A building founded on Billings Shale has suffered nearly 4 in. (10 cm) of heave to its basement floor slab. The heaved zone was thought to be associated with a fault zone in the shale, ear which the rock was fractured and contained extensive pyrite intrusions. Investigations have shown the heave to be due to the weathering of the pyrite in the presence of autotrophic bacteria. Factors creating a favorable environment for this complex weathering process are discussed.
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PENNER et al. (1970) studied this question.