CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Maryland is located in Enugu South in Enugu State. The subsoil of this region consists of fine grained soils with a considerable part of soft soil deposit which extends to a considerable depth.
       When a compressive load is applied to a soil mass, the volume of the soil mass tends to reduce, due to reduction in its voids. This reduction in volume of a soil mass on application of a compressive stress can rather be placed either normally (laterally), or vertically or in both directions depending on how the soil mass is allowed to deform. When a vertical compression deformation is non-uniform it poses serious danger to the safety of structures and other civil engineering facilities, therefore there is need to study the compressibility properties of soil in Maryland.
1.1.1 COMPRESSIBILITY
       This is the degree to which a soil mass decreases in volume when supporting a load.  Compressibility is reduced in a situation where there are more coarse-grained soils in contact with each other. It increases as the proportion of small particles increases and becomes highest in fine-grained soils which contain organic matter.
       Compressibility is approximately proportional to the plastic index. The greater the plastic index (PI), the greater the compressibility of the soil. (Adeyemi 2014).