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Bacteria To Protect Against Quakes

Posted by kdawson on from the shake-them-cilia dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "If you live near the sea, chances are high that your home is built over sandy soil. And if an earthquake strikes, deep and sandy soils can turn to liquid with disastrous consequences for the buildings built above them. Now, US researchers have found a way to use bacteria to steady buildings against earthquakes by turning these sandy soils into rocks. 'Starting from a sand pile, you turn it back into sandstone,' the chief researcher explained. It is already possible to inject chemicals into the ground to reinforce it, but this technique can have toxic effects on soil and water. In contrast, the use of common bacteria to 'cement' sands has no harmful effects on the environment. So far this method is limited to labs and the researchers are working on scaling their technique. Here are more references and a picture showing how unstable ground can aggravate the consequences of an earthquake."

5 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. No harmful effects by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In contrast, the use of common bacteria to 'cement' sands has no harmful effects on the environment. Didn't they say the same about Cane Toads?
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    1. Re:No harmful effects by beavis88 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And kudzu!

    2. Re:No harmful effects by Alicat1194 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You'd think at the very least it would change the water drainage patterns in the area (and thus the water table, local waterways etc, etc)

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    3. Re:No harmful effects by AlexanderDitto · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Won't somebody please think of the worms?!

      Oh humans! Messing with things we don't know aren't harmful. Things like this are nearly always used before they've had a chance to be researched thoroughly, leading to something going horribly, horribly wrong, like giant mutating monsters or zombies or alien attacks.

      Maybe I've just been watching too many horror flicks.... Either way, I should hope these people would proceed with extreme caution. I don't like the thought of the soil turning into one big slab of sheet rock. Where would my food come from?

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  2. Re:Call me daft but... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    surely the best way forward is to not build houses on sand in the first place?

    Sorry, you must be new here. The way we do it is to encourage the wealthy to build mansions in unreasonable places and then bail them out from disasters with the public treasury, funded by broad-based regressive taxes.

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