Correlation Between Occurrence Environment and the Cause of Deterioration at Ancient Earthen Ruins: A Case Study at Shenna Ruins, Qinghai, China

The earthen ruins are precious historical imprints left over from ancient human life and production, and have important cultural values. Chinese ancient ruins are widely distributed, large in number, and numerous in types. Most of the unearthed ruins are large in scale, immovable, and closely related to the surrounding environment. This paper takes the Shenna ruins as the research object, realizes the investigation of the occurrence environment of the ruins through geotechnical survey technology, and explores the reasons for the deterioration of the soil at the ruins of Shenna through the research of the correlation between the occurrence environment and typical diseases. On the basis of traditional cultural relics survey, the geological, environmental characteristics and geotechnical engineering conditions of the ruins were identified, analyzed, and evaluated through survey methods. Combined with indoor experimental analysis, it was found that the main reason for the deterioration of Shenna ruins was the migration of water and salt in the soil caused by seasonal precipitation, and combined with the geotechnical investigation results, the possibility of groundwater damage in this area is eliminated, which provides a research basis for the preventive treatment of water environment in the future protection and restoration of the Shenna ruins, and provided very useful technical application reference and research idea for such earthen ruins protection in Northwest China.

Investigation and analysis of groundwater-derived damage to the Shahe ancient bridge site in Xi’an, China

Earthen cultural ruins and their subsurface environments act as carriers or support for aboveground cultural heritage artefacts, and groundwater has been identified as the most important factor accelerating the destruction of ruins. In this paper, a wooden structure on the site of the Xianyang Shahe ancient bridge is taken as the research object. Through geotechnical surveys and site sample analyses, the relationship between the environment and cause of damage at the site is explored. Fluctuations in groundwater level are found to affect the movement of water and salt, thereby accelerating deterioration and allowing microbes and other soil inhabitants and plants to erode the ruins. Furthermore, strong correlations are revealed between the stratigraphy of the area and both ruin status and sample analysis results. Geotechnical investigation data are used to predict the effects of various damaging factors on long-term preservation and the underlying mechanisms and to propose feasible, long-term countermeasures for preservation studies.

A Geotechnical Investigation of 2017 Chattogram Landslides

In this study, an attempt is made to uncover and discuss the geo-environmental characteristics, triggers, and consequences of a landslide disaster in the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) region of Bangladesh. The hilly areas are composed of Tertiary and Quaternary sediments which have been folded, faulted, uplifted and, then deeply dissected by rivers and other water bodies. This paper presents a case study on the geotechnical investigation and numerical modeling of the landslides of 13 June 2017. A field visit and soil sample collection, followed by laboratory testing were conducted at the landslide-afflicted areas. The study revealed that the soil type was an important factor behind landslides, while high precipitation, hill cutting, deforestation, and unplanned human settlements act as contributing factors behind the landslide disaster. Extensive analysis of the geotechnical facts has been carried out, and an attempt is made to pinpoint the cause. A finite element modeling was conducted using PLAXIS 2D to investigate the failure mechanism. The numerical modeling results have suggested that most of the hill slopes were susceptible to failure after heavy rainfall. A conclusion is drawn that the landslides were triggered by incessant rainfall infiltrating into the subsoil, which led to a notable increase in its degree of saturation and a simultaneous reduction in suction and shear strength of the soil.