Land Subsidence

Downward movement, usually called subsidence,

can be particularly severe where pumping exceeds
the safe yield and water tables or piezometric
surfaces are declining
The basic cause of land subsidence is a loss of
support below ground. In other words, sometimes
when water is taken out of the soil, the soil
collapses, compacts, and drops.
Land subsidence occurs when large amounts of
ground water have been withdrawn from certain
types of rocks, such as fine-grained sediments. The
rock compacts because the water is partly
responsible for holding the ground up. When the
water is withdrawn, the rocks falls in on itself.

 Land subsidence is most often caused by human

activities, mainly from the removal of subsurface
water. Here are some things that can cause land
subsidence:
-

Loss of water in organic soils

Dissolving of subsurface limestone rock
First-time wetting of formerly dry, lowdensity soils
Natural compaction of soils
Underground mining
Withdrawal of ground water and petroleum

 Subsidence caused by long-term overdrawn on

groundwater can be stopped by reducing pumpage
to the safe yield.
Small rebounds may occur, particularly if water is
injected to increase groundwater levels.

Inter-granular pressure (Effective pressure)

- the crucial factor in subsidence and lateral movement of the
land surface
- the pressure transmitted through the contact points of
individual particles (gravel, sand, silt, or clay)

Pi Pt Ph

Pi = Inter-granular pressure
Pt = Total pressure
Ph = hydraulic pressure

Pt = weight per unit

area of all solids and
liquids occurring above
the point

Ph usually considered only

below the water table

Profiles of Pt and Ph in unconfined aquifer

Increasing Inter-granular pressure

Loss of buoyancy thus is the major cause of Pi increases in
unconfined aquifers with declining water tables
In confined aquifers with decreasing piezometric surfaces,
Pi is increased by a reduction in the upward hydraulic force
against the bottom of the upper aquiclude
A process by which Pi can be increased is water movement
itself, through a seepage force exerted on the solid particles
by the frictional drag of the water as it moves around these
particles
A mechanism whereby Pi can be increased is wetting a dry
soil

Increasing Inter-granular pressure by declining water table

An increase in Pi causes a decrease in the void ratio and

hence, subsidence of the land surface

Increasing Intergranular Pressure by Declining Piezometric Surface

Confined aquifer a declining piezometric surface causes an increase in Pi
because of a reduction in the upward hydraulic force against the bottom of the
upper confining layer

Increasing Intergranular Pressure by Water Movement

- When flow

of water through a granular medium is initiated or

increased, friction between the moving water and the
stationary grains causes a drag which exerts a force on the
granular material in the direction of flow seepage force or
seepage pressure

Increases the intergranular

pressure if the flow is
downward or horizontal
Decreases the intergranular
pressure if the flow is upward
Vertical Flow

Pt 0.1Z 1 n x1kg / cm
hz Z 1 n
Z 1 n 0 Z 0
iq
Z

1 n 1

Confined aquifer with recharge from overlying unconfined

aquifer through aquitard

Horizontal flow

L
S h 0.1H
Eh

iL2
S h 0.1
Eh

Calculation of subsidence
The relation between Pi and the void ratio must be known for
the material
These relations are experimentally determined with a
consolidometer, placing increasing loads on a saturated
sample and measuring the equilibrium height of the sample
after each load increases

Su Vv1 Vv 2

Z1 Vv1 Vs

Z1 e1Vs Vs

or

Vs is the volume of
the solids

Vs

Z1
e1 1

e1
Vv1 Z1
e1 1
Volume of voids after compression

Vv 2 e2Vs

e2
Vv 2 Z1
e1 1

e1 e2
S u Z1
e1 1

Two approaches have been used to calculate

subsidence
1. Elastic theory
2. Logarithmic theory
Elastic theory
The subsidence per unit height, or the strain Su/Z1, is
assumed to vary linearly with the stress increase P i2 Pi1

Pi 2 Pi1
E
Su
Z1

Youngs modulus
of elasticticity

Which yields

Z1
Su Pi 2 Pi1
E

e1 1
E
e1 e2 / Pi1 Pi 2

e 1
E
de / dPi

Material

E, kg/cm2

Dense gravel and sand

Dense sands
Loose sands
Dense clays and silts
Medium clays and silts
Loose clays
Peat

2000 10000
500 2000
100 200
100 1000
50 100
10 50
1-5

Logarithmic theory
Terzaghi found that when e was plotted against log P i, sigmoid
curves were obtained that showed flat portions at the low and
high values of log Pi but essentially linear sections for the
middle range of Pi values.

The slope of the essentially linear portion of the curve,

expressed as

e1 e2
tan
log Pi 2 log Pi1
Is called compression index Cc
e1 e2 Cc log

Cc
Pi 2
Su Z1
log
e 1
Pi1

Pi 2
Pi1

Cc 0.007 Lq 10 %

Since the error in Cc will probably be more than 15%,

thus the term Cc/(e1+1) can be lumped into one
compression coefficient Cu

Material

Cu

Sand
Silt
Clay
Peat

0.005 0.05
0.05 0.1
0.1 0.3
0.2 0.8

Pi 2
Su Z1Cu log
Pi1

Rebound
Eqns for calculating subsidence can also be used for
calculating rebound if Pi decreases, due for instance, to
rising water tables or piezometric levels
Values of E, Cc or Cu must be evaluated from the
appropriate rebound portions of e vs Pi
The relation between compression and rebound parameters
for granular materials may also be influence by the time that
the material has been under compression

Example

Porosity
Volumetric water content above water table
Volumetric water content below water table
Density of solid particles
E
Cu

Sand

Clay

30%
10%
30%
2.6 g/cm 3
1000 kg/cm 2
0.01

40%
40%
2.7 g/cm3
100 kg/cm2
0.2