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Geological and geotechnical constraints for urban planning and natural environment protection: a case study from Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia

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Abstract

The study was conducted in the rapidly expanding city of Mekelle located in the northern part of Ethiopia, East Africa. An integrated approach including geomorphological, geological and engineering geological, geotechnical and hydrogeological methods were used to characterize the natural urban environment to be used as a baseline for protection and rational planning of development. Conventional field observation, test pits and drilled boreholes were used to collect soil, rock and water samples and standard laboratory procedures were applied. The results revealed that the main geologic constraints to sustainable development of the city are active erosion, instability of slopes, flood hazard, cyclic/alternating hard and weak rock layers, high swelling–shrinkage soils, shallow and unconfined groundwater with variable composition and high susceptibility to corrosion and pollution. It is recommended to avoid development and expansion of the city in areas of steep land forms, at the foot of steep slopes and in areas covered by black alluvial soil deposits. Development of a systematic multidisciplinary database aided by GIS, with continuous monitoring and updating is also highly recommended and will be useful for further refined geotechnical microzonation. It is the authors’ belief that this study highlights the basic constraints and hazards the city is facing, and provides baseline information and awareness to the city planners, decision makers, geo-environmentalists, engineers and the community for future expansion and rehabilitation plans and to tackle the existing hazards.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this study was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Ethiopia through a local research grant. The authors are very grateful to the Department of Earth Science of Mekelle University for providing logistic support to conduct additional fieldwork. The technical support extended by the Commission for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Rehabilitation in Tigray (CO-SAERT) geotechnical laboratory for analyzing soil samples is duly acknowledged. Thanks also go to the Flemish Interuniversity Council-University Cooperation for Development (VLIR-UOS) for the short research stay grant at Ghent University, Belgium, for the first author to prepare this article. Staff of Laboratory for Applied Geology and Hydrogeology of Ghent University are highly appreciated for various assistances.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 1202, Mekelle, Ethiopia

    Gebremedhin Berhane

  2. Laboratory for Applied Geology and Hydrogeology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan, 281-S8, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Kristine Walraevens

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  1. Gebremedhin Berhane
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Correspondence to Gebremedhin Berhane.

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Berhane, G., Walraevens, K. Geological and geotechnical constraints for urban planning and natural environment protection: a case study from Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia. Environ Earth Sci 69, 783–798 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1963-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1963-x

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