A 80000 m2, 3.5 m high embankment for a container yard was constructed on the right margin of the Paraná de las Palmas River in Zárate, Argentina. An aditional temporary embankment, 3.5 m high, was put on top of it to speed up the consolidation process of underlaying soft Postpampeano clays and organic soils. The construction of the preload embankment took about four months. The preload was delayed in a small area of 6000 m2 because of harbour activities. Several months later, and using the same equipment, the contractor completed the preload embankment of this small area within ten days. One day after completion of the preload, a massive slope failure occurred. In this paper, the results of the analyses of the slope failure, the remediation action undertaken and some comments on the behavior of the soils at the Paraná shoreline are presented.
