HYDROGEOLOGY AND ENGINEERING GEOLOGY OF THE ‘SLEEPING DISTRICT’ (VARKETILI) OF TBILISI, GEORGIA

Abstract

Buildings in the Varkethili ‘Sleeping District’ of Tbilisi are often affected by subsidence. They are underlain by the extensive third left bank terrace of the River Mtkvari, formed by products of erosion of the flat-lying slopes above and cut by natural drainage channels. Geotechnical and chemical analyses of the sediments suggests that the main reasons for subsidence are chemical and pore water pressure changes in the reactive sediments brought about in part by changes in the recharge regime which in turn was the result of urbanization.