Identification of Expansive Soils as Weathering Product of Volcanic Materials in Jatinangor Area, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Jatinangor had been decided as a new location of several campuses such as Unpad, ITB, IKOPIN, and IPDN. This has the implication of development of many infrastructures to support the educational activities. To avoid the occurrence of problematic soils such as a infrastructural damage and landslide phenomena, it is necessary to identify the expansive soils as the basement of buildings and any infrastructures. The research method includes geological mapping, petrographic analysis, engineering geologic mapping, undisturbed soil sampling, mineralogical analysis and physical properties analysis. The result of this study shows that the study area is divided into four soil units due to the USCS (Unified Soil Classification System) and shows low—very high swelling potential, activity ranges from 0.34 to 1.36 and composed kaolinite, chlorite, and montmorillonite clay minerals.