DEGRADATION OF MUDSTONES (Citation with IEEE style) Mudstones comprise about 80 % of sedimentary rocks; they are composed approximately

by 40-50% of clay minerals, 25-30% of quartz and 20-30% of carbonates [1]. They have generated important challenges to geotechnical engineers because of their association with slides and collapse in rock excavations around the world in civil and mining projects [2]. These problems have taken interest not only for the low strength of this kind of rock, but also for degradation of its properties that are reflected in reduction of its strength and stiffness. Degradation of mudstones results from action of three weathering factors and rock excavations. Good intro The first action of weathering on degradation of mudstones are is wetting and drying cycles. When a rock is exposed to the environment, the action of water and sun produces an increaseing and decreaseing in the rocks moisture as wetting and drying cycles. The variation of rocks moisture and its influence in the degradation of mudstones have been studied by some researches (see e.g., [2], [3], [4], [5, 6] and [6]) such as [2], [3], [4-6] and [5]. Some of them pointed out that variation in rocks moisture is a cause of swelling and shrinkage in mudstones. For instance, Pineda et al. [3] observed swelling on wetting cycle, while they recorded Shrinkage on drying cycle in the specimens that they tested. Swelling and Shrinkage in mudstones create an sincrease and reduction in the rocks volume; as a result, the pre-existing micro cracks at its microstructure can develop forming crack generation at its macro-structure. If this complex process continues, a net of cracks is formed in the rock resulted in degradation of argillaceous rocks. A second action of weathering that generates degradation of mudstones is erosion. Water is a natural solvent; therefore, the action of raindrops, rivers and runoff among others cause disaggregation and transportation of rocks debris. With time, large thickness of rocks layers are removed; as a result, the rock that remains in situ experiments an unloading process. Alonso and Pineda [6] stated that unloading modifies effective stresses and induces swelling in rocks if active minerals are present. In the case of argillaceous rocks, it is very probabley that they contain active clay minerals, so they may experiment swelling by stress relaxation. The increase in mudstones volume by swelling results in crack generation which leads to degradation of the rock in terms of reduction of rocks strength. Another consequence of weathering on degradation of muddy rocks is temperatures variation. When rocks are exposed to the atmosphere, they experience higher temperatures during the day than at night due to exposure to sunlight. In some cases, the difference between the maximum temperature during the day and the minimum temperature at night, a concept called temperature range1, can reach 10 C or more so. This temperature variation is a cause of thermal expansion and contraction. As it was mentioned in the case of swelling and shrinkage of mudstones by wetting and drying cycles, thermal expansion and contraction also result in an increase and decrease of rocks volume; hence, crack generation and planes of weakness are generated [6], and mudstones increase their degradation.
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Comment [R2]: why dont you put the last names and years?) Comment [R3]: I have not seen anything like this before? Is that a format? It is a IEEE format, it is common in some journals in engineering science. Comment [R4]: wf Comment [R5]: punc

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Gonzlez, F. Amplitud trmica u oscilacin trmica. Conceptos bsicos de geografa. http://geoperspectivas.wikispaces.com/file/view/Conceptos+PAEG+Diversidad+climatica.pdf.

In addition to action of weathering, rock excavations also play a role in the degradation of mudstones. When a road, a bridge, a tunnel or a power plant has to be built, a superficial or underground excavation is necessary. Rock excavations change the natural stress state of the ground; as a consequence, a redistribution of stresses around excavation is developed. This can induce some increments or reductions in the magnitude of the stresses. For instance, rock near to excavation achieves a non-confinement state stress, so it is swelled and deformed. The result of deformed and non-confinement rock leads to induce cracks throw its solid structure; hence, a reduction in the mudstones strength is reached. To conclude, degradation of mudstones has been studied by some researches. It is a consequence from different factors, some of them related with the action of weathering, such as wetting and drying cycles, erosion, and temperatures variation. Also, rock excavations generate important effects on muddy rocks degradation. In addition, degradation of argillaceous rocks has been focused to their decreasing in strength and stiffness; however, there are evidences from different sources that report the importance of microstructure and time dependency damage on degradation, and the role of rocks anisotropy. For these reasons, the study of mudstones degradation is a motivating research topic and a challenge for geotechnical engineers. good REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] G. Fabre and F. Pellet, "Creep and time-dependent damage in argillaceous rocks," International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, vol. 43, pp. 950-960, 2006. M. C. Torres, "State of Knowledge about StressStrain Behavior and Degradability Synthesis on Mudrocks ", XIII Congreso Colombiano de Geotecnia, 2010. J. A. Pineda, E. Romero, and E. E. Alonso. (2011, Tracking degradation of argillaceous rocks using bender elements. H. Youn and F. Tonon, "Effect of air-drying duration on the engineering properties of four clay-bearing rocks in Texas," Engineering Geology, vol. 115, pp. 58-67, 2010. Q. T. Pham, F. Vales, L. Malinsky, D. Nguyen Minh, and H. Gharbi, "Effects of desaturation resaturation on mudstone," Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, vol. 32, pp. 646-655, 2007. E. E. Alonso and J. A. Pineda. Weathering and degradation of shales: experimental observations and models of degradation.

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