Geological Survey of Finland, Special Paper 46 - arkisto.gsf.fi

Applied Quaternary research in the central part of glaciated terrain,
edited by Peter Johansson and Pertti Sarala.
Geological Survey of Finland, Special Paper 46, 141–146, 2007.
THE URBAN GEOLOGY OF TARTU, ESTONIA
by
Volli Kalm 1
Kalm, V. 2007. The urban geology of Tartu, Estonia. Applied
Quaternary research in the central part of glaciated terrain. Geological
Survey of Finland, Special Paper 46, 141–146, 3 fi gures.
The territory of the City of Tartu is affected by different
natural and human-induced urban geological phenomena, which
have been studied since 2003. Subsidence of soils and buildings,
strong fl uctuations in the groundwater level, contamination of
the cultural layer and soils and other undesirable processes are
mostly restricted to the oldest city quarters, located on the fl oodplain
of the Suur-Emajõgi river. The highest rate of subsidence
of buildings located on the fl oodplain occurred at the time of the
most intensive groundwater consumption from the Quaternary
aquifer. Natural deposits of the city territory are covered by a 0.1-
12 m thick (mainly 2-3 m) cultural layer that in the city centre is
heavily contaminated with lead, zinc and copper.
Key words (GeoRef Thesaurus, AGI): urban geology, ground
water, drawdown, land subsidence, soil pollution, heavy metals,
Tartu, Estonia.
1 Institute of Geology, University of Tartu,
Vanemuise 46, EE-51014 Tartu, Estonia
E-mail: volli.kalm@ut.ee
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