This paper presents an experimental investigation into the deformation characteristics of two typical marine clays obtained from Dalian and Shanghai, respectively, in China. Three kinds of laboratory tests, i.e. conventional oedometer tests, one-dimensional and triaxial creep tests were carried out. The results obtained from consolidation tests demonstrate linear ve -log relationships for Shanghai clay at normally consolidated state, while partly or even global non-linear relationships for Dalian clay. The compression index cC for both clays follows the correlation of c LC=0.009(w-10) where Lw is the liquid limit of soil. The relationship between vlog k(vk is the hydraulic conductivity of soil) and void ratio e is generally linear and the hydraulic conductivity change index vkC can be described by their initial void ratio for both clays. The secondary compressibility of Dalian clay lies in medium to high range and is higher than that of Shanghai clay which lies in the range of low to medium. Furthermore, based on drained triaxial creep tests, the stress-strain-time relationships following Mesri's creep equation have been developed for Dalian and Shanghai clays which can predict the long-term deformation of both clays reasonably well.
