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The internal erosion process and effects of undisturbed loess due to water infiltration

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Abstract

Internal erosion is a complex phenomenon that is one of the main risk factors to soil destruction. Its occurrence is mainly due to water infiltration and can cause slope instability. “Karst soil” is a type of loess with special soil and water sensitivity that makes it prone to landsliding. The processes of internal erosion include transport erosion and chemical dissolution, which strongly effect loess structure and strength. To reveal the internal processes and effects of the loess due to water infiltration, field investigations and indoor tests, including infiltration tests, undrained triaxial tests, particle analysis, chemical analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were conducted. The results show that (1) the fine particles (clay and silt) and chemicals can move within the matrix of the macro-pores under seepage flow. The physical internal erosion is mainly due to fine particle migration out of the water and clay and silt particles, and the sample column settlement was 3.3 cm with a settlement ratio of 16.5%, which results in changes to the soil skeleton, increasing the porosity and infiltration rate of loess. (2) Chemical dissolution is also an important internal erosion process in loess, especially cations of Na, Mg, Ca, and K and anions of Cl, SO4, and CO3, which are mainly lost due to dissolution and flow out of with water and clay particles, resulting in altered physical characteristics of the soil. (3) Soil particles’ mitigation and chemical dissolution change the loess structure, leading to skeletal destruction and decreased peak strength and residual strength of the infiltrated sample to 7.75% and 8.13%, respectively. During internal erosion, physical fine particle migration and chemical dissolution are important for loess stability and loess slope susceptible to failure during water infiltration.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers and editors for their thoughtful review comments and suggestions which have significantly improved this paper.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41922054, 41790444, 41941019) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (CHD 300102260302).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geological Engineering and Geomatics of Changan University, Key Laboratory of Western China Mineral Resources and Geological Engineering, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Jianqi Zhuang, Jianbing Peng, Yanqiu Leng, Xinghua Zhu & Weiliang Huang

  2. College of Land Engineering of Changan University, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Yi Zhu

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  1. Jianqi Zhuang
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Correspondence to Jianqi Zhuang.

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Zhuang, J., Peng, J., Zhu, Y. et al. The internal erosion process and effects of undisturbed loess due to water infiltration. Landslides 18, 629–638 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-020-01518-z

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