Observations on Austrian clay rocks and their barrier functions for waste disposals — influence of the time factor

Fine-grained clays are particularly suitable as barrier rocks for waste disposals due to their specific properties. Long-term investigations relating to the permeability of such containment layers have shown that the permeability rate of the various clays tends to vary when tested with different liquids — the clayey rocks may become less permeable, or, on the other hand, the permeability can increase up to ten times.