil properties on map of Nigeria.