Processes

Soil Liquefaction

Also Known As Liquefaction

Citation Formats

General Reference

Earth and Environment Atlas. "Soil Liquefaction." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-earth.interactiveatlas.org/processes/soil-liquefaction.

APA Style

Earth and Environment Atlas. (n.d.). Soil Liquefaction. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-earth.interactiveatlas.org/processes/soil-liquefaction

BibTeX

@misc{earthandenvironmentatlas-soil-liquefaction,
  author = {Earth and Environment Atlas},
  title = {Soil Liquefaction},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-earth.interactiveatlas.org/processes/soil-liquefaction},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Soil liquefaction occurs when cohesionless, water-saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness under applied stress, most often the shaking of an earthquake, so that material ordinarily solid behaves like a liquid. It is most likely in loose sandy or non-plastic silty soils, and is a major cause of ground failure and structural damage during large earthquakes.

Facts

Timescale

Occurs rapidly, within seconds during earthquake shaking, as loose sand grains decrease in volume and pore water pressure rises; the resulting loss of shear strength can persist for minutes to hours until pore pressure dissipates. 1

Driving Force

Earthquake shaking, which raises pore-water pressure in loose, saturated, cohesionless soil until the grains lose contact and the soil behaves as a liquid. 1

Resulting Feature

Causes structures founded on liquefied ground to sink, tilt or float, and can trigger lateral spreading of the ground surface on gentle slopes. 1

Significance

Soil liquefaction was a major cause of structural damage in earthquakes such as the 1964 Niigata and 2011 Christchurch events, and its hazard is now routinely assessed before construction. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections