Characteristics of groundwater flow field after land creation engineering in the hilly and gully area of the Loess Plateau

In order to study the degree of influence and control mechanism to groundwater flow field caused by land creation engineering in the hilly and gully area of the Loess Plateau, based on the geological and engineering conditions of the first stage project of Yan’an new district in China, numerical simulation of groundwater flow is carried out by the Feflow and GIS technologies. From the simulation, punning measure relatively reduces infiltration recharge and artificial gravel drain increases groundwater seepage. The basic characteristics of groundwater flow field is controlled by the old and new topographies in the whole study area, and artificial gravel drain plays an auxiliary role in accelerating groundwater drawdown upstream and promotes groundwater rise downstream. According to differences of groundwater level and declining percentages of hydraulic gradient in the main and secondary gullies, dewatering of artificial gravel drain in the secondary gully is more effective than that in the main gully, which will yet play an important role in the future. The study results will make contributions to understand groundwater response to land creation engineering and will be beneficial to take necessary measures to prevent collapse of loess and failure of building foundation in the hilly and gully area of the Loess Plateau.     

Numerical Analysis of Gravity Coring Using Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Method and a New Corer

The shortcomings of gravity corers in sampling marine sediments have been observed extensively in various field tests. In order to optimize the coring, this article provides an alternative numerical way to model the gravity coring and analyze the sampling effect. Based on this analysis, a new hydraulic hammer corer is devised. A coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian method with capability of simulating the problem involving extreme deformation, penetration is used to simulate the coring process. The results show that the hydrostatic pressure and deviator stress increase and reach their peak when the pile tip is slightly above or at the level of the observation point and then drop rapidly when the pile tip slides below the observation point. In addition, the stress path indicates that the soil element sustains plastic compression before yielding and then expands until recovering to the original state. The obvious “under-sampling” phenomenon is also well-captured by the finite element model.     

Evaluation of Effective Depth of PVD Improvement in Soft Clay Deposit: A Field Case Study

This article presents a case history of determination of effective depth of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) under embankment loading on a very soft clay deposit in central China, near Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. The height of the embankment was 5.3 m and construction time was about one year. The PVDs were installed to a depth of 8.5 m at a spacing of 1.5 m in a triangular pattern. Field observations and the finite element method (FEM) were employed to analyze the performance of the soft deposit during embankment construction. The influential depth of the embankment loading was evaluated based on settlement, excess pore pressure, and stress increase in subsoil, both from the observed data and FEM analysis. The effective PVD depth was determined in the following ways: (1) the depth of 5% subsoil settlement of surface settlement; (2) vertical stress increase in subsoil of 25% in-situ stress; and (3) consolidation time/PVD depth relation by FEM. Based on the analysis, the effective depth of PVDs was determined to be between 10 and 12.8 m for this field case.     

The Sediment Source and Transport Trends around the Abandoned Yellow River Delta,China

Sediment source and transport trends are influenced by various hydrodynamic factors, and thus play important roles in sedimentary evolution and coastal stability. To examine sediment transport trends around the abandoned Yellow River delta promontory and its erosion mechanism, we employ empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to study sedimentary characteristics and transport trends of the abandoned Yellow River delta in northern Jiangsu Province, China. The results showed that: (1) the main sediment source in the abandoned Yellow River delta is the submarine coastal slope and both sides of the abandoned Yellow River Delta; (2) the main hydrodynamics controlling sediment transport is the current that runs along the shore, coupled with waves, especially southward currents; (3) the sediment of the study area was redistributed under hydrodynamics; coarse sediments were eroded and broadly transported to the south. Therefore, it is concluded that the sediment sources and transport have important influence on coastal evolution: the sediment source area shows mass loss of deposits and erosion; deposits in the submarine coastal slope provide the source and were continuously eroded to provide materials to other places as a sediment source.     

Soil phosphorus composition and phosphatase activities along altitudes of alpine tundra in Changbai Mountains,China

Alpine tundra ecosystems have specific vegetation and environmental conditions that may affect soil phosphorus(P) composition and phosphatase activities. However, these effects are poorly understood. This study used Na OH-EDTA extraction and solution31 P nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) spectroscopy to determine soil P composition and phosphatase activities, including acid phosphomonoesterase(Ac P), phosphodiesterase(PD) and inorganic pyrophosphatase(IPP), in the alpine tundra of the Changbai Mountains at seven different altitudinal gradients(i.e., 2000 m, 2100 m, 2200 m, 2300 m, 2400 m, 2500 m, and 2600 m). The results show that total P(TP), organic P(OP), OP/TP, Na OH-EDTA extracted P and AcP, PD, and IPP activities over the altitude range of 2500–2600 m are significantly lower than those below 2400 m. The dominant extracted form of P is OP(73%–83%) with a large proportion of monoesters(65%–72%), whereas inorganic P is present in lower proportions(17%–27%). The activity of Ac P is significantly positively correlated with the contents of soil OP, total carbon(TC), total nitrogen(TN), and TP(P 0.05), indicating that the Ac P is a more sensitive index for responding P nutrient storage than PD and IPP. Soil properties, P composition, and phosphatase activities decrease with increased altitude and soil p H. Our results indicate that the distribution of soil P composition and phosphatase activities along altitude and Ac P may play an important role in P hydrolysis as well as have the potential to be an indicator of soil quality.     

Variation of Thornthwaite moisture index in Hengduan Mountains,China

The Thornthwaite moisture index, an index of the supply of water(precipitation) in an area relative to the climatic demand for water(potential evapotranspiration), was used to examine the spatial and temporal variation of drought and to verify the influence of environmental factors on the drought in the Hengduan Mountains, China. Results indicate that the Thornthwaite moisture index in the Hengduan Mountains had been increasing since 1960 with a rate of 0.1938/yr. Annual Thornthwaite moisture index in Hengduan Mountains was between –97.47 and 67.43 and the spatial heterogeneity was obvious in different seasons. Thornthwaite moisture index was high in the north and low in the south, and the monsoon rainfall had a significant impact on its spatial distribution. The tendency rate of Thornthwaite moisture index variation varied in different seasons, and the increasing trends in spring were greater than that in summer and autumn. However, the Thornthwaite moisture index decreased in winter. Thornthwaite moisture index increased greatly in the north and there was a small growth in the south of Hengduan Mountains. The increase of precipitation and decrease of evaporation lead to the increase of Thornthwaite moisture index. Thornthwaite moisture index has strong correlation with vegetation coverage. It can be seen that the correlation between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI) and Thornthwaite moisture index was positive in spring and summer, but negative in autumn and winter. Correlation between Thornthwaite moisture index and relative soil relative moisture content was positive in spring, summer and autumn, but negative in winter. The typical mountainous terrain affect the distribution of temperature, precipitation, wind speed and other meteorological factors in this region, and then affect the spatial distribution of Thornthwaite moisture index. The unique ridge-gorge terrain caused the continuity of water-heat distribution from the north to south, and the water-heat was stronger than that from the east to west part, and thus determined the spatial distribution of Thornthwaite moisture index. The drought in the Hengduan Mountains area is mainly due to the unstable South Asian monsoon rainfall time.