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The term liquefaction has actually been used to describe a number of related phenomena.
Because the phenomena can have similar effects, it can be difficult to distinguish between
them. The mechanisms causing them, however, are different. These phenomena can be
divided into two main categories: flow liquefaction and cyclic mobility.

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Flow liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the static equilibrium is destroyed by static or

dynamic loads in a soil deposit with low residual strength. Residual strength is the strength of
a liquefied soil. Static loading, for example, can be applied by new buildings on a slope that
exert additional forces on the soil beneath the foundations. Earthquakes, blasting, and pile
driving are all example of dynamic loads that could trigger flow liquefaction. Once triggered,
the strength of a soil susceptible to flow liquefaction is no longer sufficient to withstand the
static stresses that were acting on the soil before the disturbance.

An analogy can be seen in the picture above, where the static stability of a ski jumper in
the starting gate is disturbed when the jumper pushes himself from the start seat. After this
relatively small disturbance, the static driving force caused by gravity, being greater than the
frictional resisting force between the ski and snow, causes the skier to accelerate down the
ramp. The path that brings the ski jumper to an unstable state is analogous to the static or
dynamic disturbance that triggers flow liquefaction - in both cases, a relatively small
disturbance proceeds an instability that allows gravity to take over and produce large, rapid
movements.
 Fail caused by fl li uefacti are often
characterized by large and rapid movements which can
produce the type of
disastrous effects
experienced by the
Kawagishi cho apartment
buildings, which suffered a

remarkable bearing
capacity failure during the
4
 
 .
The Turnagain Heights
landslide, 
 
   which is thought to be
triggered by li uefaction of sand lenses in the 130-acre
slide area provides another example of flow
li uefaction. Sheffield Dam suffered a flow failure
triggered by the Santa Barbara Earthquake in 1925. A 300
ft section (of the 720 feet long dam) moved as much as 100 ft downstream. The dam
consisted mainly of silty sands and sandy silts excavated from the reservoir and compacted
by routing construction equipment over the fill ( Seed, 1968).
As these case histories illustrate, flow failures, can involve the flow of considerable
volumes of material, which undergoes very large movements that are actually driven by static
stresses. As described in the    section, the disturbance needed to trigger flow
liquefaction can, in some instances, be very small. Read more about the    
   .




 
Cyclic mobility is a liquefaction phenomenon, triggered by cyclic loading, occuring in soil
deposits with static shear stresses lower than the soil strength. Deformations due to cyclic
mobility develop incrementally because of static and
dynamic stresses that exist during an earthquake. Lateral
spreading, a common result of cyclic mobility, can occur on
gently sloping and on flat ground close to rivers and lakes.
The 1976 Guatemala earthquake caused lateral spreading
along the Motagua river. Observe the cracks parallel to the
river in the picture to the right.

On level ground, the

high porewater pressure caused by liquefaction can cause
porewater to flow rapidly to the ground surface. This flow
can occur both during and after an earthquake. If the
flowing porewater rises quickly enough, it can carry sand
particles through cracks up to the surface, where they are
deposited in the form of sand volcanoes or sand boils. These
features can often be observed at sites that have been
affected by liquefaction, such as in the field along Hwy 98
during the 1979 El Centro earthquake shown above.