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Using micro focus industrial computed tomography to characterize the effects of soil type and soil depth on soil pore characteristics, morphology, and soil compression in Xi’an, China

  • Soils, Sec 2 • Global Change, Environ Risk Assess, Sustainable Land Use • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Land subsidence has caused serious geological damage in many countries, including China. Soil pore number, size, shape, and pore size distribution affect soil deformation and thus land subsidence. Quantification of complex pore structures in different soil types and at various soil depths, however, remains cumbersome. The objective of this study was to quantify pore characteristics of three different soil types using computed tomography (CT) technique, investigate the effects of soil depth, examine the relationships between various parameters, and preliminarily determine the pore deformation pattern.

Materials and methods

Undisturbed soil samples (70 mm diameter × 50 mm height) of clay, silt, and silty clay soils were collected from two 300-m-deep engineering geological boreholes on both sides of the Xi’an D7 ground fissure. One hundred CT images were acquired for each soil sample. Soil pore characteristics and morphological parameters, including porosity, macroporosity, coarse mesoporosity, microporosity, number of pores, number of macropores (diameter > 1000 μm), number of coarse mesopores (diameter 200–1000 μm), number of micropores (diameter < 200 μm), circularity, structure model index, degree of anisotropy, and the Euler number, were analyzed.

Results and discussion

Micropores were generally regularly shaped and the main contributors to the total number of pores, whereas macropores were mostly elongated and contributed to total porosity. With increasing depth, the most noticeable changes appeared in silt soil and the least noticeable in clay soil. The alternate pore deformation pattern was significant in silt and silty clay soils.

Conclusions

Soil depth significantly influenced all soil pore parameters, whereas soil type significantly affected the remaining parameters, except circularity and degree of anisotropy. The elongated macropores in silt and silty clay soils favor land subsidence in the Xi’an area. The present results can help optimize the groundwater exploitation layer, reducing soil compaction and land subsidence in this area.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Xi’an Center of Geological Survey Project “1: 50,000 Hydrogeological and Engineering geological survey about major district of Guanzhong Basin” (12120113004800). National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC0406404), and Program of the China Geological Survey (DD20189270).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Kun Yu, Luchen Wang, Ye Wang, Xu Guo & Fusheng Hu

  2. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Planning and Policy Simulation,, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Beijing, 100012, China

    Yang Duan

  3. Xi’an Center of Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Beijing, 100012, China

    Maosheng Zhang & Ying Dong

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  1. Kun Yu
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  2. Yang Duan
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  3. Maosheng Zhang
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  4. Ying Dong
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  5. Luchen Wang
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  6. Ye Wang
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  7. Xu Guo
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Correspondence to Yang Duan.

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Yu, K., Duan, Y., Zhang, M. et al. Using micro focus industrial computed tomography to characterize the effects of soil type and soil depth on soil pore characteristics, morphology, and soil compression in Xi’an, China. J Soils Sediments 20, 1943–1959 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02536-8

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