Land subsidence in Tianjin,China

Land subsidence has been affecting Tianjin for the past 50 years. It leads to comprehensive detrimental effects on society, the economy and natural environment. Overpumping of groundwater is the main cause. In 2008, the maximum cumulative subsidence reached 3.22 m and the total affected area nearly 8,000 km². The subsidence reached its most critical state in the early 1980s when it occurred at a rate as high as 110 mm/year. At the same time, groundwater extraction had also reached a maximum of 1,200 million m³. By importing the Luan River to Tianjin and restricting exploitation of groundwater, hydraulic heads gradually recovered after 1986 in all aquifers, and this has continued to the present in the second aquifer. The subsidence rate in urban areas dropped to 10–15 mm/year. The area of groundwater extraction expanded to the suburban area with economic growth in the 1990s, and it was shifted to the third and fourth aquifers. At present, with a subsidence rate of 30–40 mm/year, four new suburban subsidence centers have been formed. Several measures were adopted to mitigate and prevent land subsidence disasters. These included restricting groundwater exploitation, groundwater injection, prohibiting use in the specific zone, a pricing policy for water resources, advocating water-saving technology, and strict enforcement of groundwater laws. Although the subsidence area is still increasing slowly, the subsidence rate is being controlled.     

Land subsidence and earth fissures in south-central and southern Arizona,USA

Land subsidence due to groundwater overdraft has been an ongoing problem in south-central and southern Arizona (USA) since the 1940s. The first earth fissure attributed to excessive groundwater withdrawal was discovered in the early 1950s near Picacho. In some areas of the state, groundwater-level declines of more than 150 m have resulted in extensive land subsidence and earth fissuring. Land subsidence in excess of 5.7 m has been documented in both western metropolitan Phoenix and Eloy. The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has been monitoring land subsidence since 2002 using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and since 1998 using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The ADWR InSAR program has identified more than 25 individual land subsidence features that cover an area of more than 7,300 km². Using InSAR data in conjunction with groundwater-level datasets, ADWR is able to monitor land subsidence areas as well as identify areas that may require additional monitoring. One area of particular concern is the Willcox groundwater basin in southeastern Arizona, which is the focus of this paper. The area is experiencing rapid groundwater declines, as much as 32.1 m during 2005–2014 (the largest land subsidence rate in Arizona State—up to 12 cm/year), and a large number of earth fissures. The declining groundwater levels in Arizona are a challenge for both future groundwater availability and mitigating land subsidence associated with these declines. ADWR’s InSAR program will continue to be a critical tool for monitoring land subsidence due to excessive groundwater withdrawal.     

On causes and impacts of land subsidence in Bandung Basin, Indonesia

The Bandung Basin is a large intra-montane basin surrounded by volcanic highlands, in western Java, Indonesia, inhabited by more than seven million people. The basin, an area of about 2,300 km², is a highland plateau at approximately 650–700 m above sea level and is surrounded by up to 2,400 m high Late Tertiary and Quaternary volcanic terrain. Based on the results of nine GPS surveys conducted since 2000 up to 2011, it was shown that several locations in the Bandung Basin have experienced land subsidence, with an average rate of about ?8 cm/year and can go up to about ?23 cm/year in certain locations. A hypothesis has been proposed by several studies that land subsidence observed in several locations in the Bandung Basin has been caused mainly by excessive groundwater extraction. It is found that there is a strong correlation between the rates of groundwater level lowering with the GPS-derived rates of land subsidence in several locations in Bandung Basin. The GPS results in this study detected significant subsidence in the textile industry area, where very large volumes of groundwater are usually extracted. The impact of land subsidence in Bandung can be seen in several forms, mainly in the cracking and damage of houses, buildings and infrastructure. Land subsidence also aggravates the flooding in Bandung Basin, which has brought huge economic losses and deteriorated the quality of life and environment in the affected areas.     

Land subsidence due to gas/oil production in inhomogeneous transversally anisotropic half-space by a boundary element method

In a previous paper¹ the authors have developed and implemented a new boundary element (BE) model to simulate and predict land subsidence occurring over three-dimensional gas/oil fields in a homogeneous and isotropic half-space. The approach relies on Betti's reciprocal theorem and makes use of the classical fundamental solution of Boussinesq in the framework of the theory of linear poroelasticity. The BE method is here extended to inhomogeneous, transversally anisotropic soils by the aid of a two-dimensional finite element (FE) model which provides a fundamental numerical solution for the actual multi-layer setting of the subsurface system. The new FE–BE approach is then used to simulate the subsidence caused by gas production over the deep reservoir of Campo Ravenna Terra, Ravenna (Italy) from 1950 to 1980. The results compare very favourably with the outcome from a full more expensive three-dimensional FE model of the same occurrence.     

黄河三角洲地下水动态变化及其与地面沉降的关系

为了分析黄河三角洲地下水动态及其与地面沉降的关系, 利用多年地下水和地面沉降监测数据, 发现黄河三角洲广饶县和东营区的地下水动态变化剧烈且地面沉降严重, 含水层多处于超采状态, 浅、深层地下水降落漏斗先后出现.深层地下水降落漏斗中心水位下降速度达2~3m/a.近年来, 东营和广饶地面沉降漏斗中心沉降量和速率分别为155.1mm、28.2mm/a和356.0mm、64.7mm/a.借助GIS技术及数理统计法, 发现深层地下水降落漏斗与沉降漏斗空间耦合良好, 深层地下水位与地面高程呈线性正相关, 相关系数为0.92, 深层地下水过度开采已成为影响沉降的最根本因素.井灌区第三粘性压缩层成为地面沉降主要贡献层, 且深层地下水降落漏斗中心的地下水位已低于第三承压含水层临界水位, 沉降趋于严重.      

The state of land subsidence and prediction approaches due to groundwater withdrawal in China

This article gives a general introduction to land subsidence with the prediction approaches due to withdrawal of groundwater in three subsided/subsiding regions in China: the deltaic plain of Yangtse River (YRDP), North China Plain (NCP), and Fenwei Plain (FP). On YRDP, Shanghai is the typical subsided/subsiding city; on NCP Tianjin is the typical subsided/subsiding city, and on FP Taiyuan is the typical subsided/subsiding city. The subsided area with subsidence over 200 mm on YRDP is about 10,000 km² and the maximum subsided value reached 2.9 m at Shanghai; on NCP the subsided area reached 60,000 km² with the maximum subsidence of 3.9 m at Tianjing; on FP the subsided area is relatively smaller than that on the other two plains and is about 1,135 km² with maximum subsidence of 3.7 m at Taiyuan city. In order to protect the civil and industrial facilities, it is necessary to predict the future development of land subsidence based on present state. Many researchers proposed several approaches to predict the land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal according to different geological conditions and groundwater withdrawal practice. This article classifies these approaches into five categories: (i) statistical methods; (ii) 1D numerical method; (iii) quasi-3D seepage model; (iv) 3D seepage model; (v) fully coupled 3D model. In China, the former four categories are presently employed in the prediction practice and their merits and demerits are discussed. According to the prediction practice, 3D seepage model is the best method presently.     

The impact of sea-level rise on the coast of Tianjin-Hebei,China

Bulletins of China’s National Sea Level show that the average rising rate of sea-levels in China is 3.3 mm/a over the past 40 years, with an obviously accelerated rising trend in the last decade. The rate of relative sea-level rise of the Yangtze River Delta reached >10 mm/a after considering the land subsidence, and Bohai Bay is even greater than 25 mm/a. The impact of the sea level rise to the coastal area will be greater in the coming years, so carrying out an assessment of this rising trend is urgent. This paper, taking the coastal area of Tianjin and Hebei as examples, comprehensively evaluates the impact of sea-level rise through multitemporal remote sensing shoreline interpretation, ground survey verification, elevation measurements for both seawall and coastal lowlands. The results show that the average elevation of the measured coastal areas of Tianjin and Hebei is about +4 m, and the total area of >100 km² is already below the present mean sea level. More than 270 km, ca. 31% of the total length of the seawall, cannot withstand a 1-in-100-year storm surge. Numerical simulations of the storm flooding on the west coast of Bohai Bay, for 1-in-50-years, 1-in-100-years, 1-in-200-years and 1-in-500-years, show that if there were no coastal dykes, the maximum flooding area would exceed 3000 km², 4000 km², 5300 km² and 7200 km², respectively. The rising sea has a direct and potential impact on the coastal lowlands of Tianjin and Hebei. Based on the latest development in international sea-level rise prediction research, this paper proposes 0.5 m, 1.0 m and 1.5 m as low, middle and high sea level rise scenarios by 2100 for the study area, and combines the land subsidence and other factors to the elevation of the existing seawall. Comprehensive evaluation results indicate that even in the case of a low scenario, the existing seawall will not be able to withstand a 1-in-100-years storm surge in 2030, and the potential flooding areas predicted by the model will become a reality in the near future. Therefore, the seawall design in the coastal areas of Tianjin and Hebei must consider the combined effects of land subsidence, sea level rise and the extreme storm surges caused by it.©2019 China Geology Editorial Office.     

Changes of groundwater flow field of Luanhe River Delta under the human activities and its impact on the ecological environment in the past 30 years

The Luanhe River Delta is located in the center of the Circum-Bohai Sea Economic Zone. It enjoys rapid economic and social development while suffering relatively water scarcity. The overexploitation of groundwater in the Luanhe River Delta in recent years has caused the continuous drop of groundwater level and serious environmental and geological problems. This study systematically analyzes the evolution characteristics of the population, economy, and groundwater exploitation in the Luanhe River Delta and summarizes the change patterns of the groundwater flow regime in different aquifers in the Luanhe River Delta according to previous water resource assessment data as well as the latest groundwater survey results. Through comparison of major source/sink terms and groundwater resources, the study reveals the impacts of human activities on the groundwater resources and ecological environment in the study area over the past 30 years from 1990 to 2020. The results are as follows. The average annual drop rate of shallow groundwater and the deep groundwater in the centers of depression cones is 0.4 m and 1.64 m, respectively in the Luanhe River Delta in the past 30 years. The depression cones of shallow and deep groundwater in the study area cover an area of 545.32 km² and 548.79 km², respectively, accounting for more than 10% of the total area of the Luanhe River Delta. Overexploitation of groundwater has further aggravated land subsidence. As a result, two large-scale subsidence centers have formed, with a maximum subsidence rate of up to 120 mm/a. The drop of groundwater level has induced some ecological problems in the Luanhe River Delta area, such as the zero flow and water quality deterioration of rivers and continuous shrinkage of natural wetlands and water. Meanwhile, the proportion of natural wetland area to the total wetland area has been decreased from 99% to 8% and the water area from 1776 km² to 263 km². These results will provide data for groundwater overexploitation control, land subsidence prevention, and ecological restoration in plains and provide services for water resources management and national land space planning.© 2021 China Geology Editorial Office.     

Land subsidence in Bangkok, Thailand

Land subsidence from deep well pumping has been affecting Bangkok for the past 35 years. Its impact is particularly critical because of the flat low-lying topography and the presence of a thick soft clay layer at the ground surface that augment flood risk and foundation engineering problems, respectively. The subsidence reached its most critical state in the early 1980s when it occurred at a rate as high as 120 mm/year. The rate decreased in the subsequent period but the subsidence-affected area expanded following the growth of the city. Despite various attempts implemented to remedy the crisis, groundwater pumping from the thick aquifer system underneath the city continued to increase from 1.2 million m³/day in the early 1980s to more than 2.0 million m³/day at the turn of the century. Piezometric levels in the main aquifer layers had been drawn down by as much as 65 m. Monitoring data showed a clear correlation between the subsidence and piezometric drawdown. The data suggested that for 1 m³ of groundwater pumped out in Bangkok Plain, approximately 0.10 m³ of ground loss occurred at the surface. Significant development has been made in numerical methods for prediction of differential settlements between building foundations caused by the piezometric drawdown in the aquifers. The strict mitigation measures adopted recently, comprising a pricing policy for groundwater management, an expansion of tap water supply, and strict enforcement of groundwater laws, have resulted in a marked drop in groundwater use. However, the land subsidence will continue for a long while owing to the time-dependent consolidation behavior of the soft clay layer and clay aquitards.     

台湾地面沉降及其监测控制

台湾地面沉降始于20世纪50年代，主要集中于西部沿海平原，沉降面积达1165km^2，约占平原区的1／10，目前以彰化、屏东等地较为严重，最大累积沉降量达3．2m，最大沉降速率为17．6cm/a。台湾地面沉降主要因开采地下水引起。目前采用GPS、一孔多标感应分层监测等技术实施地面沉降监测，通过用水规划制定与监督导实施地面沉降的控制与管理。     

地面沉降对高速铁路的影响分析

北京平原区快速发展的地面沉降对高速铁路的发展构成了威胁,地面沉降与过量开采地下水造成的水位下降关系密切,为此有针对性地开展基于高速铁路的地下水动态与地面沉降相关关系研究对于高铁安全运行意义重大,特别是对于制定高铁沿线地下水开采方案、地面沉降减缓措施和工程措施至关重要。基于其对高速铁路的影响模式,本文将地面沉降分为区域沉降和局部沉降两种类型。针对区域沉降,利用Logistic方程,使用天竺、望京及王四营分层地面沉降和地下水位数据,构建了不同层位地下水水位变化与地面沉降之间的相关关系模型,通过ABAQUS计算局部地区,对于6m高路堤和15m CFG桩处理深度的地基而言,当渗透系数k=2m／d,距离线路边缘25m处浅层地下水下降10m将产生约61—85mm的沉降。     

Three-dimensional numerical modeling of land subsidence in Shanghai,China

Shanghai, in China, has experienced two periods of rapid land subsidence mainly caused by groundwater exploitation related to economic and population growth. The first period occurred during 1956–1965 and was characterized by an average land subsidence rate of 83 mm/yr, and the second period occurred during 1990–1998 with an average subsidence rate of 16 mm/yr. Owing to the establishment of monitoring networks for groundwater levels and land subsidence, a valuable dataset has been collected since the 1960s and used to develop regional land subsidence models applied to manage groundwater resources and mitigate land subsidence. The previous geomechanical modeling approaches to simulate land subsidence were based on one-dimensional (1D) vertical stress and deformation. In this study, a numerical model of land subsidence is developed to simulate explicitly coupled three-dimensional (3D) groundwater flow and 3D aquifer-system displacements in downtown Shanghai from 30 December 1979 to 30 December 1995. The model is calibrated using piezometric, geodetic-leveling, and borehole extensometer measurements made during the 16-year simulation period. The 3D model satisfactorily reproduces the measured piezometric and deformation observations. For the first time, the capability exists to provide some preliminary estimations on the horizontal displacement field associated with the well-known land subsidence in Shanghai and for which no measurements are available. The simulated horizontal displacements peak at 11 mm, i.e. less than 10 % of the simulated maximum land subsidence, and seems too small to seriously damage infrastructure such as the subways (metro lines) in the center area of Shanghai.     

北京平原区地面沉降分布特征及影响因素

地面沉降是北京平原区主要地质灾害之一。文中采用永久散射体差分干涉测量(PS-InSAR)技术获取平原区地面沉降空间分布特征,基于GIS空间分析平台,将多种地面沉降影响因素分别与PS-InSAR获取的地面沉降场形变信息进行耦合研究,查明地面沉降与多种影响因素之间的响应关系。研究发现:(1)北京市地面沉降发育较为严重的地区主要出现在平原区东部、北部以及南部等地,存在多个沉降中心,最大沉降速率达到152mm/a,区域不均匀沉降现象明显,并且有连成一片的趋势。(2)地面沉降分布具有明显的构造控制特性,沉降区多位于几大活动断裂交接部位的沉积凹陷地区,与第四纪沉积凹陷十分吻合。地面沉降的发展趋势与活动断裂的走向具有明显的对应关系,在有活动断裂通过的区域,地面沉降剖面线上表现出明显的转折或突变,断裂两侧区域不均匀沉降十分明显。(3)地面沉降分层沉降量与对应层位上黏性土占比呈正比例关系,其空间分布特征及变化趋势与平原区的地层结构及可压缩黏性土层厚度具有很好的一致性,沉降范围整体由北西向的单一结构区向南东方向的多层结构区扩张。沉降速率大于50 mm/a的沉降区大多分布在黏性土层厚度大于100 m的地区,几大沉降中心与黏性土层厚度较大地区吻合较好。(4)第二承压含水层(顶底板埋深100~180 m)地下水开采对地面沉降影响最大,沉降中心与该层位地下水位降落漏斗区高度吻合,是地面沉降的主要贡献层位。     

连云港徐圩地面沉降BOTDR监测与评价

连云港市位于苏北沿海地区,地面沉降灾害面积较大,多地沉降速率超过20 mm/a,徐圩的沉降现状尤为严重。为了能够对徐圩地区的地面沉降进行精细化观测,文章采用BOTDR分布式光纤感测技术,对徐圩镇127 m深的钻孔地层进行了两年多的全断面精细化监测。结果表明:徐圩镇共有四个承压含水层组,I-1隔水层和I-2隔水层土体沉降量分别占总沉降量的70.29 %、24.59 %,抽水层的土体最大沉降量仅占比1.38 %。I-1隔水层和I-2隔水层的地层岩性包括淤泥质黏土（L2）、亚黏土（L3）、亚砂土夹粉砂（L4）,总厚度为44 m,由于抽水过程中隔水层向含水层失水,导致该隔水层土体固结压缩。同时,工程建设附加荷载对地面沉降的影响也不可忽视。徐圩地区现阶段的沉降仍在继续发生,但沉降速率有减小的趋势。BOTDR技术可有效获取地面沉降钻孔全断面的土层变形分布信息,为地面沉降评价提供了一种精细化的分布式监测手段。     

济宁市区地面沉降及防冶措施研究

地面沉降是近年来我国和世界上许多城市出现的重要的地质灾害之一,济宁城区1988年发现地面沉降,并以25．2mm／a沉降速度发展。本文从新构造运动、地下水开采、第四系砂土特征等方面,分析了济宁城区地面沉降的产生原因,指出新构造运动与超量抽取地下水是造成济宁城区地面沉降主要原因;通过对地下水开采量的变化趋势,中、深层地下水的补给条件的分析,对地面沉降变化趋势作出了预测;根据济宁市地处济宁矿区的特点,提出了综合利用地下水、防治济宁城区地面沉降进一步发展的对策。     

Sustainable development and utilization of groundwater resources considering land subsidence in Suzhou,China

Suzhou is located at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in southeastern Jiangsu, China. It is part of the Su-Xi-Chang area including Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou. As one of the most developed areas in China, this region has suffered from severe land subsidence caused by extensive groundwater exploitation since 1980s. The land subsidence was controlled by prohibition of groundwater exploration in the past several years. However, the surface water pollution prompted a new task of how to sustainably utilize the groundwater resource, especially to satisfy the emergency demands of water supply. In this paper, we took Suzhou as a representative case to discuss how to develop groundwater resources while controlling the land subsidence. The relationship between the deformation and the groundwater level was analyzed, with focus on the deformation features after the period of groundwater exploitation ban. The results confirmed the conclusion by Shi et al. (2007, 2008a): even in the period of rising groundwater level, same units may manifest different deformation characteristics, such as elasticity, elasto-plasticity, and visco-elasto-plasticity, at different locations of the cone of depression. A land subsidence model that couples a 3-D groundwater model and a 1-D deformation model was developed to simulate the groundwater level and deformation. A high-resolution local grid (child model) for Suzhou was built based on the regional land subsidence model of Su-Xi-Chang area by Wu et al. (2009). The model was used for a number of predictive scenarios up to the year of 2012 to examine how to develop sustainable use of groundwater resources under the conditions of land subsidence control. Our results indicated that about 3.08 × 10⁷ m³/a groundwater could be provided as emergency and standby water source while meeting the land subsidence control target of 10 mm/a.     

基于InSAR技术的内蒙古巴彦淖尔市地面沉降演化特征及成因分析

巴彦淖尔市位于内蒙古自治区西部,区内第四系松散沉积层厚度大,具有发育地面沉降的基础条件。为填补该地区地面沉降研究的空白,利用PS-InSAR和SBAS-InSAR技术分别对巴彦淖尔市2007—2011年（ALOS PALSAR数据,98景）和2015—2016年（Radarsat-2数据,10景）的地面沉降情况进行定量...     

苏锡常地区深层地下水禁采后土层变形特征分析

为了控制苏锡常地区的地面沉降,2000年开始该区实行了深层地下水的禁采。基于近10年来监测数据,对比分析了禁采前后地质环境要素的变化规律,重点剖析禁采后地下水回升条件下的土层变形特征。数据分析结果显示,禁采以来,以主采层第Ⅱ承压含水层为代表的地下水位逐步回升,自2000年至2009年,40m埋深水位降落漏斗面积由近4000km2缩小至1200km2。地面沉降的发展速率也出现不同程度的减缓,至2008年,大于5mm/a 的沉降区面积已缩减到1200km2。研究区土层的变形特征表现出明显的差异性。苏州北部沿江地区和中部地区地面沉降出现了明显回弹,土层表现为弹性变形特征。而位于地下水位漏斗和沉降漏斗中心附近的土层表现出沉降的迟滞性,即使在禁采后水位回升的情况下土层仍表现为持续沉降或微沉。研究结果为后续区域地面沉降模型中土层沉降模型的合理选择提供依据。     

北京地下水系统演化与地面沉降过程

采用地下水动态监测网、GPS监测网数据、气象监测数据与SAR数据、GIS等技术相结合,建立地下水系统演化与地面沉降过程模型,系统分析了北京地区地下水降落漏斗区地面沉降的形成过程。研究表明:降雨量呈逐年下降趋势,地下水开采量随之增大;平原区地下水位呈下降趋势,间接导致了地下水降落漏斗和地面沉降的形成演化。地面沉降对地下水降落漏斗的响应模式存在着季节与年际差异性,时空分布上存在不均匀性,最大地面沉降速率约为41.43 mm/a;揭示了地下水降落漏斗与地面沉降漏斗空间展布特性存在一致性,但并非完全吻合。