Abstract
Changes occurring in water chemistry and fabric of the loess during water infiltration were experimentally studied using leaching tests on block samples from the Lanzhou area in north central China. Loess series were placed in a device maintaining a constant water volume above the sample. Flow rates as well as conductivity, pH, chemistry and suspended load of the leachates were measured. The concentrations of ions and suspended particles in the percolation water varied in relation to the initial chemical composition of the samples. Some of the loess produced especially high concentrations of sodium carbonate in the leachates, inducing very basic pH and enhancing the dispersion of the micro-aggregates. Both dissolution and dispersion processes favour the changes occurring in the structure of the loess. SEM studies showed an enlargement of fissures and a more compact intergrain fabric in the leached samples. The formation of dominant drainage paths increases the heterogeneity of the material as well as the collapsibility of the loess, so contributing to slope instability.
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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Muxart, T., Billard, A., Andrieu, A., Derbyshire, E., Meng, X. (1995). Changes in Water Chemistry and Loess Porosity with Leaching: Implications for Collapsibility in the Loess of North China. In: Derbyshire, E., Dijkstra, T., Smalley, I.J. (eds) Genesis and Properties of Collapsible Soils. NATO ASI Series, vol 468. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0097-7_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0097-7_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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