R&M Engineers took core samples of glacial till at the site of the Alaska State Capitol Building as part of the Capitol Restoration Project. The first phase involves geotechnical investigations looking at the geology under the building. The sample, taken from a depth of 54-feet, was estimated at one-million-years-old and formed by pressurization from the weight of the glacier coverage over time. Glacial till is a heterogeneous mixture of clay to boulder size particles deposited within or beneath glacial ice. Bore samples taken around the building are expected to be finished next week. R&M is contracted by Juneau architectural firm Jensen Yorba Lott.





Comments (8)
Add commentThe problem....
Too much money!!!!
Hardpan
I've excavated glacial till on that hill. Undisturbed, it will last another million years.
Makes you wonder . . .
. . . what geotechnical information was used for the orginal building construction? Seems like there would be an existing foundation report for the original construction floating around that would negate the need for drilling EXACTLY WHERE THE BUILDING IS RIGHT NOW! These investigations are not cheap.
Maybe they will hit gold...
Maybe they will hit gold...
Outdoor Genius
The building was started in the late 1920's and finished in 1931.
What kind of technology do think they had back then? The word "geotechnical" didn't exist.....
Just the title alone made me
Just the title alone made me puke in my mouth. That's what our loser, quitter half-term governor used to say. Please don't use any of her stupid sayings JE!
of course......
....if our ex-governor were still around, she'd have to disavow the results of this work - as the world according to her is only 6,000 years old.
"geotechnical investigations" = CYA by architect and engineer
Seriously? Core samples to tell you what you already know is under the entire area? Just a $10,000 - $20,000 report to file away so Architect and Engineer can say they dotted every "i" and crossed every "t". Only problem is that they don't pay for the documentation-we do.