Mineralogical and geochemical patterns of urban surface soils, the example of Pforzheim, Germany

This study presents a combined geochemical and mineralogical survey of urban surface soils. Many studies on urban soils are restricted to purely chemical surveys in order to investigate soil pollution caused by anthropogenic activities such as traffic, heating, industrial processing, waste disposal and many more. In environmental studies, chemical elements are often distinguished as lithogenic and anthropogenic elements. As a novel contribution to those studies, the authors combined the analysis of a broad set of chemical elements with the analysis of the main mineralogical phases. The semi-quantification of mineralogical phases supported the assignment of groups of chemical elements to lithogenic or anthropogenic origin. Minerals are important sinks for toxic elements. Thus, knowledge about their distribution in soils is crucial for the assessment of the environmental hazards due to pollution of urban soils. In Pforzheim, surface soils (0–5 cm depth) from various land use types (forest, agriculture, urban green space, settlement areas of various site densities) overlying different geological units (clastic and chemical sediments) were investigated. Urban surface soils of Pforzheim reflect to a considerable degree the mineral and chemical composition of parent rocks. Irrespective of the parent rocks, elevated concentrations of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Sn, Ag) were found in soils throughout the whole inner urban settlement area of Pforzheim indicating pollution. These pollutants will tend to accumulate in inner urban surface soils according to the available adsorption capacity, which is normally higher in soils overlying limestone than in soils overlying sandstone. However, inner urban surface soils overlying sandstone show elevated concentrations of carbonates, phyllo-silicates and Fe and elevated pH values compared with forest soils overlying sandstone. Thus, in comparison to forest soils overlying sandstones, inner urban soils overlying sandstone affected by pollution concurrently possess elevated concentrations of mineral phases typically providing relatively high adsorption capacities for heavy metals.     

Stabilization of clayey soils with Tunisian phosphogypsum: effect on geotechnical properties

Phosphogypsum and cement have been reported to improve the physicochemical properties of clayey soils. The present study aimed to investigate the behavior of various soils with different particle sizes and chemical and mineralogical compositions in the presence of phosphogypsum and cement mixed at various proportions. These hydraulic binders were assayed on three different soil samples, and their effects were examined using a battery of standardized tests, including the Atterberg limit, uniaxial compressive strength, Californian Bearing Rate (CBR) test, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), microstructure observation (SEM), and X-ray diffraction tests. The results revealed a significant effect associated with the variation of phosphogypsum content in the soils. Keeping the cement content constant in the mixture, the continuous addition of phosphogypsum was noted to allow shifting the domain of plasticity to the highest water contents, which reduces the sensitivity of the soil to water and to increase the strength of soil. An increase of CBR index with the addition of phosphogypsum and cement is obtained. This treatment could have positively influenced the optimum moisture content and the maximal dry density. The mixture of soil-phosphogypsum and cement could give new forms such as ettringite and hydrate indicators of the improvement of the mechanical properties of the soil. This improvement varies from one soil to another, depending on its granularity and its mineralogy. The mineralogical composition of the soil, particularly kaolinite, amount, and size grading, have direct effects on the physical and mechanical properties of the soils under investigation.     

Relationship between pedogenetic manifestations in some arid soil and age of the landforms

Arid soils with slight variations in parent material, vegetation and climate were studied for their morphological, chemical and mineralogical characteristics. Results show that the soils are at different stages of profile development. Varying degrees of pedogenic features have been tied up with data on palaeoenvironment to develop a relationship between the soil and age of the landform. Studies reveal that Dune and Shergarh sandy soils with least degree of manifestation belong to early Holocene to latest Pleistocene, whereas Chirai sandy soil with weakly developed B horizon belongs to the upper Holocene. Soils (Khajwana and Gajsinghpura) with well-developed B horizon and a calcic layer with lime segregations belong to mid-Pleistocene whereas Pali and Pipar soils with illuvial clay in B horizon belong to early Pleistocene.     

红石河堰塞湖漫顶溃坝风险评估

四川省青川县红石河堰塞湖是2008年5月12日汶川大地震形成的34座大型堰塞湖之一,是由东河口滑坡堵塞红石河形成的。该堰塞体高度约50 m、宽度约250 m、顺河向长度约500 m、形成的最大库容约400万m3。本文作者对红石河堰塞体做了较详尽的现场试验,包括土的冲蚀试验、土的基本物性试验等。基于现场试验数据,对土的冲蚀性和漫顶溃坝风险做了详细的分析。结果显示,从土的抗冲蚀性角度考虑,只要有水溢出就会有土体被冲蚀,这说明红石河堰塞体的漫顶溃决可能性较高。本文还提出经验公式来预测红石河堰塞体漫顶的溃决时间,大约为4.5d,如果考虑到大石块对抗冲蚀稳定性的有利影响,这一数值会增大。此外,还研究了溃决深度随时间的变化规律。     

几种土壤的细沟侵蚀过程及其影响因素

通过间隔为11h的二次人工模拟降雨和冲蚀槽试验研究了10种土壤的侵蚀过程,发现在第2次降雨中大多数土壤出现了细沟侵蚀形式。采样微形态观察发现,在第1次降雨中形成结皮的土壤在第2次降雨中出现了细沟侵蚀;产流产沙观测发现所有出现细沟侵蚀的土壤在第1次降雨中径流含沙量逐渐减少,而第2次降雨中有一个先剧增后减少的过程。土壤理化分析及多元逐步回归分析结果表明,土壤颗粒组成、有机质含量、铁铝含量等因素对细沟侵蚀的影响表现不明显,而与土壤团聚体有关结构指标、细沟侵蚀、产流产沙速率及总量呈显著相关关系。分析表明,团聚体分散度、崩解速率与渗透系数之比两个指标能较好地预测细沟侵蚀发生的可能性,同时也能很好地预测侵蚀产沙量。     

Prioritization of soil conservation measures using erodibility indices as criteria in Sikkim (India)

Erodibility indices are important parameter that can be used to describe the intensity of the soil erosion problems causing environmental concerns. These indices are convenient to estimate the susceptibility to erosion where physical measurement is very difficult. Sikkim is one such state in India where measuring erosion is a tedious process due to its difficult and inaccessible terrain conditions. In the present study, spatial variation of susceptibility of erosion in East district of Sikkim was estimated by using indices such as clay ratio, dispersion ratio, mod clay ratio and critical level of soil organic matter. The result indicates soils in East district are mostly dominated by sand particles (40.5–81.06%) in majority of soil samples. The dispersion ratio values in most of the soils were >15% indicating very high vulnerability to erosion. The values of clay ratio (3.44–9), modified clay ratio (mean value of 6.9) and critical level of soil organic matter content (<5%) indicated high susceptibility to erosion. The trends of indices were generated by IDW interpolation method to understand the spatial variation of the susceptibility to erosion. The interpolated maps were overlaid on subwatershed maps to prioritize the subwatershed for planning treatment measures.     

水化学作用对滑坡滑带土的物理力学特性影响试验研究

滑带是影响滑坡稳定的最关键内在因素之一。对原状土进行X射线衍射、压汞试验,获得了滑带土体的成分及其含量和孔隙结构参数,结果表明,滑带土成分以石英、拉长石、伊利石等为主,孔隙孔径以小孔和过渡孔居多;依据工程实例滑坡滑带土所处的水化学环境,模拟不同水化条件,通过剪切试验、渗透试验和扫描电镜试验,获得不同化学条件的强度和渗透性参数及微细观结构特征,分析了滑带土在不同水化学条件下力学特性和渗透性变化规律。试验结果表明：相同pH条件下,较之蒸馏水,土样经化学溶液浸泡后峰值强度和残余强度变大,且残余强度的变化更明显;不同pH条件下,酸碱性溶液使得土的强度参数显著降低。该研究结果为水化学条件下滑坡滑带土力学特性变化、多场耦合理论模型分析提供了重要的基础数据。     

Evolution of hillslope soils: The geomorphic theater and the geochemical play

How and how fast do hillslope soils form as the landscape’s morphology changes over time? Here results are shown from an ongoing study that simultaneously examines the morphologic and geochemical evolution of soil mantled hillslopes that have been exposed to distinctively different denudation history. In Northern Sierra Nevada, California, the authors are investigating a tributary basin to the Middle Fork Feather River. A major incision signal from the river is well marked in a knickpoint within the tributary basin which stretches from its mouth to the Feather River at an elevation of ～700 m to the plateau at an elevation of ～1500 m. Hillslopes are significantly steeper below the knickpoint. The area’s total denudation rates are currently being constrained using cosmogenic radio nuclides, but a previous study suggested an order of magnitude difference in total denudation rates below and above the knickpoint. When compared with topographic attributes calculated from LIDAR data, physical erosion rates can be modeled as a linear function of ridge top curvature. Surprisingly, over the wide range of total denudation rates, soil thicknesses do not vary significantly until a threshold point where soil mantled landscapes abruptly shift to bedrock dominated landscapes. Bioturbation by tree falls appear to buffer soil thickness over the wide range of physical soil erosion rates. From three hillslopes with different physical erosion rates, the concentrations of Zr, which were considered conserved during dissolution and leaching, were determined and used as a proxy for the degree of mass losses via chemical denudation. There is a general trend that colluvial soils along the hillslopes with lower physical erosion rates are enriched in fine size fractions, Zr, and pedogenic crystalline Fe oxides. Likewise, the saprolites show greater degrees of chemical denudation at the sites above the knickpoint, presumably because of the saprolites’ longer turnover time in the slowly eroding landscapes. In the two steep hillslopes below the knickpoint, no significant or systematic topgraphic trends were found for soil geochemistry. However, soils show increasing Zr enrichment in the downslope direction in the hillslope above the knickpoint, which suggests a critical denudation rate beyond which soils’ turnover time is too short to develop a geochemical catena. As detailed CRN-based soil production rates and catchment scale denudation rates are acquired, the data will be combined with a mass balance model to calculate the rates of chemical denudation and weathering in soils and saprolites along the denudation gradient.     

Effect of soil parameters on the threshold wind velocity and maximum eroded mass in a dry environment

The present study aims to investigate the relationships between several soil parameters (texture, organic matter and CaCO₃ content) and the threshold wind velocity and erodibility of different soil types. Our aim was to determine the role of these soil parameters play in soil loss due to wind erosion and also to statistically evaluate these correlations. The erodibility studies were carried out in wind tunnel experiments, and the resulting data were analysed with multiple regression analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis test. We found that both the threshold wind speed and the erodibility of soils were mostly determined by silt fraction (0.05–0.02 mm), while sand fractions had a lesser effect on it. Our experiences with organic matter and CaCO₃ similar, i.e. in spite of their correlation with the erosion, their contribution was not significant in the multivariate regression model. Consequently, based on mechanical composition of soils, one can predict threshold wind velocity and erodibility of soils.     

Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide,East Nepal

Sangrumba landslide is one of the largest and the most active landslides in Nepal Himalaya. Geologically the landslide belongs to the Higher Himalaya and consists of Pre-Cambrian biotite–garnet and sillimanite gneiss with some quartzite. The present paper aims at describing various degrees of rock weathering and their effect in Sangrumba landslide. Field study followed by mineralogical, geochemical and geotechnical analyses of the collected rock and soil samples from the landslide zone were used in characterizing weathering degree. The gneisses are intensely weathered while quartzite is unweathered. Petrographical and X-ray diffraction analyses showed that the rocks in the landslide zone had undergone weathering process with the formation of different types of clay minerals as kaolinite, vermiculite, smectite and chlorite. This was further confirmed by the Scan Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive X-ray analyses. These clay minerals drastically reduced the rock strength facilitating the extensive failure of the Sangrumba landslide. The major and trace element composition of the rock and soil samples was calculated from the XRF analyses. The geochemical analyses and weathering indexes of rocks showed that they are significantly weathered and had a major influence in the formation of the Sangrumba landslide. In addition, mechanical strength measurement of rock/soil showed that the strength drastically decreases as the weathering intensity increases. Rainfall followed by the rock type are the most dominant parameters influencing the weathering process which leads to the formation of large landslide as the present one. These findings can be used in other areas with similar geological and topographical conditions.     

天然饱水-失水对三峡库岸边坡土体的影响研究

三峡水库运行后水位周期性涨落,导致边坡土体在天然条件下长期处于被库水饱和-失水-再饱和的交替过程。分析2005－2009年库区水位变化,以及边坡土体在库水涨落被饱水-失水的次数与时间长度,分时段采集三峡库区库岸石榴树包滑坡堆积土样,分析其化学和矿物成分,观察土体微观结构,探索天然饱水-失水过程中水-岩相互作用对库岸边坡土体的影响和力学效应作用规律。研究结果表明,天然饱水-失水过程对库岸不同高程土体的化学组成和物理结构影响显著,其中172 m高程比168 m高程处受饱水-失水过程的影响较大。饱水-失水作用后,土体中SiO2、Al2O3、Na2O成分的含量上升,CaO、烧失量含量下降,土体的结构由致密的斑块状结构逐渐变成散乱的絮凝状结构,对库岸土体的力学效应产生了巨大的影响。     

Selenium content in soils from Murcia Region (SE,Spain)

The objective of this study was to determine the selenium content in soils from the Region of Murcia (SE, Spain) and to study the possible relationship between mineralogical composition, soil properties and selenium content. In addition, generic reference level (GRL) for selenium was determined according to Spanish legislation. For this study, 490 samples were selected in areas subjected to agricultural activity or abandoned agricultural soils with natural vegetation. Five different zones were established in order to study selenium variability. Four different mineralogical groups were established, based on significant relationship with the mineralogical composition, and each sample was included in one mineralogical group. The results showed that the concentration of selenium is correlated with the electrical conductivity, sulphate content and with the mineralogical composition, particularly positively with quartz and in a negative way with calcite percentage. In addition, selenium level was positively correlated with the phyllosilicate content. Established GRL for selenium varies with the mineralogical group, having a great transcendence from the legal and economic points of view.     

Degree of weathering in the identification of laterite materials for engineering purposes — a review

Laterite materials include a large succession of reddish, tropically weathered, decomposition products starting with fresh rock and ending with sesquioxide-rich pedogenic rock (cuirasse). Identification of the various grades of such materials for engineering purposes is a problem which repeatedly faces the engineer engaged in the design and construction of structures on or with laterite materials.The author has attempted to assemble available information useful for the identification and evaluation of all grades of laterite materials for engineering purposes. In the first part he summarises information on the significant genetic characteristics which appear to underlie the deviation of engineering behaviour of laterite materials from the expected properties based upon conventional soil mechanics as developed for temperate-zone soils.The second part summarises available information on the identification of significant geotechnical properties of various grades and genetic groups of laterite materials for engineering purposes.The engineering behaviour of laterite materials forms the substance of the third part of the paper.A literature study has revealed that the geotechnical characteristics and engineering behaviour of laterite materials depend mainly on the genesis and degree of weathering (i.e., decomposition, laterisation, dessication and/or hardening). Other significant genetic characteristics include morphological characteristics as well as the type and content of secondary minerals.Progress in the field of identification and evaluation of laterite materials for construction appears to depend on the simultaneous consideration of all the major factors which affect the behaviour of rocks and their derived soils (i.e., rock type, weathering condition, degree of weathering, type of derived materials as well as their chemical and mineralogical composition).Such an approach is desirable to increase the accuracy of predictions and assessments of the engineering behaviour of most laterite materials.     

Field testing of erodibility of two landslide dams triggered by the 12 May Wenchuan earthquake

A strong earthquake of magnitude 8 in Richter scale, occurred in Sichuan Province, China on 12 May 2008, triggered about 257 landslide dams. The erodibility of fresh landslide deposits plays an important role in evaluating the initiation and development of breaching of such landslide dams. In this research, field jet index tests were conducted shortly after the earthquake at 27 locations on the Hongshihe landslide dam and the Libaisi landslide dam. The purpose of these tests was to investigate the erodibility of freshly deposited landslide soils. The landslide deposits are broadly graded. The bulk density increases and the coefficient of erodibility decreases with the depth of deposition. The erodibility of the fresh landslide deposits falls into a moderately resistant category and the fresh deposits are much more erodible than the native geomaterials before the earthquake. The main factors that control soil erodibility are found to be grain-size distribution, void ratio, fines content, and plasticity index. Particularly, the coefficient of erodibility decreases exponentially with the degree of compaction. Two empirical equations are developed for estimating the coefficient of erodibility and critical erosive shear stress of the freshly deposited landslide soils based on their basic soil properties.     

A GIS-based landslide susceptibility evaluation using bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses

Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to predict the spatial distribution of landslides in the Cuyahoga River watershed, northeastern Ohio, U.S.A. The relationship between landslides and various instability factors contributing to their occurrence was evaluated using a Geographic Information System (GIS) based investigation. A landslide inventory map was prepared using landslide locations identified from aerial photographs, field checks, and existing literature. Instability factors such as slope angle, soil type, soil erodibility, soil liquidity index, landcover pattern, precipitation, and proximity to stream, responsible for the occurrence of landslides, were imported as raster data layers in ArcGIS, and ranked using a numerical scale corresponding to the physical conditions of the region. In order to investigate the role of each instability factor in controlling the spatial distribution of landslides, both bivariate and multivariate models were used to analyze the digital dataset. The logistic regression approach was used in the multivariate model analysis. Both models helped produce landslide susceptibility maps and the suitability of each model was evaluated by the area under the curve method, and by comparing the maps with the known landslide locations. The multivariate logistic regression model was found to be the better model in predicting landslide susceptibility of this area. The logistic regression model produced a landslide susceptibility map at a scale of 1:24,000 that classified susceptibility into four categories: low, moderate, high, and very high. The results also indicated that slope angle, proximity to stream, soil erodibility, and soil type were statistically significant in controlling the slope movement.     

滑带土厚度及含水率对其强度参数的影响

以红、黄两种不同颜色的滑带土为对象,采用室内试验,先对两种颜色的滑带土的基本物理力学性质进行测定,然后以力学性质较差的红色滑带土作为夹层,运用正交设计,研究夹层土的厚度、含水率等对滑带土强度参数内摩擦角()和粘聚力(c)的影响。实验结果显示,夹层土的含水率对滑带土强度参数内摩擦角()和粘聚力(c)影响最大,夹层土的厚度对强度参数也有一定的影响。     

National-scale data-driven rainfall induced landslide susceptibility mapping for China by accounting for incomplete landslide data

China is one of the countries where landslides caused the most fatalities in the last decades.The threat that landslide disasters pose to people might even be greater in the future,due to climate change and the increasing urbanization of mountainous areas.A reliable national-scale rainfall induced landslide suscep-tibility model is therefore of great relevance in order to identify regions more and less prone to landslid-ing as well as to develop suitable risk mitigating strategies.However,relying on imperfect landslide data is inevitable when modelling landslide susceptibility for such a large research area.The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of incomplete landslide data on national scale statistical landslide susceptibility modeling for China.In this context,it is aimed to explore the benefit of mixed effects mod-elling to counterbalance associated bias propagations.Six influencing factors including lithology,slope,soil moisture index,mean annual precipitation,land use and geological environment regions were selected based on an initial exploratory data analysis.Three sets of influencing variables were designed to represent different solutions to deal with spatially incomplete landslide information:Set 1(disregards the presence of incomplete landslide information),Set 2(excludes factors related to the incompleteness of landslide data),Set 3(accounts for factors related to the incompleteness via random effects).The vari-able sets were then introduced in a generalized additive model(GAM:Set 1 and Set 2)and a generalized additive mixed effect model(GAMM:Set 3)to establish three national-scale statistical landslide suscep-tibility models:models 1,2 and 3.The models were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve(AUROC)given by spatially explicit and non-spatial cross-validation.The spatial pre-diction pattern produced by the models were also investigated.The results show that the landslide inven-tory incompleteness had a substantial impact on the outcomes of the statistical landslide susceptibility models.The cross-validation results provided evidence that the three established models performed well to predict model-independent landslide information with median AUROCs ranging from 0.8 to 0.9.However,although Model 1 reached the highest AUROCs within non-spatial cross-validation(median of 0.9),it was not associated with the most plausible representation of landslide susceptibility.The Model 1 modelling results were inconsistent with geomorphological process knowledge and reflected a large extent the underlying data bias.The Model 2 susceptibility maps provided a less biased picture of landslide susceptibility.However,a lower predicted likelihood of landslide occurrence still existed in areas known to be underrepresented in terms of landslide data(e.g.,the Kuenlun Mountains in the northern Tibetan Plateau).The non-linear mixed-effects model(Model 3)reduced the impact of these biases best by introducing bias-describing variables as random effects.Among the three models,Model 3 was selected as the best national-scale susceptibility model for China as it produced the most plausible portray of rainfall induced landslide susceptibility and the highest spatially explicit predictive perfor-mance(median AUROC of spatial cross validation 0.84)compared to the other two models(median AUROCs of 0.81 and 0.79,respectively).We conclude that ignoring landslide inventory-based incomplete-ness can entail misleading modelling results and that the application of non-linear mixed-effect models can reduce the propagation of such biases into the final results for very large areas.     

Solid speciation and availability of chromium in ultramafic soils from Niquelândia, Brazil

The sources and the potential availability of chromium were investigated in ultramafic soils from Niquelândia (Goïas State, Brazil), with chemical extractions associated to mineralogical studies, in order to evaluate its bioavailability and its potential impact on the soil biodiversity. Cr contents are particularly high in the studied soils and its partitioning among the solid phase varies with the position in the landscape and depth. Most of the Cr is associated to Fe-oxides but the amount of exchangeable Cr(VI) is high, particularly in one soil profile. Cr availability is higher than expected, and Cr-tolerant vegetation is probably growing on these soils.     

细沟形成对坡面产流产沙过程的影响

为探明细沟形成条件下不同土壤坡面水沙变化特性,利用室内模拟降雨试验,分析了塿土和黄绵土在细沟发育及已有细沟条件下的水沙过程变化规律。结果表明,塿土产流快,易形成细沟,细沟发育有明显的规律性,在坡面上呈平行状分布,细沟密度与坡度密切相关,细沟存在会延长产流时间;黄绵土产流慢,较难形成细沟,细沟发育随机性大。细沟发育对产流过程没有明显影响,土壤入渗快慢是两种土壤产流过程存在差异的主要原因。细沟发育程度加剧,会使塿土含沙量的增加速度加快,达到稳定含沙量的时间提前,坡面已有细沟只对稳定含沙量有明显影响,细沟密度增加会使稳定含沙量提高;黄绵土含沙量的变化主要取决于细沟发育过程中的随机性,当细沟侵蚀以崩塌作用为主时,含沙量会出现急剧增加,即使雨强较小,也会产生严重的土壤侵蚀。