Comparison of various sustainable amendments on soil cracking in semi-arid regions

Ankit Garg ^a* , Bharat Rattan ^b , Sreedeep Sekharan ^b

---

^a Shantou University, Guangdong Province, Shantou city, 515063, China

^b IIT Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, Assam, India

*Email: ankitshantou1988@gmail.com

Bharat Rattan: b.rattan@iitg.ac.in; Sreedeep Sekharan: srees@iitg.ac.in

https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJSCR/2023-R1.v2-2/85-97.eng

December 22, 2023

Abstract

Soil desiccation is an important process that happens mainly in semi-arid regions especially in Central Asia. Soil desiccation leads to higher loss of moisture at shallower depths and also deeper penetration of water, which ultimately reduces water availability and hence impacts the growth of plants for the application of agriculture and green infrastructures. Therefore, minimizing soil desiccation will help maintain higher water availability for plants for agricultural productivity and green infrastructure in Central Asian Region. In literature, various amendments such as natural fibers, cementation, lime, vegetation and biochar have been used to suppress cracking of soil. There is rarely any study that analyses and compares mechanism of crack suppression among the above-mentioned methods. The objective of this study is to explore various sustainable methods of minimizing soil desiccation and compare their mechanisms. Further, the aim is to analyse the feasibility of these methods by revealing their advantages and disadvantages. In order to achieve this objective, 1-D columns were prepared with control soil and amended soil (with fibers, vegetation and biochar). The review also provides insights into their mechanism of suppression of soil cracking by proposing a new factor (i.e., normalized CIF). Based on the proposed factor, the efficiency of biochar and fiber amendments are higher than that of vegetation. Vegetation may or may not have positive impact on cracking of soil depending on their shoot length. Among various amendments, wood biochar (10% content) and coir fiber (at 0.75 % content) seems to have highest efficiency in reducing cracking in soil. Overall, the study aims to develop preliminary guidelines suppressing soil desiccation in semi-arid regions such as Central Asia.

Download the Paper

Available in English

For citation: Garg, A., Rattan, B., Sekharan, S. (2023). Comparison of various sustainable amendments on soil cracking in semi-arid regions. Central Asian Journal of Sustainability and Climate Research.  https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJSCR/2023-R1.v2-2/85-97.eng

Rerefences

Bordoloi, S., Garg, A., & Sreedeep, S. (2016). Potential of uncultivated, harmful and abundant weed as a natural geo-reinforcement material. Advances in Civil Engineering Materials, 5(1), 276-288.

Bordoloi, S., Garg, A., & Sekharan, S. (2017). A review of physio-biochemical properties of natural fibers and their application in soil reinforcement. Advances in Civil Engineering Materials, 6(1), 323-359.

Bordoloi S, Hussain R, Gadi VK, Bora H, Sahoo L, Karangat R, Garg A, Sreedeep S (2018a) Monitoring soil cracking and plant parameters for a mixed grass species. Géotech Lett 8(1):49–55

Bordoloi S, Garg A, Sreedeep S, Lin P, Mei G (2018b) Investigation of cracking and water availability of soil-biochar composite synthesized from invasive weed water hyacinth. Bioresour Technol 263: 665–677

Bordoloi S, Gopal P, Boddu R, Wang Q, Cheng YF, Garg A, Sreedeep S (2019) Soil-biochar-water interactions: role of biochar from Eichhornia crassipes in influencing crack propagation and suction in unsaturated soils. J Clean Prod 210:847–859

Dadkhah, M., & Tulliani, J. M. (2022). Damage management of concrete structures with engineered cementitious materials and natural fibers: a review of potential uses. Sustainability, 14(7), 3917.

Dhakal, N., Elseifi, M. A., & Zhang, Z. (2016). Mitigation strategies for reflection cracking in rehabilitated pavements–A synthesis. International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology, 9(3), 228-239.

Fredlund, D.G. & Rahardjo, H. Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. Wiley, New York. xxiv, p. 517 (1993)

Gadi VK, Bordoloi S, Garg A, Sahoo L, Berretta C, Sekharan S (2018) Effect of shoot parameters on cracking in vegetated soil. Environ Geotech 5(2):123–130

Gadi, V. K., Bordoloi, S., Garg, A., Sahoo, L., Berretta, C., & Sekharan, S. (2017). Effect of shoot parameters on cracking in vegetated soil. Environmental Geotechnics, 5(2), 123-130.

Garg A, Ng CWW (2015) Investigation of soil density effect on suction induced due to root water uptake by Schefflera heptaphylla. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 178(4):586–591

Garg, A., Hazra, B., Zhu, H., & Wen, Y. (2019). A simplified probabilistic analysis of water content and wilting in soil vegetated with non-crop species. Catena, 175, 123-131.

Garg, A., Huang, H., Kushvaha, V., Madhushri, P., Kamchoom, V., Wani, I., … & Zhu, H. H. (2020). Mechanism of biochar soil pore–gas–water interaction: gas properties of biochar-amended sandy soil at different degrees of compaction using KNN modeling. Acta Geophysica, 68, 207-217.

Garg, A., Li, J., Hou, J., Berretta, C., & Garg, A. (2017). A new computational approach for estimation of wilting point for green infrastructure. Measurement, 111, 351-358.

Hejazi, S. M., Sheikhzadeh, M., Abtahi, S. M., & Zadhoush, A. (2012). A simple review of soil reinforcement by using natural and synthetic fibers. Construction and building materials, 30, 100-116.

Infurna, G., Caruso, G., & Dintcheva, N. T. (2023). Sustainable materials containing biochar particles: a review. Polymers, 15(2), 343.

Khitab, A., Ahmad, S., Khan, R. A., Arshad, M. T., Anwar, W., Tariq, J., … & Tariq, Z. (2021). Production of biochar and its potential application in cementitious composites. Crystals, 11(5), 527.

Kumar, H., Cai, W., Lai, J., Chen, P., Ganesan, S. P., Bordoloi, S., … & Mei, G. (2020). Influence of in-house produced biochars on cracks and retained water during drying-wetting cycles: comparison between conventional plant, animal, and nano-biochars. Journal of Soils and Sediments, 20, 1983-1996.

Li JH, Li L, Chen R, Li DQ (2016) Cracking and vertical preferential flow through landfill clay liners. Eng Geol 206:33–41

Loades KW, Bengough AG, Bransby MF, Hallett PD (2010) Planting density influence on fibrous root reinforcement of soils. Ecol Eng 36(3):276–284

Maljaee, H., Madadi, R., Paiva, H., Tarelho, L., & Ferreira, V. M. (2021). Incorporation of biochar in cementitious materials: A roadmap of biochar selection. Construction and Building Materials, 283, 122757.

Matthews, T., Lo, A. Y., & Byrne, J. A. (2015). Reconceptualizing green infrastructure for climate change adaptation: Barriers to adoption and drivers for uptake by spatial planners. Landscape and urban planning, 138, 155-163.

Rattan, B., Dhobale, K. V., Saha, A., Garg, A., Sahoo, L., & Sreedeep, S. (2022). Influence of inorganic and organic fertilizers on the performance of water-absorbing polymer amended soils from the perspective of sustainable water use efficiency. Soil and Tillage Research, 223, 105449.

Rattan, B., Dwivedi, M., Garg, A., Sekharan, S., & Sahoo, L. (2024). Combined influence of water-absorbing polymer and vegetation on soil water characteristic curve under field condition. Plant and Soil, 1-12.

Rattan, B., Garg, A., Sekharan, S., & Sahoo, L. (2023). Developing an environmental friendly approach for enhancing water retention with the amendment of water-absorbing polymer and fertilizers. Central Asian Journal of Water Research, 9(1).

Roque, A. J., Paleologos, E. K., O’Kelly, B. C., Tang, A. M., Reddy, K. R., Vitone, C., … & Singh, D. N. (2021). Sustainable environmental geotechnics practices for a green economy. Environmental Geotechnics, 9(2), 68-84.

Saha, A., Rattan, B., Sekharan, S., & Manna, U. (2020). Quantifying the interactive effect of water absorbing polymer (WAP)-soil texture on plant available water content and irrigation frequency. Geoderma, 368, 114310.

Sharma, R. (2018). Laboratory study on sustainable use of cement–fly ash–polypropylene fiber-stabilized dredged material. Environment, development and sustainability, 20(5), 2139-2159.

Sengul, T., Akray, N., & Vitosoglu, Y. (2023). Investigating the effects of stabilization carried out using fly ash and polypropylene fiber on the properties of highway clay soils. Construction and Building Materials, 400, 132590.

Tajdini, M., Hajialilue Bonab, M., & Golmohamadi, S. (2018). An experimental investigation on effect of adding natural and synthetic fibres on mechanical and behavioural parameters of soil–cement materials. International Journal of Civil Engineering, 16, 353-370.

Tang C, Shi B, Gao W, Chen F, Cai Y (2007) Strength and mechanical behavior of short polypropylene fiber reinforced and cement stabilized clayey soil. Geotext Geomembr 25(3):194–202

Tang, C. S., Cheng, Q., Leng, T., Shi, B., Zeng, H., & Inyang, H. I. (2020). Effects of wetting-drying cycles and desiccation cracks on mechanical behavior of an unsaturated soil. Catena, 194, 104721.

Vogel, H. J., Hoffmann, H., Leopold, A., & Roth, K. (2005). Studies of crack dynamics in clay soil: II. A physically based model for crack formation. Geoderma, 125(3-4), 213-223.

Wani, I., Ramola, S., Garg, A., & Kushvaha, V. (2021). Critical review of biochar applications in geoengineering infrastructure: moving beyond agricultural and environmental perspectives. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 1-29.

Zhang, J., Sun, H., Jiang, X., & He, J. (2022). Evaluation of development potential of cropland in Central Asia. Ecological Indicators, 142, 109250.

Zhou Y, Chen J, Wang X (2009) Research on resistance cracking and enhancement mechanism of plant root in slope protection by vegetation. J Wuhan Univ (Natural Science Edition), 5