• Title/Summary/Keyword: soil disturbance

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Effects of Human Trampling Disturbance on the Vegetation at the Subalpine Zone near the Peak of Mt. Sorak, Korea (답압이 설악산 아고산대의 식생에 미치는 영향)

  • 이규송;최오길;김석철
    • The Korean Journal of Ecology
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    • v.25 no.5
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    • pp.321-328
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    • 2002
  • In order to provide the basic information for restoration of vegetation, conservation of rare species and maintenance of biodiversity, changes of site factors and vegetation by human trampling disturbance were investigated at the subalpine zone near the peak of Mt. Sorak in Korea. The destructed vegetation was found mainly in the southern parts with gentle slope in this study area. Height and coverage of vegetation and the species diversity decreased, and the community structure depended on trampling strength. Soil moisture, organic matter contents and litter thickness in the site with destructed vegetation by human trampling showed lower values than in the undisturbed site. Soil depth decreased, and gravel exposure on the ground surface increased by soil erosion responded to trampling strength.

Numerical analysis of vertical drains accelerated consolidation considering combined soil disturbance and visco-plastic behaviour

  • Azari, Babak;Fatahi, Behzad;Khabbaz, Hadi
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.187-220
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    • 2015
  • Soil disturbance induced by installation of mandrel driven vertical drains decreases the in situ horizontal hydraulic conductivity of the soil in the vicinity of the drains, decelerating the consolidation rate. According to available literature, several different profiles for the hydraulic conductivity variation with the radial distance from the vertical drain, influencing the excess pore water pressure dissipation rate, have been identified. In addition, it is well known that the visco-plastic properties of the soil also influence the excess pore water pressure dissipation rate and consequently the settlement rate. In this study, a numerical solution adopting an elastic visco-plastic model with nonlinear creep function incorporated in the consolidation equations has been developed to investigate the effects of disturbed zone properties on the time dependent behaviour of soft soil deposits improved with vertical drains and preloading. The employed elastic visco-plastic model is based on the framework of the modified Cam-Clay model capturing soil creep during excess pore water pressure dissipation. Besides, nonlinear variations of creep coefficient with stress and time and permeability variations during the consolidation process are considered. The predicted results have been compared with V$\ddot{a}$sby test fill measurements. According to the results, different variations of the hydraulic conductivity profile in the disturbed zone result in varying excess pore water pressure dissipation rate and consequently varying the effective vertical stresses in the soil profile. Thus, the creep coefficient and the creep strain limit are notably influenced resulting in significant changes in the predicted settlement rate.

Carbon stocks and factors affecting their storage in dry Afromontane forests of Awi Zone, northwestern Ethiopia

  • Gebeyehu, Getaneh;Soromessa, Teshome;Bekele, Tesfaye;Teketay, Demel
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.43 no.1
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    • pp.43-60
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    • 2019
  • Background: Tropical montane forests played an important role in the provision of ecosystem services. The intense degradation and deforestation for the need of agricultural land expansion result in a significant decline of forest cover. However, the expansion of agricultural land did not completely destruct natural forests. There remain forests inaccessible for agricultural and grazing purpose. Studies on these forests remained scant, motivating to investigate biomass and soil carbon stocks. Data of biomass and soils were collected in 80 quadrats ($400m^2$) systematically in 5 forests. Biomass and disturbance gradients were determined using allometric equation and disturbance index, respectively. The regression modeling is employed to explore the spatial distribution of carbon stock along disturbance and environmental gradients. Correlation analysis is also employed to identify the relation between site factors and carbon stocks. Results: The result revealed that a total of 1655 individuals with a diameter of ${\geq}5cm$, representing 38 species, were measured in 5 forests. The mean aboveground biomass carbon stocks (AGB CS) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks at 5 forests were $191.6{\pm}19.7$ and $149.32{\pm}6.8Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. The AGB CS exhibited significant (P < 0.05) positive correlation with SOC and total nitrogen (TN) stocks, reflecting that biomass seems to be a general predictor of SOCs. AGB CS between highly and least-disturbed forests was significantly different (P < 0.05). This disturbance level equates to a decrease in AGB CS of 36.8% in the highly disturbed compared with the least-disturbed forest. In all forests, dominant species sequestrated more than 58% of carbon. The AGB CS in response to elevation and disturbance index and SOC stocks in response to soil pH attained unimodal pattern. The stand structures, such as canopy cover and basal area, had significant positive relation with AGB CS. Conclusions: Study results confirmed that carbon stocks of studied forests were comparable to carbon stocks of protected forests. The biotic, edaphic, topographic, and disturbance factors played a significant variation in carbon stocks of forests. Further study should be conducted to quantify carbon stocks of herbaceous, litter, and soil microbes to account the role of the whole forest ecosystem.

Shear Characteristics of Weathered Granite Soils for Degree of Weathering and Saturation (화강토의 풍화도와 포화도에 따른 전단특성)

  • Song, Chang-Seob;Jang, Wong-Hee
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.3 no.3
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    • pp.1-7
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    • 2000
  • The aim of the work described in this paper is to study the shear characteristics of the weathered granite soil. To this end, a series of consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests are carried out to investigate the shear parameters-cohesion and internal friction angle for the degree of saturation and degree of weathering. From the results, it is found that the shear parameters of weathered granite soil are influenced on the degree of saturation, degree of weathering and disturbance. Especially, internal friction angle is more influenced on the upper factors than cohesion. And shear parameters are more acted on the degree of saturation than the degree of weathering in the test range. It is, therefore, recommended that must be considered the conditions of granite soil-degree of saturation, degree of weathering and disturbance etc-in case of the calculation of bearing capacity, stability analysis and other designs with shear parameters.

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Applications of Disturbed State Concept for the dynamic behaviors of fully saturated soils (포화사질토의 동적거동규명을 위한 교란상태개념의 이용)

  • 최재순;박근보;서경범;김수일
    • Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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    • 2003.03a
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    • pp.140-147
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    • 2003
  • There are many problems in the prediction of soil dynamic behaviors because undrained excess pore water pressure builds up and then the strain softening behavior is occurred simultaneously. A few analytical methods based on the dynamic constitutive model have been proposed but the model hardly predict the excess pore water pressure directly. In this study, the verification on the disturbed state concept (DSC) model, proposed by Dr, Desai was performed. Some laboratory tests such as conventional triaxial tests and cyclic triaxial tests were carried out to determine DSC Parameters and then disturbance values are determined by the proposed equation. Through this verification, it is proved that the disturbed state concept can express reliably the soil dynamic characteristics such as excess pore water pressure and strain softening behavior. It is also found that the critical disturbance which is determined at the minimum curvature of disturbance function can be a the specific index.

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Forest Floor Biomass, Litterfall and Physico-chemical Properties of Soil along the Anthropogenic Disturbance Regimes in Tropics of Chhattisgarh, India

  • Oraon, P.R.;Singh, Lalji;Jhariya, Manoj Kumar
    • Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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    • v.34 no.5
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    • pp.359-375
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    • 2018
  • The long term ecological effects have been reported in natural forest ecosystem due to various anthropogenic disturbances, especially in tropics of the world. The present study was carried out in the sanctuary area of central India to assess the changes on litter biomass, litterfall pattern and soil attributes under different disturbance regimes. The study area includes three forest circles i.e., Bhoramdeo, Jamunpani and Salehwara each comprising three disturbances regimes viz., high, medium and low severity of biotic pressure. A noticeable variation and impact were recorded in different sites. The impact varies significantly from least disturbed sites to highly disturbed sites across the circle and among different disturbances level. The seasonal mean total forest floor biomass across the forest circles varied from 2.18 to $3.30t\;ha^{-1}$. It was found highest under lightly disturbed site and lowest under heavily disturbed site. Total litterfall varied from 5.11 to $7.06t\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ across the forest circle. Lowest litterfall was recorded at heavily disturbed site while highest in lightly disturbed site. Annual turnover of litter varied from 69-73% and the turnover time ranged between 1.37-1.45 years. The turn over time was higher for heavily disturbed site and lower for lightly disturbed site. The heavily disturbed site of all the circle showed the sandy loam soil texture, whereas moderately and lightly disturbed site comprised of sandy loam, sandy clay loam and clay soil texture, respectively. The bulk density decreases from heavily disturbed site to lightly disturbed site and the pH of soils ranged from 5.57-6.89 across the circle. Across the circle the total soil nitrogen ranged from 0.12-0.21%, phosphorus from 10.03-24.00 kg and Potassium from $139.88-448.35kg\;ha^{-1}$, respectively. Our results demonstrate that anthropogenic disturbances regime significantly influences forest floors in terms of mass, composition and dynamics along with litterfall rate and soil properties.

Case Study of Ground Disturbance Characteristic due to Drilling Machine in Adjacent Deep Excavation (근접 깊은 굴착에서 천공장비에 의한 지반교란 특성 사례 연구)

  • 김성욱;한병원
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2003.03a
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    • pp.77-84
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    • 2003
  • Deep excavations in the urban areas have been frequently going on in large scale. Soil-nailing and Earth-anchor supporting methods are generally used in deep excavation. These construction methods cause ground disturbances during drilling process, and damages of adjacent structures and ground due to the differential settlement throughout construction period, and unexpected behaviors of supporting system according to the characteristics of drilling machine and ground condition. This article introduces two actual examples of adjacent deep excavation for the construction of university buildings in granitic Seoul area. The important results of construction and measurements obtained using Crawler drilling machine for Soil-nailing and Earth-anchor supporting methods are summarized. And some suggestions are given to improve and develop the technique of design and construction in the deep excavation projects having similar ground condition and supporting method.

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Evaluation of Soil Disturbance Due to Bucket Installation in Sand (모래지반에서 버켓기초 설치에 의한 지반교란 평가)

  • Kim, Jae-Hyun;Lee, Seung-Tae;Kim, Dong-Soo
    • Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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    • v.34 no.11
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    • pp.21-31
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    • 2018
  • Bucket foundations are widely used in offshore areas due to their various benefits such as easy and fast installations. A bucket is installed using self-weight and the hydraulic pressure difference across the lid generated by pumping out water from inside the bucket. When buckets are installed in high permeable soil such as sands, upward seepage flow occurs around the bucket tip and interior, leading to a decrease in the effective stress in the soil inside the buckets. This process reduces the penetration resistance of buckets. However, the soil inside and outside the bucket can be disturbed due to the upward seepage flow and this can change the soil properties around the bucket. Moreover, upward seepage flow can create significant soil plug heave, thereby hindering the penetration of the bucket to the target depth. Despite of these problems, soil disturbance and soil plug heave created by suction installation are not well understood. This study aims to investigate the behavior of soil during suction installation. To comprehend the phenomena of soil plug heave during installation, a series of small-scale model tests were conducted with different testing conditions. From a series of tests, the effects of tip thickness of bucket, penetration rate, and self-weight were identified. Finally, soil properties inside the bucket after installation were approximated from the measured soil plug heave.

Phosphorus and Base Cation Inputs through Litterfall Components in Pine Forests after Tree Removal Due to Pine Wilt Disease Disturbance

  • Baek, Gyeongwon;Kim, Seongjun;Kim, Choonsig
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.108 no.3
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    • pp.296-301
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    • 2019
  • This study was conducted to measure litterfall and nutrient (P, K, Ca, Mg) inputs under varying degrees of disturbance by pine wilt disease in pine forests in southern Korea. Litterfall was collected to evaluate nutrient responses at different intensities of disturbance (various levels of basal area) by pine wilt disease across 2 years. Phosphorus, Ca, and Mg concentrations in needle litterfall were positively correlated (p < 0.05) with decreased disturbance intensities (increased basal area) depending on the time of sampling, whereas the nutrient concentrations in other litterfall components (branches, bark, reproductive organs, and miscellaneous litterfall) were not significantly correlated (p > 0.05) with the intensity of pine wilt disease disturbance. Dry weight and nutrient inputs through litterfall components decreased linearly with increasing intensity of disturbance by pine wilt disease (p < 0.05), except for the nutrient inputs of branch (K, Ca, Mg) and reproductive organ (K, Ca) litterfall. These results indicate that decreased litterfall across different levels of disturbance may be related to the reduced soil nutrients in pine wilt disease forests.