Title
A new soil mechanics approach to quantify and predict land subsidence by peat compression
Author
Koster, K.
Erkens, G.
Zwanenburg, C.
Publication year
2016
Abstract
Land subsidence threatens many coastal areas. Quantifying current and predicting future subsidence are essential to sustain the viability of these areas with respect to rising sea levels. Despite its scale and severity, methods to quantify subsidence are scarce. In peat-rich subsidence hot spots, subsidence is often caused by peat compression. We introduce the standard Cone Penetration Test (CPT) as a technique to quantify subsidence due to compression of peat. In a test in the Holland coastal plain, the Netherlands, we found a strong relationship between thickness reduction of peat and cone resistance, due to an increase in peat stiffness after compression. We use these results to quantify subsidence of peat in subsiding areas of Sacramento-San Joaquin delta and Kalimantan, and found values corresponding with previously made observations. These results open the door for CPT as a new method to document past and predict future subsidence due to peat compression over large areas. ©2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Subject
Geo
GM - Geomodelling
ELSS - Earth, Life and Social Sciences
Geological Survey Netherlands
Geosciences
2015 Energy
coastal-deltaic zone
Cone Penetration Testing
Holocene peat
Land subsidence
soil mechanics
Forecasting
Sea level
Soil mechanics
Coastal plain
Cone penetration tests
Holocenes
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Subsidence
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:be547a92-c922-473b-a7f3-1b092b0b39ac
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl071116
TNO identifier
574276
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
ISSN
0094-8276
Source
Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (20), 10,792-10,799
Document type
article