Long-term thinning decreases the contribution of heterotrophic respiration to soil respiration in subalpine plantations

Interest in the dynamics of soil respiration(R_(S))in subalpine forest ecosystems is increasing due to their high soil carbon density and potential sensitivity to environmental changes.However,as a principal silvicultural practice,the long-term impacts of thinning on R_(S) and its heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration components(R_(h) and Ra,respectively)in subalpine plantations are poorly understood,espe-cially in winter.A 3-year field observation was carried out with consideration of winter CO_(2) efflux in middle-aged sub-alpine spruce plantations in northwestern China.A trench-ing method was used to explore the long-term impacts of thinning on Rs,Rn and R_(a).Seventeen years after thinning,mean annual Rs,Rn and R_(a) increased,while the contribu-tion of R_(h) to R_(s) decreased with thinning intensity.Thinning significantly decreased winter R,because of the reduction in R_(n) but had no significant effect on Ra.The temperature sensitivity(Q_(10))of R_(h) and R_(a) also increased with thinning intensity,with lower Q_(10) values for R_(h)(2.1-2.6)than for Ra(2.4-2.8).The results revealed the explanatory variables and pathways related to R_(n) and R_(a) dynamics.Thinning increased soil moisture and nitrate nitrogen(NO_(3)^(-)-N),and the enhanced nitrogen and water availability promoted R_(h) and R_(a) by improving fine root biomass and microbial activity.Our results highlight the positive roles of NO_(3)^(-)-N in stimulating R_(s) components following long-term thinning.Therefore,applications of nitrogen fertilizer are not recommended while thinning subalpine spruce plantations from the perspective of reducing soil CO_(2) emissions.The increased Q_(10) values of R_(s) components indicate that a large increase in soil CO_(2) emissions would be expected following thinning because of more pronounced climate warming in alpineregions.

Moso bamboo expansion decreased soil heterotrophic respiration but increased arbuscular mycorrhizal mycelial respiration in a subtropical broadleaved forest

Moso bamboo(Phyllostachys Pubescens)expansion into adjacent forests has been widely reported to affect plant diversity and its association with mycorrhizal fungi in subtropical China,which will likely have significant impacts on soil respiration.However,there is still limited information on how Moso bamboo expansion changes soil respiration components and their linkage with microbial community composition and activity.Based on a mesh exclusion method,soil respirations derived from roots,arbuscular mycorrhizal(AM)mycelium,and free-living microbes were investigated in a pure Moso bamboo forest(expanded),an adjacent broadleaved forest(nonexpanded),and a mixed bamboo-broadleaved forest(expanding).Our results showed that bamboo expansion decreased the cumulative CO_(2)effluxes from total soil respiration,root respiration and soil heterotrophic respiration(by 19.01%,30.34%,and 29.92%on average),whereas increased those from AM mycelium(by 78.67%in comparison with the broadleaved forests).Bamboo expansion significantly decreased soil organic carbon(C)content,bacterial and fungal abundances,and enzyme activities involved in C,N and P cycling whereas enhanced the interactive relationships among bacterial communities.In contrast,the ingrowth of AM mycelium increased the activities ofβ-glucosidase and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase and decreased the interactive relationships among bacterial communities.Changes in soil heterotrophic respiration and AM mycelium respiration had positive correlations with soil enzyme activities and fungal abundances.In summary,our findings suggest that bamboo expansion decreased soil heterotrophic respiration by decreasing soil microbial activity but increased the contribution of AM mycelial respiration to soil C efflux,which may potentially increase soil C loss from AM mycelial pathway.

Response of soil respiration to short-term changes in precipitation and nitrogen addition in a desert steppe

Changes in precipitation and nitrogen(N)addition may significantly affect the processes of soil carbon(C)cycle in terrestrial ecosystems,such as soil respiration.However,relatively few studies have investigated the effects of changes in precipitation and N addition on soil respiration in the upper soil layer in desert steppes.In this study,we conducted a control experiment that involved a field simulation from July 2020 to December 2021 in a desert steppe in Yanchi County,China.Specifically,we measured soil parameters including soil temperature,soil moisture,total nitrogen(TN),soil organic carbon(SOC),soil microbial biomass carbon(SMBC),soil microbial biomass nitrogen(SMBN),and contents of soil microorganisms including bacteria,fungi,actinomyces,and protozoa,and determined the components of soil respiration including soil respiration with litter(RS+L),soil respiration without litter(RS),and litter respiration(RL)under short-term changes in precipitation(control,increased precipitation by 30%,and decreased precipitation by 30%)and N addition(0.0 and 10.0 g/(m^(2)·a))treatments.Our results indicated that short-term changes in precipitation and N addition had substantial positive effects on the contents of TN,SOC,and SMBC,as well as the contents of soil actinomyces and protozoa.In addition,N addition significantly enhanced the rates of RS+L and RS by 4.8%and 8.0%(P<0.05),respectively.The increase in precipitation markedly increased the rates of RS+L and RS by 2.3%(P<0.05)and 5.7%(P<0.001),respectively.The decrease in precipitation significantly increased the rates of RS+L and RS by 12.9%(P<0.05)and 23.4%(P<0.001),respectively.In contrast,short-term changes in precipitation and N addition had no significant effects on RL rate(P>0.05).The mean RL/RS+L value observed under all treatments was 27.63%,which suggested that RL is an important component of soil respiration in the desert steppe ecosystems.The results also showed that short-term changes in precipitation and N addition had significant interactive effects on the rates of RS+L,RS,and RL(P<0.001).In addition,soil temperature was the most important abiotic factor that affected the rates of RS+L,RS,and RL.Results of the correlation analysis demonstrated that the rates of RS+L,RS,and RL were closely related to soil temperature,soil moisture,TN,SOC,and the contents of soil microorganisms,and the structural equation model revealed that SOC and SMBC are the key factors influencing the rates of RS+L,RS,and RL.This study provides further insights into the characteristics of soil C emissions in desert steppe ecosystems in the context of climate change,which can be used as a reference for future related studies.

Soil respiration in a natural forest and a plantation during a dry period in the Philippines

Climate change is forecast to increase the frequency of extreme hot temperatures and dryer days and is anticipated to have profound impacts on the global carbon budget.Droughts are expected to alter soil respiration(R_(s))rates,but the scarcity of data preclude a reliable estimate of this response and its future trajectory.A field experiment using an automated soil respiration machinery(LI-8100A)was conducted in a natural forest and a plantation during a dry period in the Philippines,with the goal of quantifying Rsrates and their relationship with soil temperature and moisture,and air temperature.The natural forest(5.81μmol m^(-2)s^(-1))exhibited significantly higher Rsrates(p<0.0001)compared with the plantation(1.82μmol m^(-2)s^(-1))and control(3.23μmol m^(-2)s^(-1)).Rsrates showed significant negative relationships with air(-0.71)and soil temperatures(-0.62),indicating that as temperatures increase,the R_(s)rates decrease.In contrast,the R_(s)rates exhibited a significant positive relationship with soil moisture(0.65).Although the low R_(s)rates in the plantation and high Rsrates in the natural forest are indicators of sensitivities of these two types of tropical forests to warm,dry soil,this observation is only conclusive during the dry period,but not necessarily during wet periods.Further studies are needed to determine the trend of Rsrates during wet periods,considering different site conditions and types of vegetation.

Subsoil tillage enhances wheat productivity,soil organic carbon and available nutrient status in dryland fields

Tillage practices during the fallow period benefit water storage and yield in dryland wheat crops.However,there is currently no clarity on the responses of soil organic carbon(SOC),total nitrogen(TN),and available nutrients to tillage practices within the growing season.This study evaluated the effects of three tillage practices(NT,no tillage;SS,subsoil tillage;DT,deep tillage)over five years on soil physicochemical properties.Soil samples at harvest stage from the fifth year were analyzed to determine the soil aggregate and aggregate-associated C and N fractions.The results indicated that SS and DT improved grain yield,straw biomass and straw carbon return of wheat compared with NT.In contrast to DT and NT,SS favored SOC and TN concentrations and stocks by increasing the soil organic carbon sequestration rate(SOCSR)and soil nitrogen sequestration rate(TNSR)in the 0-40 cm layer.Higher SOC levels under SS and NT were associated with greater aggregate-associated C fractions,while TN was positively associated with soluble organic nitrogen(SON).Compared with DT,the NT and SS treatments improved soil available nutrients in the 0-20 cm layer.These findings suggest that SS is an excellent practice for increasing soil carbon,nitrogen and nutrient availability in dryland wheat fields in North China.

A dynamic soil freezing characteristic curve model for frozen soil

The soil freezing characteristic curve(SFCC)plays a fundamental role in comprehending thermohydraulic behavior and numerical simulation of frozen soil.This study proposes a dynamic model to uniformly express SFCCs amidst varying total water contents throughout the freezing-thawing process.Firstly,a general model is proposed,wherein the unfrozen water content at arbitrary temperature is determined as the lesser of the current total water content and the reference value derived from saturated SFCC.The dynamic performance of this model is verified through test data.Subsequently,in accordance with electric double layer(EDL)theory,the theoretical residual and minimum temperatures in SFCC are calculated to be-14.5℃to-20℃for clay particles and-260℃,respectively.To ensure that the SFCC curve ends at minimum temperature,a correction function is introduced into the general model.Furthermore,a simplified dynamic model is proposed and investigated,necessitating only three parameters inherited from the general model.Additionally,both general and simplified models are evaluated based on a test database and proven to fit the test data exactly across the entire temperature range.Typical recommended parameter values for various types of soils are summarized.Overall,this study provides not only a theoretical basis for most empirical equations but also proposes a new and more general equation to describe the SFCC.

Straw return increases crop production by improving soil organic carbon sequestration and soil aggregation in a long-term wheat-cotton cropping system

Straw return is a promising strategy for managing soil organic carbon(SOC)and improving yield stability.However,the optimal straw return strategy for sustainable crop production in the wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)-cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.)cropping system remains uncertain.The objective of this study was to quantify the long-term(10 years)impact of carbon(C)input on SOC sequestration,soil aggregation and crop yields in a wheat-cotton cropping system in the Yangtze River Valley,China.Five treatments were arranged with a single-factor randomized design as follows:no straw return(Control),return of wheat straw only(Wt),return of cotton straw only(Ct),return of 50%wheat and 50%cotton straw(Wh-Ch)and return of 100%wheat and 100%cotton straw(Wt-Ct).In comparison to the Control,the SOC content increased by 8.4 to 20.2%under straw return.A significant linear positive correlation between SOC sequestration and C input(1.42-7.19 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(−1))(P<0.05)was detected.The percentages of aggregates of sizes>2 and 1-2 mm at the 0-20 cm soil depth were also significantly elevated under straw return,with the greatest increase of the aggregate stability in the Wt-Ct treatment(28.1%).The average wheat yields increased by 12.4-36.0%and cotton yields increased by 29.4-73.7%,and significantly linear positive correlations were also detected between C input and the yields of wheat and cotton.The average sustainable yield index(SYI)reached a maximum value of 0.69 when the C input was 7.08 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(−1),which was close to the maximum value(SYI of 0.69,C input of 7.19 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(-1))in the Wt-Ct treatment.Overall,the return of both wheat and cotton straw was the best strategy for improving SOC sequestration,soil aggregation,yields and their sustainability in the wheat-cotton rotation system.

Assessment of soil erosion in the Irga watershed on the eastern edge of the Chota Nagpur Plateau,India

Human activities to improve the quality of life have accelerated the natural rate of soil erosion.In turn,these natural disasters have taken a great impact on humans.Human activities,particularly the conversion of vegetated land into agricultural land and built-up area,stand out as primary contributors to soil erosion.The present study investigated the risk of soil erosion in the Irga watershed located on the eastern fringe of the Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand,India,which is dominated by sandy loam and sandy clay loam soil with low soil organic carbon(SOC)content.The study used the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation(RUSLE)and Geographical Information System(GIS)technique to determine the rate of soil erosion.The five parameters(rainfall-runoff erosivity(R)factor,soil erodibility(K)factor,slope length and steepness(LS)factor,cover-management(C)factor,and support practice(P)factor)of the RUSLE were applied to present a more accurate distribution characteristic of soil erosion in the Irga watershed.The result shows that the R factor is positively correlated with rainfall and follows the same distribution pattern as the rainfall.The K factor values in the northern part of the study area are relatively low,while they are relatively high in the southern part.The mean value of the LS factor is 2.74,which is low due to the flat terrain of the Irga watershed.There is a negative linear correlation between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)and the C factor,and the high values of the C factor are observed in places with low NDVI.The mean value of the P factor is 0.210,with a range from 0.000 to 1.000.After calculating all parameters,we obtained the average soil erosion rate of 1.43 t/(hm^(2)•a),with the highest rate reaching as high as 32.71 t/(hm^(2)•a).Therefore,the study area faces a low risk of soil erosion.However,preventative measures are essential to avoid future damage to productive and constructive activities caused by soil erosion.This study also identifies the spatial distribution of soil erosion rate,which will help policy-makers to implement targeted soil erosion control measures.

Manure substitution improves maize yield by promoting soil fertility and mediating the microbial community in lime concretion black soil

Synthetic nitrogen(N)fertilizer has made a great contribution to the improvement of soil fertility and productivity,but excessive application of synthetic N fertilizer may cause agroecosystem risks,such as soil acidification,groundwater contamination and biodiversity reduction.Meanwhile,organic substitution has received increasing attention for its ecologically and environmentally friendly and productivity benefits.However,the linkages between manure substitution,crop yield and the underlying microbial mechanisms remain uncertain.To bridge this gap,a three-year field experiment was conducted with five fertilization regimes:i)Control,non-fertilization;CF,conventional synthetic fertilizer application;CF_(1/2)M_(1/2),1/2 N input via synthetic fertilizer and 1/2 N input via manure;CF_(1/4)M_(3/4),1/4 N input synthetic fertilizer and 3/4 N input via manure;M,manure application.All fertilization treatments were designed to have equal N input.Our results showed that all manure substituted treatments achieved high soil fertility indexes(SFI)and productivities by increasing the soil organic carbon(SOC),total N(TN)and available phosphorus(AP)concentrations,and by altering the bacterial community diversity and composition compared with CF.SOC,AP,and the soil C:N ratio were mainly responsible for microbial community variations.The co-occurrence network revealed that SOC and AP had strong positive associations with Rhodospirillales and Burkholderiales,while TN and C:N ratio had positive and negative associations with Micromonosporaceae,respectively.These specific taxa are implicated in soil macroelement turnover.Random Forest analysis predicted that both biotic(bacterial composition and Micromonosporaceae)and abiotic(AP,SOC,SFI,and TN)factors had significant effects on crop yield.The present work strengthens our understanding of the effects of manure substitution on crop yield and provides theoretical support for optimizing fertilization strategies.

Enhancing Deep Learning Soil Moisture Forecasting Models by Integrating Physics-based Models

Accurate soil moisture(SM)prediction is critical for understanding hydrological processes.Physics-based(PB)models exhibit large uncertainties in SM predictions arising from uncertain parameterizations and insufficient representation of land-surface processes.In addition to PB models,deep learning(DL)models have been widely used in SM predictions recently.However,few pure DL models have notably high success rates due to lacking physical information.Thus,we developed hybrid models to effectively integrate the outputs of PB models into DL models to improve SM predictions.To this end,we first developed a hybrid model based on the attention mechanism to take advantage of PB models at each forecast time scale(attention model).We further built an ensemble model that combined the advantages of different hybrid schemes(ensemble model).We utilized SM forecasts from the Global Forecast System to enhance the convolutional long short-term memory(ConvLSTM)model for 1–16 days of SM predictions.The performances of the proposed hybrid models were investigated and compared with two existing hybrid models.The results showed that the attention model could leverage benefits of PB models and achieved the best predictability of drought events among the different hybrid models.Moreover,the ensemble model performed best among all hybrid models at all forecast time scales and different soil conditions.It is highlighted that the ensemble model outperformed the pure DL model over 79.5%of in situ stations for 16-day predictions.These findings suggest that our proposed hybrid models can adequately exploit the benefits of PB model outputs to aid DL models in making SM predictions.

Quantitatively characterizing sandy soil structure altered by MICP using multi-level thresholding segmentation algorithm

The influences of biological,chemical,and flow processes on soil structure through microbially induced carbonate precipitation(MICP)are not yet fully understood.In this study,we use a multi-level thresholding segmentation algorithm,genetic algorithm(GA)enhanced Kapur entropy(KE)(GAE-KE),to accomplish quantitative characterization of sandy soil structure altered by MICP cementation.A sandy soil sample was treated using MICP method and scanned by the synchrotron radiation(SR)micro-CT with a resolution of 6.5 mm.After validation,tri-level thresholding segmentation using GAE-KE successfully separated the precipitated calcium carbonate crystals from sand particles and pores.The spatial distributions of porosity,pore structure parameters,and flow characteristics were calculated for quantitative characterization.The results offer pore-scale insights into the MICP treatment effect,and the quantitative understanding confirms the feasibility of the GAE-KE multi-level thresholding segmentation algorithm.

Time-lagged Effects of the Spring Atmospheric Heat Source over the Tibetan Plateau on Summer Precipitation in Northeast China during 1961–2020:Role of Soil Moisture

The spring atmospheric heat source(AHS)over the Tibetan Plateau(TP)has been suggested to affect the Asian summer monsoon and summer precipitation over South China.However,its influence on the summer precipitation in Northeast China(NEC)remains unknown.The connection between spring TP AHS and subsequent summer precipitation over NEC from 1961 to 2020 is analyzed in this study.Results illustrate that stronger spring TP AHS can enhance subsequent summer NEC precipitation,and higher soil moisture in the Yellow River Valley-North China region(YRVNC)acts as a bridge.During spring,the strong TP AHS could strengthen the transportation of water vapor to East China and lead to excessive rainfall in the YRVNC.Thus,soil moisture increases,which regulates local thermal conditions by decreasing local surface skin temperature and sensible heat.Owing to the memory of soil moisture,the lower spring sensible heat over the YRVNC can last until mid-summer,decrease the land–sea thermal contrast,and weaken the southerly winds over the East Asia–western Pacific region and convective activities over the South China Sea and tropical western Pacific.This modulates the East Asia–Pacific teleconnection pattern,which leads to a cyclonic anomaly and excessive summer precipitation over NEC.

Semi-analytical solution for drained expansion analysis of a hollow cylinder of critical state soils

The expansion of a thick-walled hollow cylinder in soil is of non-self-similar nature that the stress/deformation paths are not the same for different soil material points.As a result,this problem cannot be solved by the common self-similar-based similarity techniques.This paper proposes a novel,exact solution for rigorous drained expansion analysis of a hollow cylinder of critical state soils.Considering stress-dependent elastic moduli of soils,new analytical stress and displacement solutions for the nonself-similar problem are developed taking the small strain assumption in the elastic zone.In the plastic zone,the cavity expansion response is formulated into a set of first-order partial differential equations(PDEs)with the combination use of Eulerian and Lagrangian descriptions,and a novel solution algorithm is developed to efficiently solve this complex boundary value problem.The solution is presented in a general form and thus can be useful for a wide range of soils.With the new solution,the non-self-similar nature induced by the finite outer boundary is clearly demonstrated and highlighted,which is found to be greatly different to the behaviour of cavity expansion in infinite soil mass.The present solution may serve as a benchmark for verifying the performance of advanced numerical techniques with critical state soil models and be used to capture the finite boundary effect for pressuremeter tests in small-sized calibration chambers.

Impact of mica on geotechnical behavior of weathered granitic soil using macro and micro investigations

The micaceous weathered granitic soil(WGS)is frequently encountered in civil engineering worldwide,unfortunately little information is available regarding how mica affects the physico-mechanical behaviors of WGS.This study prepares reconstituted WGS with different mica contents by removing natural mica in theWGS,and then mixes it with commercial mica powders.The geotechnical behavior as well as the microstructures of the mixtures are characterized.The addition of mica enables the physical indices of WGS to be specific combinations of coarser gradation and high permeability but high Atterberg limits.However,high mica content in WGS was found to be associated with undesirable mechanical properties,including increased compressibility,disintegration,and swelling potential,as well as poor compactability and low effective frictional angle.Microstructural analysis indicates that the influence of mica on the responses of mixtures originates from the intrinsic nature of mica as well as the particle packing being formed withinWGS.Mica exists in the mixture as stacks of plates that form a spongy structure with high compressibility and swelling potential.Pores among the plates give the soil high water retention and high Atterberg limits.Large pores are also generated by soil particles with bridging packing,which enhances the permeability and water-soil interactions upon immersion.This study provides a microlevel understanding of how mica dominates the behavior of WGS and provides new insights into the effective stabilization and improvement of micaceous soils.

Evaluation of Rhizobium tropici-Derived Extracellular Polymeric Substances on Selected Soil Properties, Seed Germination, and Growth of Black-Eyed Peas (Vigna unguiculata)

Rhizobium tropici-derived extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) have been used in soils to enhance soil structures and mitigate soil erosions. However, information on their use to improve soil health and fertility indicators, and plant growth is limited. In a greenhouse study, we investigated their effects on some soil health, soil fertility indices, and the growth of black-eyed peas (Vigna unguiculate). Results showed that soils incubated with EPS significantly increased basal soil respiration, soil microbial biomass, permanganate oxidizable carbon (POC), and potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN). The EPS shifted microbial populations from bacteria to fungi and Gram (−ve) to Gram ( ve) bacteria. However, it had little or no effects on soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM), and cation exchange capacity (CEC). The EPS decreased soil moisture loss, increased soil aggregate stability, but delayed blacked-eyed peas germinations in the soils. At 0.1% (w/w) concentrations in soils, there was increase in plant root nodulations and vegetative growth. This study was carried out within 40 days of incubating soils with EPS or growing the black-eyed peas in a greenhouse study. The plant growth parameters were taken before flowering and fruiting. Further studies of the effects of incubating soils with the extracellular polymeric substances on plant growth. Soil microbial biomass, microbial diversities, and other soil fertility indices are deemed necessary.

Exploring an eco-friendly approach to improve soil tensile behavior and cracking resistance

Soil tensile strength is a critical parameter governing the initiation and propagation of tensile cracking.This study proposes an eco-friendly approach to improve the tensile behavior and crack resistance of clayey soils.To validate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed approach,direct tensile tests were employed to determine the tensile strength of the compacted soil with different W-OH treatment concentrations and water contents.Desiccation tests were also performed to evaluate the effectiveness of W-OH treatment in enhancing soil tensile cracking resistance.During this period,the effects of W-OH treatment concentration and water content on tensile properties,soil suction and microstructure were investigated.The tensile tests reveal that W-OH treatment has a significant impact on the tensile strength and failure mode of the soil,which not only effectively enhances the tensile strength and failure displacement,but also changes the brittle failure behavior into a more ductile quasi-brittle failure behavior.The suction measurements and mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)tests show that W-OH treatment can slightly reduce soil suction by affecting skeleton structure and increasing macropores.Combined with the microstructural analysis,it becomes evident that the significant improvement in soil tensile behavior through W-OH treatment is mainly attributed to the W-OH gel's ability to provide additional binding force for bridging and encapsulating the soil particles.Moreover,desiccation tests demonstrate that W-OH treatment can significantly reduce or even inhibit the formation of soil tensile cracking.With the increase of W-OH treatment concentration,the surface crack ratio and total crack length are significantly reduced.This study enhances a fundamental understanding of eco-polymer impacts on soil mechanical properties and provides valuable insight into their potential application for improving soil crack resistance.

Physical and mechanical properties and microstructures of submarine soils in the Yellow Sea

In recent years,the exploration of seabed has been intensified,but the submarine soils of silt and sand in the Yellow Sea area have not been well investigated so far.In this study,the physical and mechanical properties of silt and sand from the Yellow Sea were measured using a direct shear apparatus and their microstructures were observed using a scanning electron microscope.The test results suggest that the shear strength of silt and sand increases linearly with the increase of normal stress.Based on the direct shear test,the scanning electron microscope was used to observe the section surface of sand.It is observed that the section surface becomes rough,with many“V”‐shaped cracks.Many particles appear on the surface of the silt structure and tend to be disintegrated.The X‐ray diffraction experiment reveals that the sand and silt have different compositions.The shear strength of sand is slightly greater than that of silt under high stress,which is related to the shape of soil particles and the mineral composition.These results can be a reference for further study of other soils in the Yellow Sea;meanwhile,they can serve as soil parameters for the stability and durability analyses of offshore infrastructure construction.

Liquefaction susceptibility and deformation characteristics of saturated coral sandy soils subjected to cyclic loadings-a critical review

Coral sandy soils widely exist in coral island reefs and seashores in tropical and subtropical regions.Due to the unique marine depositional environment of coral sandy soils,the engineering characteristics and responses of these soils subjected to monotonic and cyclic loadings have been a subject of intense interest among the geotechnical and earthquake engineering communities.This paper critically reviews the progress of experimental investigations on the undrained behavior of coral sandy soils under monotonic and cyclic loadings over the last three decades.The focus of coverage includes the contractive-dilative behavior,the pattern of excess pore-water pressure(EPWP)generation and the liquefaction mechanism and liquefaction resistance,the small-strain shear modulus and strain-dependent shear modulus and damping,the cyclic softening feature,and the anisotropic characteristics of undrained responses of saturated coral sandy soils.In particular,the advances made in the past decades are reviewed from the following aspects:(1)the characterization of factors that impact the mechanism and patterns of EPWP build-up;(2)the identification of liquefaction triggering in terms of the apparent viscosity and the average flow coefficient;(3)the establishment of the invariable form of strain-based,stress-based,or energy-based EPWP ratio formulas and the unique relationship between the new proxy of liquefaction resistance and the number of cycles required to reach liquefaction;(4)the establishment of the invariable form of the predictive formulas of small strain modulus and strain-dependent shear modulus;and(5)the investigation on the effects of stress-induced anisotropy on liquefaction susceptibility and dynamic deformation characteristics.Insights gained through the critical review of these advances in the past decades offer a perspective for future research to further resolve the fundamental issues concerning the liquefaction mechanism and responses of coral sandy sites subjected to cyclic loadings associated with seismic events in marine environments.

Time-domain dynamic constitutive model suitable for mucky soil site seismic response

Soil nonlinear behavior displays noticeable effects on the site seismic response.This study proposes a new functional expression of the skeleton curve to replace the hyperbolic skeleton curve.By integrating shear modulus and combining the dynamic skeleton curve and the damping degradation coefficient,the constitutive equation of the logarithmic dynamic skeleton can be obtained,which considers the damping effect in a soil dynamics problem.Based on the finite difference method and the multi-transmitting boundary condition,a 1D site seismic response analysis program called Soilresp1D has been developed herein and used to analyze the time-domain seismic response in three types of sites.At the same time,this study also provides numerical simulation results based on the hyperbolic constitutive model and the equivalent linear method.The results verify the rationality of the new soil dynamic constitutive model.It can analyze the mucky soil site nonlinear seismic response,reflecting the deformation characteristics and damping effect of the silty soil.The hysteresis loop area is more extensive,and the residual strain is evident.

Extended wet sieving method for determination of complete particle size distribution of general soils

The traditional standard wet sieving method uses steel sieves with aperture?0.063 mm and can only determine the particle size distribution(PSD)of gravel and sand in general soil.This paper extends the traditional method and presents an extended wet sieving method.The extended method uses both the steel sieves and the nylon filter cloth sieves.The apertures of the cloth sieves are smaller than 0.063 mm and equal 0.048 mm,0.038 mm,0.014 mm,0.012 mm,0.0063 mm,0.004 mm,0.003 mm,0.002 mm,and 0.001 mm,respectively.The extended method uses five steps to separate the general soil into many material sub-groups of gravel,sand,silt and clay with known particle size ranges.The complete PSD of the general soil is then calculated from the dry masses of the individual material sub-groups.The extended method is demonstrated with a general soil of completely decomposed granite(CDG)in Hong Kong,China.The silt and clay materials with different particle size ranges are further examined,checked and verified using stereomicroscopic observation,physical and chemical property tests.The results further confirm the correctness of the extended wet sieving method.