Biocementation of an organic soil using indigenous ureolytic bacteria

This paper describes research aiming at assessing the potential for biocementation of an unsuitable organic foundation soil encountered in the UK railway network. As opposed to the majority of previous studies it focuses on isolation and use of non-pathogenic, indigenous ureolytic bacterial strains from the in situ soil, which are capable of inducing calcite precipitation. The paper describes the procedures for indigenous bacteria isolation and screening, their growth and urease activity and shows results from soil strength and calcite precipitation testing proving biocementation for this type of soil using indigenous bacteria.