In the South African sugar industry it is important that relatively inexpensive but viable drainage systems are de,:el,oped for those soils which have a low hydraulic conductrvity. From the results offield and laboratory investigations conducted during the past five years it appears that the use of unlined mole channels as an alternative for, or a supplement to conventional subsurface drainage,...

[1] Understanding and quantifying the long-term suspended sediment discharge of drainage basins is a key goal of geomorphology, with important implications for the study of water quality, agricultural sustainability, and the evolution of landscapes and sedimentary basins over geologic timescales. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of relief/slope, precipitation, temperature, veget...

Slope reinforcement and the use of structural pile elements can be an effective slope remediation alternative when conventional remediation practices (e.g., improved drainage) fail to consider the causal factors leading to slope instability (e.g., strength loss due to weathering). An experimental research program was aimed at developing a rapid, cost-effective, and simple remediation system tha...

[1] The hydrologic response of upland watersheds is strongly controlled by soil (regolith) thickness. Despite the need to quantify soil thickness for input into hydrologic models, there is currently no widely used, geomorphically based method for doing so. In this paper we describe and illustrate a new method for predictive mapping of soil thicknesses using high-resolution topographic data, num...

Due to its consistent availability, acceptable natural quality, and ease of direct diversion the underprivileged population, groundwater is a vital source water supply. It can also be transported there more swiftly inexpensively. Exploring potential zones (GWPZs) maps therefore essential, especially in semi-arid environments with insufficient surface supplies. The research area assessed using g...

Subsurface drainage involves both intensity and capacity attributes. Intensity of subsurface drainage refers to how rapidly a root zone drains. Capacity, on the other hand, refers to the extent of excess (gravitational) water removal from the root zone. Consequently, discussions of putting green drainage often become confused since the expression improved drainage can imply improved drainage ca...

The aim of this study was to identify the major variables identified as important for considering the stabilization of slope revegetation based on hydroseeding applications and evaluate weights of each variable using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with both environmental experts and civil engineers. Twenty-five variables were selected by the experts’ survey from a total of 65 from the exi...

pact B horizon, high in colloid. There is an obvious relationship between rate of height growth of trees and recognizable quantitative group combinations of factors, such as are summarized, for instance, in a specific soil type of specific slope and exposure. There is even more evident relationship between rate of height growth and specific soil profile characteristics. It has been possible to ...

A series of physical modeling tests were conducted by means of a beam type geotechnical centrifuge machine in order to investigate the drainage impact on the slope failure mechanism under centrifugal acceleration. Meanwhile, the phenomenon of stress redistribution in undercut slopes and the formation of arching effect were studied. For this purpose, a poorly graded sandy soil (Silica sand No. 6...