Geoenvironmental Engineering

Current international mitigation efforts are failing to solve the increasingly alarming issue of global warming. With a history of an inability to enforce International law, world leaders must figure out a new method to work together to combat climate change. There is no longer a true global leader in combating climate change, so is the possible solution dominating the arctic through geopolitical influence, or a country such as Greenland with an indigenous population becoming independent and taking control of a large chunk of the arctic? There are ethics, economic consequences, political factors, and environmental risks at play that will determine this. After evaluating those in the context of geoengineering in the arctic, a solution will be proposed about the best path possible for the Arctic moving forward with geoengineering to protect the environment.

O presente artigo apresenta resultados de caracterização geotécnica vinculada ao potencial uso do lodo de uma estação de tratamento de chorume (LETC) como material para a cobertura final de um aterro sanitário. Entre as principais propriedades avaliadas está à curva de retenção, a contração e a condutividade hidráulica saturada. Também foram avaliadas as propriedades físicas, químicas e a mineralogia do resíduo. O resíduo mostra em sua composição a presença de minerais de calcita e portlandita. A curva de retenção se caracteriza por apresentar um valor de entrada de ar da ordem de 10kPa, e a condutividade hidráulica saturada da ordem de 1.5x10-5cm/s. Todos os ensaios de secagem efetuados para avaliar a contração e a curva de retenção<br> não mostraram a presença de trincas. Os resultados sugerem que o resíduo tem potencial de uso para um sistema de cobertura final, primeiro por não apresentar risco de formação de trincas e, segundo, pela possibilidade de uso como camada de mat...

The soil contamination with oil products such as diesel fuels and heating oils are complex mixtures of hydrocarbons has been increased recently due to large development of oil industries. This study deals with the risk assessment of neighbor site to the Al-Nassyriah oil refinery in Thi-Qar city, where the byproducts of refinery plant disposed into that site. The byproduct contaminant was considered as total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) to avoid treating the individual minerals and compounds consisting that contaminant. The study area was divided into three parts: the first part represents the highly contaminated soil; the second part represents the slightly contaminated soil and the third part represents the intact soil which used as reference to compare the study results. Three soil samples were obtained from each part of study area to measure the variation of TPH with depth. The second part includes risks assessment due to exposure to organic contaminated soil were followed the United States environmental protection agency method (USEPA) and the risk-based corrective action method (RBCA) to evaluate the study area. The risk assessment was based on exposure assessment and toxicity assessment, which depended on data collection and experimental work. The average concentrations of TPH were 3533, 1035 and 0 ppm in the soil samples NA 1 , NA 2 and NA 3 respectively. The results of tests indicated that the three parts of site were nontoxic, but the exposure assessment of the three parts reflected that part NA1 needs for remediation when compared the concentrations of TPH with target levels.

This article describes the application of a well-known multi-criteria decision-making technique called analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to locate emergency medical service (EMS) along US interstate highway I-65 from Montgomery to Birmingham, Alabama. Five weighting methods were applied, including Row Sum, Column Sum, Arithmetic Average, Geo-Mean, and Eigen Vector to determine weights of criteria. A number of experts were asked to evaluate the importance of selected criteria according to a nine-point scale (the Saaty rating scale). Afterwards, a weighted overlay method was applied to evaluate pixel adequacy and to identify areas with highest potential to establish the EMS along the road. After that all alternatives were ranked with the AHP method, and finally, sensitivity analysis of criteria weights was performed. The proposed method shows that locating EMS stations is very sensitive to Distance to City, Distance to Intersection, and Distance to Police Station criteria weights, and it should be considered in selecting experts and criteria weighting process.

A shortcoming of the heap leaching process is its inherent limited metal recovery rate, due primarily to preferential pathways , which reduces the efficiency of the leaching process and can decrease the stability of the heap structure. In this study, geophysical methods were used to characterize the heaps. Five geophysical profiles with 10 m electrode spacing were created on the Miduk heap leaching operations in Iran using mixed array electrode spacing. The dipole-dipole data preserved the high resolution of the surficial response while the dual-direction pole-dipole arrays data provided the desired depth range of 50 m. The inversion of geophysical data revealed areas of focused fluid flow within the heap structure as well as zones of high and low moisture content, and hence areas with a risk of structural failure. In dry zones, under high matrix suction, the hydraulic conductivity is less than in zones with higher water content; thus flow is preferentially focused within the wetter zones, inducing leakage. Geo-electric data also revealed that the three initial heap lifts (oxide lifts) adjacent to the liner were almost impermeable to the leaching fluid due to their fine-grained nature and their high clay content. Oxide materials react more with acid and their structure degrades over time, leaving finer size particles with less permeability. Low permeability zones can cause preferential fluid pathways and pooling to develop elsewhere in the heap, followed by the loss of metal content in those areas. The relationship between these zones is governed by the relative differences in hydraulic conductivity (k) as a function of the water content and matrix suction. If the fluid flux rate is less than the K sat (saturated hydraulic conductivity) of the fine materials, most of the flow will pass through the fine materials. Therefore, local injection of fluid and changing the fluid flux rate in problematic zones has been suggested. Correlations between resistivity and parameters such as fluid accumulation, copper grade, and slope stability, can be indirectly used to determine the important operational parameters of the heap leaching structures.

Plastic pollution has became one of the biggest environmental challenges since last century and will remain as a serious unsolved problem in the current timescale. Due to the effect of oceanic current, plastic that dumped in oceans was broken down to microplastic and brought to ocean gyres centres, forming giant ocean garbage patches. This paper will review the formation and distribution of the Giant Pacific Garbage Patch and analysed potential hazard it could bring to human and other animal species from both macroscopic and microscopic views. The paper will also review the concept of plastic smog when describing microplastic pollution and the health issues it could carry with. In the solutions section, some possible resoling assumptions will be made for future consideration or reference.

Three natural clayey soils from Tunisia were studied to assess their suitability for use as a liner for an acid waste disposal site. An investigation of the effect of the mineral composition and mechanical compaction on the hydraulic conductivity and fluoride and phosphate removal of three different soils is presented. The hydraulic conductivity of these three natural soils are 8.5 Â 10 À10 , 2.08 Â 10 À9 and 6.8 Â 10 À10 m/s for soil-1, soil-2 and soil-3, respectively. Soil specimens were compacted under various compaction strains in order to obtain three wet densities (1850, 1950 and 2050 kg/m 3). In this condition, the hydraulic conductivity (k) was reduced with increasing density of sample for all soils. The test results of hydraulic conductivity at long-term (>200 days) using acidic waste solution (pH = 2.7, charged with fluoride and phosphate ions) shows a decrease in k with time only for natural soil-1 and soil-2. However, the specimens of soil-2 compressed to the two highest densities (1950 and 2050 kg/m 3) are cracked after 60 and 20 days, respectively, of hydraulic conductivity testing. This damage is the result of a continued increase in the internal stress due to the swelling and to the effect of aggressive wastewater. The analysis of anions shows that the retention of fluoride is higher compared to phosphate and soil-1 has the highest sorption capacity. Crown

The soil contamination with oil products such as diesel fuels and heating oils are complex mixtures of hydrocarbons has been increased recently due to large development of oil industries. This study deals with the risk assessment of neighbor site to the Al-Nassyriah oil refinery in Thi-Qar city, where the byproducts of refinery plant disposed into that site. The byproduct contaminant was considered as total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) to avoid treating the individual minerals and compounds consisting that contaminant. The study area was divided into three parts: the first part represents the highly contaminated soil; the second part represents the slightly contaminated soil and the third part represents the intact soil which used as reference to compare the study results. Three soil samples were obtained from each part of study area to measure the variation of TPH with depth. The second part includes risks assessment due to exposure to organic contaminated soil were followed the United States environmental protection agency method (USEPA) and the risk-based corrective action method (RBCA) to evaluate the study area. The risk assessment was based on exposure assessment and toxicity assessment, which depended on data collection and experimental work. The average concentrations of TPH were 3533, 1035 and 0 ppm in the soil samples NA 1 , NA 2 and NA 3 respectively. The results of tests indicated that the three parts of site were nontoxic, but the exposure assessment of the three parts reflected that part NA1 needs for remediation when compared the concentrations of TPH with target levels.

The study was carried out to find out a suitable numerical procedure for establishing a graphical presentation of the soil profile of a site using SPT values and grain size analysis data. MATLAB numerical tool was used for this purpose and the soil properties was estimated using established empirical correlations. A computer Software was developed where SPT values at borehole locations, percent of grain sizes, water table and GPS coordinates of the site were used as inputs. Rectangular grids in 2-D or 3-D space were created for interpolation or extrapolation of the gridded data in ‘meshgrid’ format. The output yielded intermittent SPT profile and the contour plot matrix for subsoil soil condition of a site. The output soil-profile is presented by a 3-D shaded surface plot that would be useful for preliminary selection of a project site, land use planning, zoning ordinances, pre-disaster planning, capital investment planning,
Fifteen borehole data of SPT values and grain sizes along a 20 km stretch of ongoing Janjira approach road project of Padma multipurpose bridge in Madaripur district were used to verify the usability of the developed Software.  Disturbed soil sample were collected up to depths of 19.5m depth in every 1.5m interval to perform grain size analysis test. Excel spreadsheet was used where more than 500 data including SPT-N values, percent sand and  fines at depths, GPS coordinated, reduce level and ground water table. The soils at the site were predominantly alluvial deposits. All these data were used in MATLAB interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization and programming. The purposes of the study were to find SPT contour profile and soil-profile of a particular alignment of the site and to extract borehole Log form SPT profile and soil-profile of a specific location of the alignment.
Outcome of this study can be used in microzonation studies, site response analysis, calculation of bearing capacity of subsoils in the region and producing a number of parameters which are empirically related to SPT values.

Plastics are an essential commodity due to their superior engineering properties, durability and low cost for utilization in various commercial products. However, the degradation of plastics due to several environmental stresses has led to the formation of microplastics (MPs). MPs have risen to the top of environmental concerns due to their affinity to pollute the environment and to pass it to the food chain, threatening human health. In this context, attempts have been made to extract and characterise MPs from aqueous and solid matrices. A problem that not only hampers research but also regulatory decisions is the variety of methods used for the extraction and characterisation of MPs, especially in organic solid matrices (OSMs) with organic matter >5%, making the comparison of results difficult. This paper aims to address this by critically assessing the methodologies used for the extraction and
qualitative and quantitative characterisation of MPs in OSMs. Further, the current impediments in the accurate characterisation of MPs in OSMs are identified, along with recommendations for future research. Finally, recent efforts by various countries to legislate against certain sources of MPs, as well as issues and novel techniques to remediate MPs from the soil, and wastewater have been highlighted.

In order to conserve natural resources and prevent waste generation, effective utilization of industrial wastes and/or by-products for beneficial engineering applications becomes inevitable. In order to accomplish this, extensive research studies, exploring properties and new applications of waste materials in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner, have been initiated worldwide. Red mud (RM, also known as bauxite residue) is one of the wastes generated by the aluminium industry and its disposal and utilization have been traditionally hindered due to the extreme alkalinity (pH about 10.5–13.5). To date, no comprehensive review on various properties of RM of different origin and associated challenges in using it as a beneficial engineering material has been performed. The objective of this study is first to critically appraise the current understanding of properties of RM through a comprehensive literature review and detailed laboratory investigations conducted on Indian RM by the authors, to assess and identify the potential engineering applications, and to finally discuss associated challenges in using it in practical applications. Physical, chemical, mineralogical and geotechnical properties of RMs of different origin and production processes are reviewed. Mechanisms behind the pozzolanic reaction of RM under different chemical and mineralogical compositional conditions are discussed. Environmental concerns associated with the use of RM are also raised. Studies relevant to leachability characteristics reveal that most of the measured chemical concentrations are within the permissible regulatory limits. Overall, the review shows that RM disposal and reuse is complicated by its extreme alkalinity, which is also noticed to be influencing multiple engineering properties. But with selected pH amendments, the treated RM is found to have significant potential to be used as an effective and sustainable geomaterial. The assessment is majorly based on the characteristics of Indian RMs; hence the adaptation of the findings to other RMs should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, field studies demonstrating the performance of RM in various engineering applications are warranted.

This volume brings together science fiction, history, visual art, and exploration. Inspired by the literary ‘dare’ that would give birth to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein amidst the aftermath of a massive volcanic eruption, and today, by the utopian architecture of Paolo Soleri and the Arizona desert, expeditions to Antarctica and Indonesia, this collection reframes the relationship among climate, crisis, and creation. The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, enveloped the globe in a cloud of ash, causing a climate crisis. By 1816, remembered as the ‘year without a summer,’ the northern hemisphere was plunged into cold and darkness. Amidst unseasonal frosts, violent thunderstorms, and a general atmosphere of horror, Shelley began a work of science fiction that continues to shape attitudes to emerging science, technology, and environmental futures. Two hundred years later, in 2016, the hottest year on historical record, four renowned science fiction authors were invited to the experimental town of Arcosanti, Paolo Soleri’s prototype for arcology, to respond to our present crisis. A Year Without a Winter presents their stories alongside critical essays, extracts from Shelley’s masterpiece, and dispatches from expeditions to extreme geographies. Broad and ambitious in scope, this book is a collective thought experiment retracing an inverted path through narrative extremes.

A Year Without a Winter is edited by Dehlia Hannah in collaboration with science fiction editors Brenda Cooper, Joey Eschrich, and Cynthia Selin. The book includes a suite of commissioned stories by Tobias Buckell, Nancy Kress, Nnedi Okorafor, and Vandana Singh; essays by Dehlia Hannah, Gillen D’Arcy Wood, James Graham, Hilairy Hartnett, David Higgins, Nadim Samman, and Pablo Suarez; artwork by Julian Charrière and Karolina Sobecka; and literary excerpts by Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.

Висвітлено науково-методологічні засади обліку площ розроблення корисних копалин та методику геокадастрових досліджень гірничопромислових територій. Розглянуто історію освоєння мінеральних ресурсів Львівської області. Узагальнено багатий фактичний матеріал щодо мінерально-сировинної бази досліджуваного реґіону. На прикладі Львівської агломерації
проаналізовано особливості обліку гірничопромислових об’єктів великих міст.

A scientifically methodological principle of accounting areas of development of minerals and methods of geocadastre researches of mining territories was showed. History of mastering of mineral resources on L’viv region was considered. A rich actual material about mineral-raw materials base of explored region was generalized. On example of L’viv agglomeration was analyzed singularities of accounting of mining objects of big cities.

Іванов Є. А. Проблеми рекультивації і ревіталізації земель, порушених гірничими роботами / Є. А. Іванов, В. І. Біланюк // Надрокористування в Україні. Перспективи інвестування: матеріали Четвертої міжнародної науково-практичної конференції: у 2-х т. (6‒10 листопада 2017 р., м. Трускавець) Державна комісія України по запасах корисних копалин (ДКЗ). ‒ К.: ДКЗ, 2015. ‒ Т. 2. ‒ С. 257‒265.

Розглянуто проблеми організації рекультиваційних і ревіталізаційних робіт з метою покращання стану земель, порушених гірничими роботами. Наголошено на актуальності комплексного вирішення спектру геоекологічних проблем гірничопромислових територій в Україні. Проаналізовано досвід вдалої рекультивації порушених земель у районах видобування і збагачення корисних копалин. Подано засади удосконалення рекультиваційних і ревіталізаційних заходів, спрямованих на оптимізацію природно-господарських систем гірничопромислових територій.

The energy sector is the biggest contributor of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in Iran. However, abundant potential for implementing low-carbon technologies offers considerable emissions mitigation potential in this sector, and technology transfer is expected to play an important role in the widespread roll-out of these technologies. In the current work, globally existing low-carbon energy technologies that are compatible with the energy sector of Iran are identified and then prioritised against different criteria (i.e. Multi Criteria Decision Analysis). Results of technology prioritisation and a comprehensive literature review were then applied to conduct a SWOT analysis and develop a policy package aiming at facilitating the transfer of low carbon technologies to the country. Results of technology prioritisation suggest that the transport, oil and gas and electricity sectors are the highest priority sectors from technological needs perspective. In the policy package, while fuel price reform and environmental regulations are categorised as high priority policies, information campaigns and development of human resources are considered to have moderate effects on the process of technology transfer

The IPCC tries to imagine scenarios to meet the objective of limiting global warming to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period. One scenario places importance on negative emission technologies (NETs). NETs involve taking GHGs and storing them underground or in the oceans. CCS is complex in many ways: there are differing views on the feasibility of the technology, its sequestration capacity, its deployability, and its long-term safety and stability. It was therefore interesting to know if they are a miraculous solution or an aberrant blindness. This study aims to study the representations of NETs among academics and to see how representations of the economy and the environment are determinant in the representations of NETs. The research is based on semi-directive interviews with seven academics. The results show, through discourse analysis, that academics neither support nor totally reject NETs. These social representations vary on the place that academics give to NETs among solutions to address global warming. Support for NETs and CCS is conditional on the implementation of a range of other decarbonization solutions, particularly renewable energy and energy efficiency. Interviewees are quite critical of the environmental impacts of CCS, the economic cost and the carbon sequestration capacity.

A large, former state-owned East German chemical park, privatized in 1995 following the reunification of Germany, has contaminated the subsurface soil and bedrock aquifer. Since the 1980's, conventional characterization techniques such as continuous coring, borehole geophysics and conventional monitoring wells installed based on stratigraphic layers have been used to understand the nature and extent of the contaminant distributions. In 2011, researchers from the University of Guelph responsible for developing and testing new methods for sedimentary rock site characterization were invited to test these new field methods referred to as the Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) Field Approach using high resolution depth discrete sampling at two cored holes in order to accurately define the vertical distribution of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and permeable pathways to improve the definition of the flow system and contaminant migration pathways. Although this study was focused on VOCs, the site has been in operation as a large scale chemical manufacturing facility since 1937 resulting in a variety of types of contamination, inorganic and organic. The VOC contamination on site consists primarily of chlorinated ethenes, ethanes and methanes, which exist in the source zone as DNAPL and in a dissolved phase plume stretching hundreds of metres down-gradient. These contaminants migrate through a variably lithified sedimentary sequence of fractured Triassic, interbedded clay/shale and sand/sandstone of fluvio-Iacustrine origin. Although the sequence is flat lying, the presence of numerous faults results in abrupt variations in depth of the geologic units across the site with some uncertainty in the influence to the hydrologic units and flow system.

Coreholes were advanced into the top of the Upper Volpriehausen unit, a strongly laminated sequence of alternating 1-5cm beds of sandstone and claystone, considered to be an important aquitard. The first hole, 42.5m deep, is located in the source zone and the second, 68m deep, 500m down-gradient. This investigation is focused on the upper part of the hydrogeologic system, where much of the known contamination occurs. The lithologies and fractures observed in each core were logged in detail and 338 samples were taken from the two cores for VOC analysis. In addition to standard downhole geophysical logs, innovative logs such as FLUTe™ transmissivity profiles and Active Line Source (ALS) temperature logs in FLUTe™ liners were collected. Together, the data was used to design multilevel systems for the holes. These multilevel systems will allow for groundwater quality sampling and head monitoring in depth-discrete intervals, which will be combined with data from conventional wells to provide a more robust interpretation of the hydrogeologic conditions and site conceptual model to more effectively manage remediation and containment measures to prevent impacts to the nearby Saale River and down-gradient supply wells.

The geology differs from the North American sites at which the DFN Field Approach has been applied, due to the frequency of alternating thin layers of lithified and unlithified sediments of high and low permeability. DFN methods for depth-discrete characterization are aimed at defining hydrogeologic controls on contaminant phase and mass distribution in terms of aquifer and aquitard units and mass in low permeability, diffusion controlled zones or in fractures that serve as advective pathways. These insights allow improved understanding of site processes controlling transport and fate and parameter estimation for predicting future conditions with and/or without engineering controls in a complex groundwater flow system. The Triassic geology at this site underlies a major part of Germany and extends eastward under Poland and westward under The Netherlands and France. Therefore it is anticipated that the results of this investigation will have relevance beyond this site.

For water content determinations on organic soils, several researchers have adopted lower oven-drying temperatures
in the range 35−90°C (instead of the standardised range for mineral soils of 100–110°C) in order to prevent possible charring, oxidation and (or) vaporisation of substances other than water. However, at too low a temperature, not all of the relevant water is driven off. One major consequence of using such a wide range of drying temperatures for more sensitive materials is to produce considerable disparity in interpolated index values and in deduced correlations between water content and other engineering properties. This paper discusses the pros and cons regarding the oven drying
temperature adopted for routine water content determinations on organic sludges and residues. It concludes
by recommending a standardised oven temperature of 105–110°C or 105±5°C, a 24-h drying period and a suggested
minimum wet specimen mass of 50 g.

The revitalisation of the global economy after the Covid-19 era presents environmental geotechnics with the opportunity to reinforce the need for a change in paradigm towards a green, circular economy and to promote aggressively the use and development of sustainable technologies and management practices. This paper aims to assist in this effort by concentrating on several thematic areas where sustainability solutions and future improvements are sought. These include the re-entry of construction and demolition of wastes, excavated materials, industrial wastes and marine sediments into the production cycle and the reuse of existing foundations. Despite the recent trend in advanced countries towards recycling and waste-to-energy thermal treatment, landfills still constitute the most common municipal solid waste management practice, especially in low-and-middle-income countries, and technological solutions to improve their environmental footprint are hereby presented. At the same time, remediation solutions are required to address the multitude of contaminated sites worldwide. Advanced developments that incorporate environmental, economic and social dimensions are expounded by the authors, together with sustainable ground improvement solutions for infrastructure projects conducted in soft and weak soils. The topic of thermo-active geostructures concludes this paper, where, apart from their infrastructure utility, these structures have the potential to contribute to the renewable energy source.

While the existence of nature distinct from human influence be comes evermore suspect, within the natural sciences, human beings are increasingly understood in naturalistic terms. The collision of the human and natural, both within conceptual discourse and the reality of climate change may be considered a "great event" in the Hegelian sense, that re veals a dialectic immanent within the nature/culture distinction. Nishida's notion of "historical nature," Watsuji's unique conception of climate, and the traditional satoyama landscapes of Japan offer timely ways of under standing the sublation of the distinction between nature and culture that render the nature/spirit hierarchy found in Hegel obsolete.

Calvert K and Simandan D (2010) Energy, space, and society: a reassessment of the changing landscape of energy production, distribution, and use Journal of Economics and Business Research XVI(1), pp. 13-37.
ABSTRACT: While geography has always mattered for the energy sector, the relative effects of location and distance on the economics of energy regimes are increasing as we begin to deploy more renewable energy technologies. This reintroduction of the friction of distance is leading to an energy landscape that is far different from fossil-based regimes. The new energy paradigm, based as it is upon the physics and the economics of renewable energy, is being reflected in the landscape as distributed, decentralized, and diversified patterns of energy generation. Because the increased use of renewable energy technologies is beginning to change the spatial patterns of political and socioeconomic activities, a thorough understanding of these patterns is crucial to increasing the socio-political acceptability of new technologies and to avoiding the socially costly unintended consequences of policy and investment decisions.  This paper proposes a theoretical foundation upon which economists and economic geographers could scaffold their analyses of the spatial characteristics of the economics of energy use.  To this end, we bring together two complementary conceptualizations of economic geography: firstly, as the study of the effects of location and distance on energy economics, and secondly, as the study of the ways in which political, economic, and technological energy-related practices give rise to particular spatial patterns of socio-economic welfare. We end the paper by developing the concept of energy rationality and showing how it relates to discussions of metarationality, common sense, and wisdom.

It has been approximately 80 years since the first effective stress strength testing of peat was performed using triaxial
apparatus. In light of recent unexpected failures of embankments, dykes, foundations and slopes in peat deposits, it is
timely to review current laboratory practice and also provoke discussion about the best way forward for understanding
and determining the effective stress strength properties of peat. Compared with fine-grained mineral soils, significant
fabric and structural differences (including the porous, compressible nature of the organic solids themselves) make the
direct application of classical soil mechanics strength models doubtful for peat. Uncertainties and difficulties of effective
stress testing of peat using standard strength apparatus are discussed. Compared with triaxial compression, direct
simple shear testing appears to provide conservative estimates of the strength parameter values, and the specimen
deformation (failure) mode more closely represents that occurring in translational planar slides. It is recommended
that the geotechnical profession investigates alternative theoretical frameworks to explain and predict peat strength
(and compression) behaviour along with the development of new apparatus and methodologies for determining
appropriate parameter values.

Recently NATURE published a discussion on construction of sills in attempt to prevent or slow melting glaciers that are discharging ice into the ice fjords. Several further papers promptly followed publication of this essentially erroneous article in a respected NATURE magazine. Here it is pointed out that there is a discrepancy of several magnitudes thus excluding a long-term viability to manage the edges of ice fjords or continental ice shelves/sheets due to a phenomenon known as the mega-erratics. These are blocks of hard rocks that are several kilometres in size that have been dislocated by a warmed and wet edges of glacier/ice sheet/ice shelf. This Parliament evidence points out the error that was not apparent to the peer-reviewers at the time and in subsequent papers that followed. The Parliament was shown evidence that large enough obstacles cannot be possibly made to prevent ice discharges due to a progression of melting, that softens and lubricates glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets. The forces unleashed by the ice front exceeds several magnitudes from the conceived objects that sills were proposed. The only, and very only effect is temporary and limited to prevention of warm water incursion where these methods will work for a while in a cold, dry, and relatively stable ice formations. A long-term projections suggested to prevent warmed and water-infested glaciers from discharging ice into the ocean cannot be made as the forces of ice exceed many magnitudes of the sills and levies that can be made of concrete blocks, aggregates or other materials. Thus the prevention of sea level rise by this method for centuries or millennia is not functional one and thus the mitigation and prevention of rubbish gyros in ocean, the supply of housing, nuclear and food production security must be looked at as solution by the ocean littoral states. Several examples of various types of risk to the sustainability of oceans have been presented in addition to the above exposed misconception. This comes with much regret as it appears that one 'hoped-for-solution' to manage the future climate change impacts has largely foundered on the issue that the sills cannot be made strong enough to contain most important, warmed glaciers or edges of unstable ice shelves. However, for a short-term this may offer small-scale solutions provided that costs remain sufficiently small. Aggressively melting ice formations with darkened surfaces, wide spread melt water ponds, or water filled crevasses it does not offer much, if any, prolonged ice stability. (The document is best viewed as a .pdf file due to the lay-out of graph and legends.)

Water shortage is one of the most critical problems all around the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Using groundwater can be an efficient solution in such lands. Although significant care and appropriate water resource management strategies are required to be implemented. Nowadays, subsurface dams (SSD) are widely used worldwide since they are proved to have advantages over surface dams in some cases. Selection of the suitable site for SSD construction is critical. This selection is made based on advantages and disadvantages of each location. Multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) is an efficient method for optimum site selection. In this study, 10 regions were chosen as alternatives for construction of subsurface dams in Isfahan province of Iran. These alternatives were then ranked using ELECTRE I, II and modified ELECTRE III based on geological, hydrological, climatological and socio-economical criteria. Results from different ELECTRE methods are combined by applying the grade average, and Borda and Copeland ranking strategies. Application of an advanced MCDM method reduced uncertainties in subsurface dams (SSD) site selection. Alternative 5 (Hoseinabad) was introduced as the best location for subsurface dam construction. This methodology can be used as a basis for more detailed field investigations.

FREE ACCESS to the full published article is provided until 3rd January 2020 at the following Share Link: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1a3ZHAOM9pLWU 


Abstract: In this study, the potential of pulverized waste tires (PWTs), either on their own or mixed with soil (well graded sand), to act as adsorptive fill materials was evaluated by conducting laboratory tests for accessing their adsorption and geotechnical properties. PWT (0, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 100 wt%) was mixed with soil to evaluate the removal of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) components and two heavy metal ions (Pb2+ and Cu2+). Adsorption batch tests were performed to determine the equilibrium sorption capacity of each mixture. Subsequently, compaction, direct shear, and consolidation tests were performed to establish their geotechnical properties. The results showed that BTEX had the strongest affinity based on the uptake capacity by the soil–PWT mixtures. The adsorption of BTEX increased for greater PWT content, with pure PWT having the highest adsorption capacity toward BTEX removal: uptake capacities for xylene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and benzene were 526, 377, 207 and 127 µg/g sorbent, respectively. Heavy metal removal was increased by increasing the amount of PWT up to 10 wt%, and then decreased beyond this ratio. Compacted soilePWT mixtures comprising 5–25 wt% PWT have relatively low dry unit weight, low compressibility, adequate shear capacity for many loadbearing field applications, and satisfactory adsorption of organic/inorganic contaminants, such that they could also be used as adsorptive fill materials.

The impacts of industrial wastewater contamination on the geotechnical properties of clayey soil have been studied in this research. The contaminant is industrial wastewater disposed from Al-Nassyriah oil refinery as by-product and the soil samples obtained from Al-Nassyriah oil refinery in Thi-Qar city located to the south of Iraq. The geotechnical properties of contaminated soil samples were compared with those of intact soil to measure the effects of such contaminant on the geotechnical properties. The soil samples were obtained from three locations in the study area and these locations represent the highly contaminated area; the slightly contaminated area, and the intact area that is used as reference for comparison of tests results. The results of tests showed that, the contaminant causes increasing of natural moisture content, field unit weight, Atterberg's limits, maximum dry unit weight, compression index and coefficient of vertical consolidation. Also, the contaminants causes a decrease in specific gravity, optimum moisture content initial void ratio, swelling index, coefficient of permeability and cohesion between soil particles.

The paper under discussion (by Hassan et al. (2021)) presents a comprehensive set of experimental results from standard geotechnical laboratory tests performed on a low-plasticity clay soil (CL) amended with between 1% and 4% (by weight of dry
soil) of randomly distributed discrete polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP) fibers, each blended with the soil in two fiber lengths. However, the authors’ experimental investigation and results, while insightful, focus solely on the  geotechnical properties/performance of the clay soil–fiber mixtures, which are also compared with those of the unamended clay soil. That is, while the proposed soil reinforcement method is beneficial/smart from an engineering perspective, the authors do not present any discussion nor give any consideration to the potentially significant long-term environmental impacts that may arise from myriads of discrete plastic fibers mixed randomly with the soil in situ; an important aspect that motivated the discussers to pen this discussion contribution.

In this study, the usefulness of two biopolymers (guar gum and xanthan gum) in improving the strength properties of two types of red muds was explored. Experiments were performed to determine the unconfined compressive strength and to establish morphological and mineralogical compositions of stabilised samples cured for 7, 28, 45, and 90 days. The obtained results were interpreted to understand the red mud-biopolymer interactions. Considerable improvement in compressive strength of stabilised samples, by 4 to 5 times, vis-à-vis the untreated samples was observed. Based on the results obtained on different admixture contents (i.e. 0.5, 1, 2 and 3%), the optimum dosage of biopolymers was found as 0.5%. The morphological analysis revealed the formation of gels and their role in aggregation of particles by the combined action of binding and pore filling. However, no changes in mineralogical compositions were identified from diffraction patterns of stabilised samples. Both biopolymers proved to be effective in improving the strength characteristics, but the efficacy of xanthan gum was found to be superior over the guar gum. Despite extreme alkalinity in the media, biopolymers were still able to impart reasonably good strength to the treated samples, demonstrating their usefulness and applicability.

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic not only has created a health crisis across the world but is also expected to impact negatively the global economy and societies at a scale that is maybe larger than that of the 2008 financial crisis. Simultaneously, it has inevitably exerted many negative consequences on the
geoenvironment on which human beings depend. The current paper articulates the role of environmental geotechnics in elucidating and mitigating the effects of the current pandemic. It is the belief of all authors that the COVID-19 pandemic presents not only significant challenges but also opportunities for the development of the environmental geotechnics field. This discipline should make full use of geoenvironmental researchers’ and engineers’ professional skills and expertise to look for development opportunities from this crisis, to highlight the irreplaceable position of the discipline in the global fight against pandemics and to contribute to the health and prosperity of communities, to serve humankind better. In order to reach this goal while taking into account the specificity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the uncertainty of its environmental effects, it is believed that more emphasis should be placed on the following research directions: pathogen–soil interactions; isolation and remediation technologies for pathogen-contaminated sites; new materials for pathogen contaminated soil; recycling and safe disposal of medical wastes; quantification of uncertainty in geoenvironmental and epidemiological problems; emerging technologies and adaptation strategies in civil, geotechnical and
geoenvironmental infrastructures; pandemic-induced environmental risk management; and modelling of pathogen transport and fate in geoenvironment, among others. Moreover, COVID-19 has made it clear to the environmental geotechnics community the importance of urgent international co-operation and of multidisciplinary research actions
that must extend to a broad range of scientific fields, including medical and public health disciplines, in order to meet the complexities posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this study a vertical barrier forming the exclusion system in relation to partials extending into an impermeable stratum was analysed using a 3-D numerical modelling used to quantify the effect of a hydraulic barrier on flow which allows taking the anisotropy and heterogeneity of the site in a complex hydrogeological context and hydraulic barrier into account. A simulation in this study shows that for 0 % cut off the % reduction in flow is 0 and for 100 % cut off the % reduction in flow is 96, 94 and 92 % at 5, 10 and 15 days respectively due to leakage through the sheet piles, even with 100% of the aquifer cutoff, the % of groundwater inflow impounded never reaches the 100%.  Also the change in trend where the % reduction in flow increases significantly with % cut off occurs at around 60% cut off.  That is, the reduction in flow through the aquifer only becomes significant after 60% cut off by the sheet piles. The sensitivity analysis allows determining the factors of influence. A sensitivity analysis indicates the relationship appears relatively less sensitivity to varying the hydraulic conductivity, but very sensitive to the % cut-off. Therefore the effect of the sheet piles start to be significant after cut off exceeds 80% and that the total profile length matters, i.e. the 60% cut off must be applied to the whole width of the aquifer and not a portion of the aquifer, i.e. the minimum required to adequately reduce flow under the levee is 80% cut off. From this study it can be derived that less water flows to a levee structure surrounded by sheet piles, depending on the depth of the sheet piles in proportion to the depth of the water bearing layer. The relationship is independent for the hydraulic conductivity but dependent on the ratio between the installation depth of the sheet piles beneath the Piezometric level and the depth of the bottom of the water bearing layer beneath the same Piezometric level. This study demonstrated the major influence of the technical design of the barrier on the simulated flow disturbances. The current approach can be applied elsewhere in related field for variety of application including formulating a resource management strategy, contamination containment and settlement risk. Overall, the capacity of decision makers to understand flow systems, how they function and respond to the placement of hydraulic barriers in the area they manage will form the basis for the operational management of the resources and infrastructure.

The present study describes the geotechnical behavior of synthetically contaminated soil. Physical , chemical, and mechanical properties were compared with the geotechnical properties of intact soil. The soil samples, disturbed and undisturbed, were obtained from Al-Khadymiya district, which is located at the north west of Baghdad city in Iraq. Four different types of contaminants were used: kerosene, ammonium hydroxide, lead nitrate and copper sulphate. The natural soil samples were contaminated synthetically by soaking in isolated pans containing a solute of water and contaminant for a period of 30 days. The contaminants were mixed with distilled water in two percentages 10 and 25% of the dry weight of the clay soil sample. The results showed that these contaminants have significant effects on the geotechnical and chemical properties of the soil. The contaminants causing an increase in Atterberg's limits (except samples contaminated with lead nitrate), maximum dry unit weigh (γ d,max), initial void ratio (e o) (except samples contaminated with lead nitrate), compression index (C c), swelling index (C r), and collapse potential (C P). Also, the contaminants caused a decrease in specific gravity (G s) and optimum moisture content (ω opt) (except samples contaminated with ammonium hydroxide), coefficient of vertical consolidation (C v), and cohesion between soil particles (c).