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Characterization of land subsidence in the Choshui River alluvial fan, Taiwan

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Land subsidence in Taiwan has increased rapidly over the past four decades, owing to heavy withdrawal of groundwater. Leveling surveys, layer compressions and groundwater level in individual layers were continuously monitored in the Choshui alluvial fan, western Taiwan. It was found that ground subsidence and layer compression were consistent with the variation of groundwater level. From multi-level compression monitoring, the layers with major compression deformation were identified. Clayey and sandy layers exhibited significant compression deformation. Conceptual models of compression behavior for clays and sands were studied based on the field data. The compression behavior of clays agreed with the Terzaghi consolidation theory. Notable, irrecoverable volumetric strains were also observed in sandy layers. They exhibited obvious elasto-plastic mechanical behavior. The high compressibility of the sand layer in the alluvial fan was attributed to the flaky sand grains in this geological region.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Water Resources Agency, MOEA, Taiwan, ROC, for financial support of relevant investigations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy and Resources Lab., Industrial Technology Research Institute, Chung-Hsing Rd., 310, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Chih-Hsi Liu, Chen-Tair Huang & Shoung Ouyang

  2. Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazard Mitigation Research Center, National Chiao-Tung University, 300, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Chih-Hsi Liu, Yii-Wen Pan & Jyh-Jong Liao

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  1. Chih-Hsi Liu
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  2. Yii-Wen Pan
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  3. Jyh-Jong Liao
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  4. Chen-Tair Huang
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  5. Shoung Ouyang
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Correspondence to Chih-Hsi Liu.

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Liu, CH., Pan, YW., Liao, JJ. et al. Characterization of land subsidence in the Choshui River alluvial fan, Taiwan. Env Geol 45, 1154–1166 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-0983-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-0983-6

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