Collapsible deposits
Some kinds of natural deposit can collapse, i.e. they undergo a rapid reduction in volume, when a load (such as a building) is placed on them and they become saturated with water. Such collapse can cause damage to property.
If the material below a building collapses it may cause the building foundations to rapidly subside. If the ground collapses unevenly, the resulting damage may be more severe than that caused by a uniform collapse.
A property affected by collapse of even a few millimetres may experience the following kinds of problem:
- structural damage to foundations and to the fabric of the building
- damage to underground service connections, such as for water, gas or electricity
- cracks in the walls, floors or ceilings of a building
- tilting of walls or of entire buildings
- cracks at the junction of a building and associated structures
The potential for collapsible ground to be a hazard has been assessed using 1:50 000 scale digital maps of superficial deposits. These have been combined with information from scientific and engineering reports. The detailed digital data illustrated in the map are available as attributed vector polygons, as raster grids and in spreadsheet format.
- View collapsible deposits — property hazard information
- View simplified data as a pdf
- View collapsible deposits animation
You may also be interested in...
- I have received a hazard rating from the BGS and would like more information
- Buy a GeoReport giving details of six ground stability issues for a particular area or property
- Apply for a digital data licence for GeoSure data sets from our IPR Section
- Contact Enquiries for more information on the GeoSure data sets and reports
