Building on quicksand: the foundations of the Eastern Scheldt barrier

The long and successful experience of the Dutch in recovering land from the sea and protecting it from inundation needs no emphasis. Even their ingenuity in civil engineering has been challenged, however, in the design and construction of a storm-surge barrier across the Eastern Scheldt, for it has virtually to be built on quicksand. This article describes the way in which the problem has been solved by laying huge prefabricated filter mattresses on the seabed to provide a secure foundation against the assaults of the highest tides.