During the 2000 Tottori ken Seibu earthquake liquefaction failures occurred in reclaimed land at several locations. For reclaimed land in the Miho Bay area most of the liquefaction boils typically consisted of very fine soil. Samples were taken both from liquefaction boils on the surface and from boreholes sunk in the Takenouchi industrial zone and behind the quay wall in Showamachi. Using these samples comparisons were made between the characteristics of these various soils in order to identify the liquefaction layer in the ground. Current design specifications do not recognise fine material as liquefiable. However this study showed that it is important to consider the nature of the fines including the clay content and plasticity before excluding the possibility of liquefaction.