الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
Abstract
Shale is an argillaceous sedimentary rock, constitute about one-third of all rocks exposed at the Earth’s surface. Due to its worldwide abundance, many cities, tunnels, bridges, canals have been constructed on and in shale; additionally, it’s frequently used as a construction material of earth embankments for highways in addition to earth dams for the retention of water.
The current dissertation presents a case study regarding of some northern districts (Al Qadisyah district) in Tabuk City, subjected to significant severe deformations due to swelling and disintegration of shales under foundations and infrastructures. The investigation was conducted with a multidisciplinary approach that included geological, mineralogical (XRF, XRD analyses, and SEM), geotechnical investigations in laboratory testing, monitoring field experimental simulation for an extended period time to assess the swelling and slaking behaviour of shale Tabuk City. The present study discusses the slaking behaviour of Tabuk shale and its transition from rock to soil, accompanied by a reduction in shear strength. The damage to infrastructure and of buildings is significantly influenced by the slaking of shale and its transitional behaviour from rock-like to soil-like material. In Tabuk City, damage of light buildings due to shale deformation (movements) is not exclusive to swelling shale only, but also, are actually from the slaking and disintegration, and concentration of salts minerals (gypsum and halite) in the upper first meters (0-3m), which can cause heaving or subsidence during drying and wetting shale. The best treatment methods to mitigate the deformation of shale and damage to light buildings are excavate the footings foundation to depth approximately 2m, prewetting of the shale at the level of footings foundation by water pond to 3-4 weeks to release the pore air pressure, which is the main factor in occurrence upheavals, and dissolve the salt minerals, after then compacted the shale layer and add sand as replacement materials. This material is used for two reasons, the first, to reduce the swelling pressure of the shale as a result of their high density; the second, to disperse the high loads of the buildings and thus reduce the subsidence resulting from the dissolution of gypsum and salt minerals by water circulation and lowering shale strength due to transition of shale from rock-like to soil-like. It should be using the isolated footings foundation which should be connected with rigid beams at the same level of footing foundations to reduce the differential movements of the footing’s foundation.