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Risks from geological activity which could be caused by natural events or by our actions are generally defined as geohazards. Geohazards can pose significant threats to people, property, and infrastructure. These events include landslides, rock fall, debris flows, floods, earthquakes and others.
In recent years there have been significant impacts from these events around the world. There are many headlines from recent events such as the I-70 corridor at Glenwood canyon in Colorado which closed a critical route for weeks, landslides from hurricanes in Puerto Rico and North Carolina, landslides and debris flows from large rain events in California, the Mendenhall glacier near Juneau, Alaska, causing a significant flooding event, and earthquakes around the world.
Geosynthetics are very efficient materials that can be deployed in many different applications to help reduce future risk, improve resilience and reconstruct infrastructure after events. Geosynthetics are typically utilized in combination with geomaterials to enhance their behavior or performance. Different functions that geosynthetics provide are confinement, reinforcement, drainage, separation and filtration. In many cases a combination of these functions is required to achieve the desired outcome. In summary, geosynthetics can help improve the survivability and resilience of our infrastructure.
The following are examples of the types of applications where geosynthetics have been utilized:
- Reinforced embankments to help redirect future debris flow to avoid impact on people, structures and roads.
- Reconstruction of roadway embankments as reinforced slopes. In this scenario, there is often a need for increased reliable drainage of the earth fill as well as the construction of steep slopes which can restore service to the original road. In many cases, several types of geosynthetics can be incorporated for this situation: geotextiles, geogrids, drainage composites and erosion blankets.
- Erosion protection for coastal and riverbank erosion utilizing geotextile tubes or geogrid mattresses. These materials can also be used to address scour around structures.
- Mechanically stabilized retaining walls, which can act as rockfall protection.
- Construction platforms to help reduce the impact from liquefaction or other conditions such as sinkholes or collapsible soils which can cause changes in volume and settlement below structures. A load transfer platform can help make the displacement more uniform reducing performance risk.
Geosynthetics are cost-effective materials which can be deployed quickly to address emergency conditions as well as be part of the design during project development. These applications can be designed to last for a required design life and improve the overall survivability and resilience of structures particularly when addressing the unknowns from geohazards. In addition, these materials are relatively light and compact, which helps when there is limited access in remote locations.
Additional information on Geohazards and Geosynthetics:
- “Geohazards, Extreme Weather Events, and Climate Change Resilience Manual”, February 2023, Publication No. FHWA-HIF-23-008
- Hasheminezhad, Ceylan, Kim, Tutumluer, “Geosynthetics for resilient geotechnics: A review of applications and innovations”, November 2025, Transportation Geotechnics – Volume 55
Daniel Alzamora, P.E., is a contributing editor for Geosynthetics and has spent more than three decades in the geosynthetics industry in both the public and private sector.