Water and Heavy Metal Transport in Roadside Soils

Roads with very high traffic loads in regions where soils are low in both pH and sorption capacity might be a source of percolation water loaded with heavy metals. Looking at some "worst case" scenarios, this study focused on the input of traffic related pollutants and on Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni and Cr concentrations in the soil matrix and soil solution, respectively. The analysis also included pH and electrical conductivity and at some sites DOC. The investigations were carried out on sandy soils with more or less low pH values at four motorway sites in Germany. The average of daily traffic was about 50 000 up to 90 000 vehicles. Soil pore water was collected in two soil depths and at four distances from the road. The pH in general decreased with increasing distance from the roadside. The elevated pH near the roadside was presumably caused by deposition of dust and weathering residues of the road asphalt, as well as by infiltration of salt that was used during winter time. At these road sites, increased heavy metal concentrations in the soil matrix as well as in the soil solution were found. However, the concentrations seldom exceeded reference values of the German Soil Protection Act. The soil solution concentrations tended to increase from the road edge to 10 m distance, whereas the concentration in the soil matrix decreased. Elevated DOC concentrations corresponded with elevated Cu concentrations but did not substantially change this tendency. High soil water percolation rates were found near the roads. Thus, even low metal concentrations of percolation water could yield high metal loads in a narrow area beside the road.

Effect of Sulphur in Rainfall, Irrigation Waterand Perco colating Water on Soil Sulphur in Jiangxi Province

Ten rainfall and irrigation water-collecting posts were set up in different ecotype districts of JiangxiProvince, China, to quarterly measure S content in rainfall and irrigation water. A rainwater chemicalcomposition- collecting device was used to collect the sulphur in rainfall land the amount of sulphur adsorbedon the resin column in the device was determined. The soil percolating water was gathered using 6 lysimeters,built up according to the profile sequence of the red soil derived from red sandstone and the red soil derivedfrom Quaternary red clay, separately. On the lysimeters peanuts, soybean and radish were grown in rotation.Two treatments were designed: without S addition and with S addition at a rate of 14 kg S ha-1. The SO24contents in rainfall, irrigation water and soil percolating water were determined by the turbidimetry.The results in 1997 showed that the average annual S content in rainwater was 28.13 kg S ha-1, theaverage S content in irrigation water was 1.7 mg S L-1 , and the average content of in soil percolationwater was 2.30 kg S ha-1 year-1 and 4.70 kg S ha-l year-1 in treatments without and with sulphurapplication, respectively. In Jiangxi Province, apart from the losses by runoff and leaching, the sulphur inrainfall available to crops is 7.3 kg S ha-1 year-1 and additional S application is required. When rice isgrown , however, irrigation water can supply 6.9 kg S ha-1, which, along with the sulphur in rainfall, canalmost meet the S requirement of one cropping of rice.

Pore Water Pressure Arising during Pile Drilling in Sand

The pile working load depends on the imperfections which may be taken place in pile-soil system, during pile construction, among many other factors. This subject attracted the researcher＇s attention world wide in the last decades. Types of imperfections either geotechnical or structural are documented in literature and well explained. Nevertheless, the influence of these imperfections in pile load calculations is still ambiguous. The work presented herein is devoted to study soil disturbance during construction of piles using continuous flight auger, CFA. The study of soil disturbance due to drilling needs some evidence. The source of this evidence is field observations collected from four different construction sites, which are documented in this paper. The study concluded that the disturbed zone of soil by CFA has a conical shape and extending laterally to a distance equivalent to ten times of the pile diameter around the auger at the cutting bits and has an inclined surface of4：1 （vertical ： horizontal）. Furthermore excess pore water pressure was induced in soil in the vicinity of pile drilling. Due to this excess pore water pressure, 3.5% to 6.5% of piles constructed by CFA showed percolation of water from the top of the piles through fresh concrete. Also, subsidence of fresh concrete in pile hole was recorded in few of the constructed piles. Pile loading tests showed that the percolation of water and/or subsidence of fresh concrete have not appreciable influence on the load-displacement characteristics of the piles. Moreover, percolation of water at pile heads.

Baiyun Cave in Naigu Shilin,Yunnan Karst,China

The Baiyun cave is a 380 m long karst cave in the Naigu Shilin, situated 70 km southeast of Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. The prevailing orientations of the cave passages are N110°–120°E and N0°-10°W and those of the fissures in the cave are N30°–40°W and N20°–30°W. The cave is developed in the thick-bedded Lower Permian Qixia Formation. The cave has an active water flow and is currently at the near water-table stage. There are large amounts of different infills of cave sediments. The cave shows different stages of paragenesis. The palaeomagnetic analysis of cave sediments shows that their ages are younger than 780 ka B.P. (the Brunhes Chron). The upper part of the sampled profile belongs to the reverse Blake event (112.3–117.9 ka B.P.). The formation of the Baiyun cave is directly connected with the development of the Naigu Shilin. The formation of karst underground and surface features depends on the regional tectonic deformation and the Cenozoic extension of the study area.