ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTIC AND EVALUATION OF PERMAFROST GROUND ALONG QINGHAI-TIBET RAILWAY

Qinghai-Tibet permafrost is one of the productions of high altitude and iciness weather in the geological period, and also is one of the three puzzles in the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction. Moreover, the work of engineering geological characteristic and evaluations for the permafrost ground is a foundation for a reasonable and dependable engineering design. Based on these reasons and the 15 types of geomorphic distributions along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, 70 typical profiles in the study area are chosen to carry out geological investigation. We use the methods combining geological drilling in the field and laboratory experiments and analyses. We examine the geological characteristics of each section and evaluate engineering geological types of each section. the investigation shows: it has many types of permafrost in Qinghai-Tibet permafrost areas, extensive distribution of permafrost of high ice content and thick ground ice, different ground temperatures in different sections, and the complex geologic structures of the project, interlaced distributions of engineering geological sections of different types. The results can provide the foundation for control disasters along Qinghai-Tibet Railway in use period. They can also be used as a reference for railway construction of the similar regions.