Authors:
Fahad Abead Al-Otaibi;
Abstract:
Continuous flow of water passing through sabkha soil may increase the salt dissolution rate and is expected to lead to variation in soil permeability due to enlarging cavities between soil particles and consequently progressive collapse of the soil structure. Understanding the relationship between the dissolution of salts in sabkha soil and the variation of soil permeability is essential, especially in relation to type, rate and quantity, in order to ensure construction safety in these environments.
This study contributes toward shedding light on the relationship between soil permeability variation and the rate of salt dissolution from a sabkha soil sample under long-term distilled water leaching. Therefore, the permeability (K) and the concentrations of calcium (Ca+2), sulphate (SO4-2), chloride (Cl-1), magnesium (Mg+2),
sodium (Na+1) and potassium (K+1) ions were measured under conditions of protracted leaching at five pore volume intervals.
Results demonstrate a direct relation between sabkha soil permeability and the rate of ion dissolution. Cl-1, SO4-2 and Na+1 ions were expected to be the main ions whose dissolution led to an increase in soil permeability. This enabled us to take into consideration the reduction of these ions as one of the criteria to be addressed when investigating soil stabilization technique in addition to the geotechnical properties.
Keywords:
Sabkha soil, Dissolution, Sulfate, Calcium, Chloride, Sodium, Potassium, Leaching.