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The rapid increase in microbial activity that occurs when a dry soil is rewetted has been well documented and is of great interest due to implications of changing precipitation patterns on soil C dynamics. Several studies have shown minor net changes in microbial population diversity or abundance following wet-up, but the gross population dynamics of bacteria and fungi resulting from soil wet-up are virtually unknown. Here we applied DNA stable isotope probing with H 2 18 O coupled with quantitative PCR to characterize new growth, survival, and mortality of bacteria and fungi following the rewetting of a seasonally dried California annual grassland soil. Microbial activity, as determined by CO 2 production, increased significantly within three hours of wet-up, yet new growth was not detected until after three hours, suggesting a pulse of nongrowth activity immediately following wet-up, likely due to osmo-regulation and resuscitation from dormancy in response to the rapid change in water potential. Total microbial abundance revealed little change throughout the seven-day post-wet incubation, but there was substantial turnover of both bacterial and fungal populations (49% and 52%, respectively). New growth was linear between 24 and 168 hours for both bacteria and fungi, with average growth rates of 2.3 × 10 8 bacterial 16S rRNA gene copies·[g dry mass] −1 ·h −1 and 4.3 × 10 7 fungal ITS copies·[g dry mass] −1 ·h −1 . While bacteria and fungi differed in their mortality and survival characteristics during the seven-day incubation, mortality that occurred within the first three hours was similar, with 25% and 27% of bacterial and fungal gene copies disappearing from the pre-wet community, respectively. The rapid disappearance of gene copies indicates that cell death, occurring either during the extreme dry down period (preceding five months) or during the rapid change in water potential due to wet-up, generates a significant pool of available C that likely contributes to the large pulse in CO 2 associated with wet-up. A dynamic assemblage of growing and dying organisms controlled the CO 2 pulse, but the balance between death and growth resulted in relatively stable total population abundances, even after a profound and sudden change in environment.

Predicting the range of achievable strength and stiffness from stabilized soil mixtures is critical for engineering design and construction, especially for organic soils, which are often considered “unsuitable” due to their high compressibility and the lack of knowledge about their mechanical behavior after stabilization. This study investigates the mechanical behavior of stabilized organic soils using machine learning (ML) methods. ML algorithms were developed and trained using a database from a comprehensive experimental study (see Part I), including more than one thousand unconfined compression tests on organic clay samples stabilized by wet soil mixing (WSM) technique. Three different ML methods were adopted and compared, including two artificial neural networks (ANN) and a linear regression method. ANN models proved reliable in the prediction of the stiffness and strength of stabilized organic soils, significantly outperforming linear regression models. Binder type, mixing ratio, soil organic and water content, sample size, aging, temperature, relative humidity, and carbonation were the control variables (input parameters) incorporated into the ML models. The impacts of these factors were evaluated through rigorous ANN-based parametric analyses. Additionally, the nonlinear relations of stiffness and strength with these parameters were developed, and their optimum ranges were identified through the ANN models. Overall, the robust ML approach presented in this paper can significantly improve the mixture design for organic soil stabilization and minimize the experimental cost for implementing WSM in engineering projects.

This paper presents the experimental database and corresponding statistical analysis (Part I), which serves as a basis to perform the corresponding parametric analysis and machine learning modelling (Part II) of a comprehensive study on organic soil strength and stiffness, stabilized via the wet soil mixing method. The experimental database includes unconfined compression tests performed under laboratory-controlled conditions to investigate the impact of soil type, the soil’s organic content, the soil’s initial natural water content, binder type, binder quantity, grout to soil ratio, water to binder ratio, curing time, temperature, curing relative humidity and carbon dioxide content on the stabilized organic specimens’ stiffness and strength. A descriptive statistical analysis complements the description of the experimental database, along with a qualitative study on the stabilization hydration process via scanning electron microscopy images. Results confirmed findings on the use of Portland cement alone and a mix of Portland cement with ground granulated blast furnace slag as suitable binders for soil stabilization. Findings on mixes including lime and magnesium oxide cements demonstrated minimal stabilization. Specimen size affected stiffness, but not the strength for mixes of peat and Portland cement. The experimental database, along with all produced data analyses, are available at the Texas Data Repository as indicated in the Data Availability Statement below, to allow for data reproducibility and promote the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning competing modelling techniques as the ones presented in Part II of this paper.

Micro pile hole is a kind of bored pile with a diameter of 100~400mm, which has been widely used in the field of transmission line engineering in recent years, and its hole formation usually uses DTH (Down-the-Hole) drilling rig. When DTH drilling rigs operate, the slag discharge method is to use the compressed air provided by the air compressor to blow the muck directly from the bottom of the hole to the ground. However, during the slag discharge process, it is difficult to blow out the muck due to the large cross-sectional area of the annular space between the hole wall and the drill pipe, especially after a certain drilling depth, and it is even more difficult to discharge if wet soil is encountered. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a machine for auxiliary slag discharge to improve the efficiency of slag discharge and reduce working energy consumption. In this paper, a barrel slag discharge device connected to the end of the drill pipe and following the drill bit to the bottom of the hole is designed, which can collect and store the rock slag that is difficult to discharge directly outside the hole, achieve a good slag discharge effect, and can reduce the energy consumption of the air compressor and reduce the drilling cost. Through the Fujian UHVDC transmission line project, the reliability and practicability of the barrel slag discharge device are verified.

Occurrences of substantial landslides in connection with immoderate daily and cumulative rainfalls in the sub-Himalayan region are a well-established fact. In this work, we incorporate strong influences of the regional climate parameters, such as daily maximum surface temperature ( T max ) and daily minimum surface temperature ( T min ) to the failure condition of wet soil state. Variations of these climate factors are coupled with the variation of daily rainfall R as to explain the typical landslide events. To find a possible correlation, we, for our current analysis, consider the prominent landslides reported to have occurred on 7th September 2007 in Sikkim and greater Darjeeling and Kalimpong regions, West Bengal (India). Within the vicinity of locations of these reported landslides, we studied numerically T max , T min and R across the geographical region for a specific day-window ( DoY ) from 23rd August to 12th September in each year ( Y ) starting from 2001 to 2010. We systematically analyzed the possible conjugal effects of variations in T max ( Y , D o Y ) , T min ( Y , D o Y ) and R ( Y , D o Y ) during the occurrence or non-occurrence of these landslide phenomena. We define a normalized integrating parameter called as ‘La-coupling factor’ L cf ( Y , D o Y ) and computed the same for the aforementioned DoY and Y period. The noticeable value of L cf ( Y , D o Y ) is numerically obtained to be of about 0.19 and 0.42 respectively, on 6th and 7th September 2007 while the same is obtained to be extremely small for all other non-landslide days. Consequently, we find an acceptable correlation between the computed L cf ( Y , D o Y ) and the possibility of occurrence or non-occurrence of any such landslides. Explanation of our unique results is supported by the theory of wet granulates in presence of those key climatological parameters.

Previous studies have shown that over-wet soil is challenging to compact and exhibits large creep deformation. The consolidation test of small specimens cannot accurately reflect the compression law, and creep is underestimated owing to size effects, which affects the engineering quality. In order to accurately analyze the compression process of over-wet soil and establish its settlement calculation method, this study focuses on over-wet soil in Anhui Province, China, and uses a large-sized tester to load and analyze its compression law. The thermogravimetric analysis method was employed to investigate the changes in water with different binding forces during the compression process, and the settlement calculation method for over-wet soil was explored. The results show that the creep of over-wet soil is large and long-lasting, and the three-stage consolidation division method based on the d−t curve is more effective in analyzing its regularity. The creep of over-wet soil is directly proportional to its water content. When the load exceeds the pre-consolidation pressure, the creep deformation becomes more significant, accounting for about 60% of the deformation under a single level load. It is recommended to use the creep coefficient (λ) for calculation. The results of the thermogravimetric analysis indicate that during the primary consolidation stage, free water is discharged, and weakly bound water is mainly discharged during the third consolidation stage, which is the main cause of creep. Finally, based on the relationship between the creep strain and water content of large samples, a calculation method for the settlement of over-wet soil foundations based on the layered summation method was established, which had a higher prediction accuracy than the conventional layered summation method. The results of this study will help clarify the deformation process and principle of over-wet soil and improve the quality of engineering.

Forests are generally considered to be net sinks of atmospheric methane (CH 4 ) because of oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria in well-aerated forests soils. However, emissions from wet forest soils, and sometimes canopy fluxes, are often neglected when quantifying the CH 4 budget of a forest. We used a modified Bowen ratio method and combined eddy covariance and gradient methods to estimate net CH 4 exchange at a boreal forest site in central Sweden. Results indicate that the site is a net source of CH 4 . This is in contrast to soil, branch and leaf chamber measurements of uptake of CH 4 . Wetter soils within the footprint of the canopy are thought to be responsible for the discrepancy. We found no evidence for canopy emissions per se. However, the diel pattern of the CH 4 exchange with minimum emissions at daytime correlated well with gross primary production, which supports an uptake in the canopy. More distant source areas could also contribute to the diel pattern; their contribution might be greater at night during stable boundary layer conditions.

The magnitude of greenhouse gas (GHG) flux rates may be important in wet and intermediate wet forest soils, but published estimates are scarce. We studied the surface exchange of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from soil along toposequences in two temperate deciduous forest catchments: Strødam and Vestskoven. The soil water regime ranged from fully saturated to aerated within the catchments. At Strødam the largest mean flux rates of N2O (15 μg N2O-N m−2 h−1) were measured at volumetric soil water contents (SWC) between 40 and 60% and associated with low soil pH compared to smaller mean flux rates of 0-5 μg N2O-N m−2 h−1 for drier (SWC < 40%) and wet conditions (SWC > 80%). At Vestskoven the same response of N2O to soil water content was observed. Average CH4 flux rates were highly variable along the toposequences (−17 to 536 μg CH4-C m−2 h−1) but emissions were only observed above soil water content of 45%. Scaled flux rates of both GHGs to catchment level resulted in emission of 322 and 211 kg CO2-equivalents ha−1 year−1 for Strødam and Vestskoven, respectively, with N2O contributing the most at both sites. Although the wet and intermediate wet forest soils occupied less than half the catchment area at both sites, the global warming potential (GWP) derived from N2O and CH4 was more than doubled when accounting for these wet areas in the catchments. The results stress the importance of wet soils in assessments of forest soil global warming potentials, as even small proportions of wet soils contributes substantially to the emissions of N2O and CH4.

Within this study, we evaluated the fine root (trees and understory vegetation combined) morphological traits, fine root production (FRP), and carbon (C) input with fine root litter in forest stands (dominated by either coniferous or deciduous trees) and clearcut areas (previously dominated by coniferous trees) with nutrient-rich organic soils. The study was conducted in 26 sites in hemiboreal forest land in Latvia and summarizes the results obtained in a two-year study (2020–2022) using the root ingrowth method. Traits and production of fine roots varied significantly depending on forest development stage (stand or clearcut area), dominant tree species type (coniferous or deciduous), and soil drainage status (drained or naturally wet). According to the results of the second study year, mean FRP among groups of study sites varied from 0.58 ± 0.13 to 1.38 ± 0.28 t ha−1 yr−1, while C input with fine root litter ranged from 0.28 ± 0.06 to 0.68 ± 0.14 t C ha−1 yr−1. More than half (59 ± 4%) of the total FRP occurred in the upper 0–20 cm soil layer. FRP tended to correlate positively with soil C/N ratio and negatively with soil pH and soil nutrient concentration. Incubating ingrowth cores for at least two years is strongly recommended to accurately estimate annual FRP and C input. This helps to avoid potential underestimation that may occur when using results of only one incubation year (12 months after ingrowth core installation). This study provided new insights into the dynamics and traits of fine roots and will help to improve the accuracy of C flow estimation in hemiboreal forests with nutrient-rich organic soils in Latvia.

To analyze the process of wet clay soil adhering to the rotary tillage part during rotary tillage in paddy field, simulation tests were carried out based on the discrete element method (DEM) in this study. The Plackett-Burman (PB) test was applied to obtain simulation parameters that significantly affected the soil adhesion mass. The Box-Behnken design (BBD) based on the principle of response surface method (RSM) was used to establish a regression model between significant parameters and soil adhesion mass. The soil adhesion mass obtained from the actual soil bin test as the response value was brought into the regression model. The optimal simulation parameters were obtained: the particle-particle coefficient of rolling friction, the particle-geometry coefficient of static friction, and the particle-particle JKR (Johnson-Kendall-Roberts) surface energy were 0.09, 0.81, and 61.55 J·m−2, respectively. The reliability of the parameters was verified by comparing the soil adhesion mass obtained under the optimal simulation parameters with the actual test value, and the relative error was 1.84%. Analysis of the rotary tillage showed that soil adhesion was mainly concentrated in the sidelong section of the rotary blade. The maximum number of upper soil particles adhering to the rotary tillage part was 2605 compared to the middle soil and lower soil layers. The longer the distance the rotary tillage part was operated in the soil for, the more soil particles would adhere to it. This study can provide a reference for the rational selection of simulation parameters for rotary tillage and the analysis of soil adhesion process in rotary tillage.