Sediment to Soil (S2S)

Increase of sea level and land subsidence necessitate strengthening of coastal defenses. Sediment-to-Soil (S2S) studies the processes of soil ripening, their optimization and predictability to advance use of fine-grained dredged sediment as alternative earthen construction material. This spares natural soil resources and enables a beneficial, sustainable and more economical sediment management. Before use, the dredged sediment needs to undergo a ripening process transforming it from a saturated, unconsolidated and unstructured material into a drained, consolidated, structured, biogeochemically stable and environmentally compliant soil, meeting the required soil mechanical properties. S2S will provide the scientific basis for understanding, optimizing and predicting the complex multi-phase soil ripening process. Project outputs will comprise a scientifically-supported protocol for optimized soil ripening, soil ripening indices and an openly accessible model combining settling and consolidation with biogeochemical ripening processes. LINK