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Influence of layer thickness on bioremediation of drought-induced soil desiccation cracks using microbially induced calcite precipitation

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Abstract

Intensified drought exacerbated by climate change aggravates the development of soil desiccation cracking, triggering several weakening mechanisms in surface soils and eventually causing various geohazards and environmental problems. This study investigates the effect and mechanisms of a bio-mediated approach based on microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) for remediation of desiccation cracks in soils with different layer thicknesses. We conducted 5 MICP treatment cycles on clayey soil samples to explore the influence of layer thickness on the water evaporation properties, desiccation cracking behaviors, and calcium carbonate content and distribution of MICP-treated soils. The results show that the MICP treatment can significantly decrease the water evaporation rate, the surface crack ratio, average crack width, and total crack length of all soil samples. The crack reduction ratio reaches over 90% after 5 MICP treatment cycles. The soil layer thickness has an obvious influence on the effectiveness of MICP for the clayey soil treatment. Thicker soil samples exhibit wider desiccation cracks, which, in turn, require more MICP treatment cycles for remediation. The calcium carbonate content and distribution of MICP-treated soils is governed by the original desiccation cracks, the wider cracks in thicker soil samples result in the higher calcium carbonate content of soil nearby the cracks, and the denser cracks in thinner soil samples lead to the more homogenous distribution of calcium carbonate. The remediation of soil desiccation cracks is mainly attributed to the coupling effect of the soil volume change and the accumulation of calcium carbonate crystal during MICP treatment. The findings of this study provide new insights into the mechanisms of the interaction between MICP-treated soil and drought climate and contribute to developing environmentally friendly approaches for soil improvement in regions subjected to droughts.

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All data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request by other researchers, to investigate the reproducibility of our results.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41925012, 42230710, and 42007244), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20211087), and the Key Laboratory Cooperation Special Project of Western Cross Team of Western Light, CAS (Grant No. xbzg-zdsys-202107).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Road, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Bo Liu

  2. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Blk N1, 50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Bo Liu

  3. School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Chao-Sheng Tang, Xiao-Hua Pan, Qing Cheng, Zheng-Tao Shen & Jin-Jian Xu

  4. Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Geology and Environment of Salt Lake, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China

    Xi-Ying Zhang

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Liu, B., Tang, CS., Pan, XH. et al. Influence of layer thickness on bioremediation of drought-induced soil desiccation cracks using microbially induced calcite precipitation. Acta Geotech. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-023-02161-3

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