A smoothed particle hydrodynamics modelling of soil–water mixing and resulting changes in average strength

Soil–water interaction is a pivotal process in many underwater geohazards such as underwater landslides where soil sediments gradually evolve into turbidity currents after interactions with ambient water. Due to the large deformations, multiphase interactions and phase changes this involves, investigations from numerical modelling of the transition process have been limited so far. This study explores a simple numerical replication of such soil–water mixing with respect to changes in average strength using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). A uniform viscoplastic model is used for both the solid-like and fluid-like SPH particles. The proposed numerical solution scheme is verified by single-phase dam break tests and multiphase simple shear tests. SPH combinations of solid-like and fluid-like particles can replicate the clay–water mixture as long as the liquidity index of the solid-like particles is larger than unity. The proposed numerical scheme is shown to capture key features of an underwater landslide such as hydroplaning, water entrainment and wave generation and thus shows promise as a tool to simulate the whole process of subaquatic geohazards involving solid–fluid transition during mass transport.     

Effects of Enclosure on Plant and Soil Nutrients in Different Types of Alpine Grassland

Enclosure is one of the most widely used management tools for degraded alpine grassland on the northern Tibetan Plateau, but the responses of different types of grassland to enclosure may vary, and research on these responses can provide a scientific basis for improving ecological conservation. This study took one site for each of three grassland types (alpine meadow, alpine steppe and alpine desert) on the northern Tibetan Plateau as examples, and explored the effects of enclosure on plant and soil nutrients by comparing differences in plant community biomass, leaf-soil nutrient content and their stoichiometry between samples from inside and outside the fence. The results showed that enclosure can significantly increase all aboveground biomass in these three grassland types, but it only increased the 10-20 cm underground biomass in the alpine desert. Enclosure also significantly increased the leaf nutrient content of the dominant plants and contents of total nitrogen (N), total potassium (K), and organic carbon (C) in 10-20 cm soil in alpine desert, thus changing the stoichiometry between C, N and P (phosphorus). However, enclosure significantly increased only the N content of dominant plant leaves in alpine steppe, while other nutrients and stoichiometries of both plant leaves and soil did not show significant differences in alpine meadow and alpine steppe. These results suggested that enclosure has differential effects on these three types of alpine grasslands on the northern Tibetan Plateau, and the alpine desert showed the most active ecological conservation in the responses of its soil and plant nutrients.     

The effect of conservation practices in sloped croplands on soil hydraulic properties and root‐zone moisture dynamics

Rain‐induced erosion and short‐term drought are the two factors that limit the productivity of croplands in the red soil region of subtropical China. The objective of this study was to estimate the effects of conservation practices on hydraulic properties and root‐zone water dynamics of the soil. A 3‐year experiment was performed on a slope at Xianning. Four treatments were evaluated for their ability to reduce soil erosion and improve soil water conditions. Compared with no practices (CK) and living grass strips (GS), the application of polyacrylamide (PAM) significantly reduced soil crust formation during intense rainfall, whereas rice straw mulching (SM) completely abolished soil crust formation. The SM and PAM treatments improved soil water‐stable aggregates, with a redistribution of micro‐aggregates into macro‐aggregates. PAM and SM significantly increased the soil water‐holding capacity. These practices mitigated the degradation of the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) during intense rainfalls. These methods increased soil water storage but with limited effects during heavy rainfalls in the wet period. In contrast, during the dry period, SM had the highest soil water storage, followed by PAM and CK. Grass strips had the lowest soil water storage because of the water uptake during the vigorous grass growth. A slight decline in the soil moisture resulted in a significant decrease in the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (Ku) of the topsoil. Therefore, the hydraulic conductivity in the field is governed by soil moisture, and the remaining soil moisture is more important than improving soil properties to resist short‐term droughts. As a result, SM is the most effective management practice when compared with PAM and GS, although they all protect the soil hydraulic properties during wet periods. These results suggest that mulching is the best strategy for water management in erosion‐threatened and drought‐threatened red soils. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Salinity and periodic inundation controls on the soil‐plant‐atmosphere continuum of gray mangroves

Salinity and periodic inundation are both known to have a major role in shaping the ecohydrology of mangroves through their controls on water uptake, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, gas exchanges, and nutrient availability. Salinity, in particular, can be considered one of the main abiotic regulating factors for halophytes and salt‐tolerant species, due to its influence on water use patterns and growth rate. Ecohydrological literature has rarely focused on the effects of salinity on plant transpiration, based on the fact that the terrestrial plants mostly thrive in low‐saline, unsaturated soils where the role of osmotic potential can be considered negligible. However, the effect of salinity cannot be neglected in the case of tidal species like mangroves, which have to cope with hyperosmotic conditions and waterlogging. We introduce here a first‐order ecohydrological model of the soil/plant‐atmosphere continuum of Avicennia marina—also known as gray mangrove—a highly salt‐tolerant pioneer species able to adapt to hyperarid intertidal zones and characterized by unique morphological and ecophysiological traits. The A. marina's soil‐plant‐atmosphere continuum takes explicitly into account the role of water head, osmotic water potential, and water salinity in governing plant water fluxes. A. marina's transpiration is thus modeled as a function of salinity based on a simple parameterization of salt exclusion mechanisms at the root level and a modified Jarvis' expression accounting for the effects of salinity on stomatal conductance. Consistently with previous studies investigating the physiology of mangroves in response to different environmental drivers, our results highlight the major influence of salinity on mangrove transpiration when contrasted with other potential stressors such as waterlogging and water stress.     

Evaluating soil moisture estimation from ground-penetrating radar hyperbola fitting with respect to a systematic time-domain reflectometry data collection in a boreal podzolic agricultural field

The upper 30 cm of the soil profile, which hosts the majority of the root biomass, can be considered as the shallow agricultural root zone of most temperate crops. The electromagnetic wave velocity in the soil obtained from reflection hyperbolas in ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data can be used to estimate soil moisture (SM). Finding shallow hyperbolas in a radargram and minimizing the subjective error associated with the hyperbola fitting are the main challenges in this approach. Nevertheless, we were motivated by the recent improvements of hyperbola fitting algorithms, which can reduce the subjective error and processing time. To overcome the difficulty of finding very shallow hyperbolas, we applied the hyperbola fitting method to reflections ranging from 27- to 50-cm depth using a 500-MHz centre-frequency GPR and compared the estimated moisture with vertically installed, 30-cm-long time-domain reflectometry (TDR) sensors. We also compared TDR and GPR sample areas in a 2-D plane using different GPR survey types and different hyperbola depths. SM measured with TDR and GPR were not significantly different according to Mann–Whitney's test. Our analyses showed that a root mean square error of 0.03 m³ m⁻³ was found between the two methods. In conclusion, the proposed method might be suitable to estimate SM with an acceptable accuracy within the root zone if the soil profile is fairly uniform within the application depth range.     

Water uptake of riparian plants in the lower Lhasa River Basin,South Tibetan Plateau using stable water isotopes

Riparian plants can adapt their water uptake strategies based on climatic and hydrological conditions within a river basin. The response of cold-alpine riparian trees to changes in water availability is poorly understood. The Lhasa River is a representative cold-alpine river in South Tibet and an under-studied environment. Therefore, a 96 km section of the lower Lhasa River was selected for a study on the water-use patterns of riparian plants. Plant water, soil water, groundwater and river water were measured at three sites for δ¹⁸O and δ²H values during the warm-wet and cold-dry periods in 2018. Soil profiles differed in isotope values between seasons and with the distance along the river. During the cold-dry period, the upper parts of the soil profiles were significantly affected by evaporation. During the warm-wet period, the soil profile was influenced by precipitation infiltration in the upper reaches of the study area and by various water sources in the lower reaches. Calculations using the IsoSource model indicated that the mature salix and birch trees (Salix cheilophila Schneid. and Betula platyphylla Suk.) accessed water from multiple sources during the cold-dry period, whereas they sourced more than 70% of their requirement from the upper 60–80 cm of the soil profile during the warm-wet period. The model indicated that the immature rose willow tree (Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb) accessed 66% of its water from the surface soil during the cold-dry period, but used the deeper layers during the warm-wet period. The plant type was not the dominant factor driving water uptake patterns in mature plants. Our findings can contribute to strategies for the sustainable development of cold-alpine riparian ecosystems. It is recommended that reducing plantation density and collocating plants with different rooting depths would be conducive to optimal plant growth in this environment.     

Vertical variations and transport mechanism of soil moisture in response to vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau of China

Soil moisture is essential for vegetation restoration in arid and semi-arid regions. Ascertaining the vertical distribution and transportation of soil moisture under different vegetation types has a profound effect on the ecological construction. In this study, the soil moisture at a depth of 500 cm for four typical vegetation types, including Robinia pseudoacacia, Caragana korshinskii, Stipa bungeana, and corn, were investigated and compared in the Zhifanggou watershed of the Loess plateau. Additionally, hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes were detected to identify the transport mechanism of soil moisture. The results showed vertical distribution and transportation of soil moisture were different under different vegetation types. Depth-averaged soil moisture under S. bungeana and corn generally increased along the profile, while C. korshinskii and R. pseudoacacia showed weakly increasing and relatively stable after an obvious decreasing trend (0–40 cm). The soil moisture under R. pseudoacacia was lower than that under other vegetation types, especially in deep layer. However, the effect of R. pseudoacacia on soil moisture in the topsoil (< 30 cm) could be positive. For R. pseudoacacia (160–500 cm), C. korshinskii (0–500 cm), and S. bungeana (0–100 cm), the soil moisture declined with increased in vegetation age. Planting arbor species such as R. pseudoacacia intensified the decline of soil moisture on the Loess Plateau. The capacity of evaporation fractionation of soil moisture followed the sequence: corn > S. bungeana > R. pseudoacacia > C. korshinskii. The δ¹⁸O values in soil water fluctuated across the profile. The δ¹⁸O values changed sharply in upper layer and generally remained stable in deep layer. However, in middle layer, the vertical distribution characteristics of the δ¹⁸O values were different under different vegetation types. We estimated that piston flow was the main mode of precipitation infiltration, and the occurrence of preferential flow was related to vegetation types. These results were helpful to improve the understanding of the response of deep soil moisture to vegetation restoration and inform practices for sustainable water management.     

Torsional dynamic response of a large‐diameter pipe pile in viscoelastic saturated soil

An analytical solution is developed in this paper to investigate the dynamic response of a large‐diameter end‐bearing pipe pile subjected to torsional loading in viscoelastic saturated soil. The wave propagation in saturated soil and pile are simulated by Biot's two‐phased linear theory and one‐dimensional elastic theory, respectively. The dynamic equilibrium equations of the outer soil, inner soil, and pile are established. The solutions for the outer and inner soils in frequency domain are obtained by Laplace transform technique and the separation of variables method. Then, the dynamic response of the pile is obtained on the basis of the perfect contacts between the pile and the outer soil as well as the inner soil. The results in this paper are compared with that of a solid pile in elastic saturated soil to verify the validity of the solution. Furthermore, the solution in this paper is compared with the classic plane strain solution to verify the solution further and check the accuracy of the plane strain solution. Numerical results are presented to analyze the vibration characteristics and illustrate the effect of the soil parameters and the geometry size of the pile on the complex impedance and velocity admittance of the pile head. Finally, the displacement of the soil at different depth and frequency is analyzed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A probabilistic approach for computing water retention of particulate systems from statistics of grain size and tessellated pore network

The paper offers an analytical determination of the hydraulic properties of an unsaturated soil with reference to its retention curve, which describes the relationship between the volumetric water content and capillarity through matric suction. The analysis combines a particulate approach focused on the physics at the pore scale, including microstructural aspects, with a probabilistic approach where the void space and grain size are considered as random variables. In the end, the soil water characteristic curve of an unsaturated granular medium along a drying path can be derived analytically based on the sole information of particle size distribution. The analysis hinges on the tessellation of a wet granular system into an assemblage of tetrahedral unit cells revealing a pore network upon which capillary physics are computed with respect to pore throat invasion by a non-wetting fluid with evolving pendular capillary bridges. The crux of the paper is to pass from particle size probability distribution to a matching void space distribution to eventually reveal key information such as void cell and solid volume statistics. Making reasonable statistically based assumptions to render calculations tractable, the water retention curve can be readily constructed. Model predictions compare quite favourably with experimental data available for actual soils, especially in the high saturation range. Having a sound scientific basis, the model can be made amenable to address a variety of soils with a wider range of particle sizes.     

An analytical approach to ascertain saturation‐excess versus infiltration‐excess overland flow in urban and reference landscapes

Uncontrolled overland flow drives flooding, erosion, and contaminant transport, with the severity of these outcomes often amplified in urban areas. In pervious media such as urban soils, overland flow is initiated via either infiltration‐excess (where precipitation rate exceeds infiltration capacity) or saturation‐excess (when precipitation volume exceeds soil profile storage) mechanisms. These processes call for different management strategies, making it important for municipalities to discern between them. In this study, we derived a generalized one‐dimensional model that distinguishes between infiltration‐excess overland flow (IEOF) and saturation‐excess overland flow (SEOF) using Green–Ampt infiltration concepts. Next, we applied this model to estimate overland flow generation from pervious areas in 11 U.S. cities. We used rainfall forcing that represented low‐ and high‐intensity events and compared responses among measured urban versus predevelopment reference soil hydraulic properties. The derivation showed that the propensity for IEOF versus SEOF is related to the equivalence between two nondimensional ratios: (a) precipitation rate to depth‐weighted hydraulic conductivity and (b) depth of soil profile restrictive layer to soil capillary potential. Across all cities, reference soil profiles were associated with greater IEOF for the high‐intensity set of storms, and urbanized soil profiles tended towards production of SEOF during the lower intensity set of storms. Urban soils produced more cumulative overland flow as a fraction of cumulative precipitation than did reference soils, particularly under conditions associated with SEOF. These results will assist cities in identifying the type and extent of interventions needed to manage storm water produced from pervious areas.