City Officials Ignore the Public Danger!
Fault running under new Salt Lake construction, the Salt Palace is a public threat not taken seriously
Sunday, May 2, 1999
Real `Fault' at Salt Palace Is Ignoring Scientific Consensus
BY PETER SHAFFNER
Many geologists, myself included, had the opportunity to visit the Salt Palace excavation and take a detailed look at the exposed and very disrupted foundation materials. Most of us have dozens of pictures of the remarkable exposures.
Months ago, everyone was aware that this was likely to be "covered up" (literally) and disputed, since the politics of admitting the obvious ramifications may cost billions of dollars. This was very predictable -- "geopolitics" at its worst. The fact that admitting foundation concerns might save thousands of lives is easily lost.
You can be assured that many scientists across the United States have had the opportunity to view the exposures, and we follow the cover-up stories with great interest. Many of us laugh to see the argument twisted by politicians into a "fault or no fault" issue, which totally misses the significance of the disrupted soils to the engineering of building foundations.
No scientists, engineers or construction workers who viewed those exposures would disagree that a major earthquake caused liquefaction and significant displacement of sediments all the way up to the ground surface. Liquefied Lake Bonneville sediments blew through to the surface, causing geysers of liquefied sand and gravel of immense proportions over widespread areas.
The soil is clearly sheared with major continuous displacements, much like any fault would. Whether the sheared and displaced sediments connect directly to the bedrock fault may only be of academic and political consequence.
To those of us in the foundation engineering profession, these exposures show beyond any doubt that ground-shaking from an earthquake has caused catastrophic rupture and displacement of sediments throughout the Salt Lake City area. It is logical to assume this could happen during any large earthquake today. It is not just an issue of the magnitude of horizontal acceleration of "fault displacements"; it is an issue of foundations which fail in earthquakes.
While the Utah politicians and consultants on either side of the issue argue about whether this constitutes an "active fault," scientists around the world all agree that this is a geologic hazard which should be incorporated into the building code. It matters not what you call it; it is simply a loading condition which clearly needs to be understood and considered.
To not consider the high probability of the liquefaction and ground-rupture potential of the sediments in this area of Salt Lake City would constitute extreme negligence on the part of any designer.
There is no excuse for placing lives at risk in order to reduce the design and construction costs of buildings in hazardous areas, yet that is exactly what appears to be occurring in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City needs better laws that don't focus solely on whether a fault displaces Quaternary sediments. It needs sound engineering guidelines for understanding and incorporating all loading conditions that cause unacceptable risk to the public. The current efforts and arguments are clearly misfocused on economics and the details of old, outdated laws concerning "active faults" in the foundations.
It is easy to see why the Utah Geological Survey was kept at bay concerning their opinion, since the economic and political ramifications are enormous, and the less smart scientists that get involved, the better for the developers and their political allies.
If the Utah politicians keep digging a bigger hole, at least they will have a place to push all the high-rise buildings when they topple predictably during the inevitable large earthquake in the not-so-distant future.
Peter Shaffner is an engineering geologist who lives in Evergreen, Colo.
Page Modified May 2, 1999