This article appears in the Sept. 3, 2012 issue of Engineering News-Record’s Global Digital Edition
Warnings of dire consequences from earthquake-induced levee failures in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of Northern California have frequently been raised over the years, but now a team of engineers from Southern California is testing the unusual soils from which the levees are built and upon which they stand to see if the oft-predicted failures during a quake are likely to occur.