Shallow landslides on steep slopes often mobilize as debris flows. The size of the landslide controls the initial size of the debris flows, defines the sediment discharge to the channel network, affects rates and scales of landform development, and influences the relative hazard potential. Currently the common practice in digital terrain-based models is to set the landslide size equal to an arb...

The water budget in clay shale terrain is controlled by a complex interaction between the vertisol soil layer, the underlying fractured rock, land use, topography, and seasonal trends in rainfall and evapotranspiration. Rainfall, runoff, lateral flow, soil moisture, and groundwater levels were monitored over an annual recharge cycle. Four phases of soil–aquifer response were noted over the stud...

Snowmelt in mountainous areas is an important contributor to river water fl ows in the western United States. We developed a distributed model that calculates solar radia on, canopy energy balance, surface energy balance, snow pack dynamics, soil water fl ow, snow–soil–bedrock heat exchange, soil water freezing, and lateral surface and subsurface water fl ow. The model was applied to describe r...

Currently, p-y models have been broadly adopted for estimating the lateral bearing capacity of large-diameter monopiles in offshore engineering. However, existing curves cannot reflect effect pile diameter D on response under local scouring conditions. In order to extend model a pile, well-calibrated three-dimensional pile-soil performed by ABAQUS is used study ultimate soil resistance P and in...

The significance of incorporating soil-structure interaction effect in the analysis and design of RC frame buildings is increasingly recognized but still not penetrated to the grass root level owing to various complexities involved. It is well established fact that the soil-structure interaction effect considerably influence the design of multi-storey buildings subjected to lateral seismic load...

An emerging paradigm is that root traits that reduce the metabolic costs of soil exploration improve the acquisition of limiting soil resources. Here, we test the hypothesis that reduced lateral root branching density will improve drought tolerance in maize (Zea mays) by reducing the metabolic costs of soil exploration, permitting greater axial root elongation, greater rooting depth, and thereb...

This paper studies the effect of loading eccentricity and pile spacing on ultimate lateral soil resistance twin-piles using finite element limit analysis analytical upper bound plasticity methods. Two kinematic mechanisms corresponding to failure modes produced by advanced simulations are postulated with different cases. Comparisons have shown excellent agreements between two approaches. A seri...

Urease activity was determined in soil contaminated with four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene, and pyrene in the amount of 0, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 mg·kg DM soil. Organic materials – cellulose, sucrose, and compost – were applied to the samples in the amount of 0 and 9 g·kg DM soil. The experiment was carried out in a laboratory, and soil samples...

Legume crops are known to have low soil N uptake early in their life cycle, which can weaken their ability to compete with other species, such as weeds or other crops in intercropping systems. However, there is limited knowledge on the main traits involved in soil N uptake during early growth and for a range of species. The objective of this research was to identify the main traits explaining t...