Geoenvironment Management and Sustainability - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 14

confuse their concept when they are applied to the land compartment of the geoenviron-
ment. Yong et al. (2012) have provided some examples of stressor sources and stressors in
the soil environment, as shown in Table 1.1.
The types of stressors acting on a piece of land mass can be mechanical, hydraulic, ther-
mal, chemical, physicochemical, electrical, gaseous, radioactive, etc., with sources that are
either natural or human-related. The Venn diagram in Figure 1.1 shows that the natural

TABLE 1.1
Examples of Stressors and Effects on Land Mass (Soil Properties)

Stressors for
Soils

Kinetics Induced in
Soils

Affected Soil Properties and
Behavior Stressor Sources

Natural Sources
Volcanic eruption

Ejecta, heat Alteration of soil Soil elements, water retention

Heat transfer Thermal and hydraulic properties

Forest ire, deforestation Heat Heat and water transfer Soil structure, water retention

Alteration of soil
elements

Thermal and hydraulic properties

Landslides, loods, and
avalanches

Soil elements,
water

Mass runoff Soil elements, soil structure

Cyclical temperature and
drying

Heat, water Heat and water transfer Soil structure, thermal and

hydraulic properties

Anthropogenic Sources
Industrial efluents Leachates Adsorption, chemical

reaction

Chemical composition, soil
structure, and hydraulic
properties

Mining and metal
processing

Contaminants Water and solute transfer

Constructed facilities
Buried waste barrier

Water, solutes,
heat

Water, solute, and heat
transfer

Hydraulic, chemical, and thermal
properties

Structural loads Pressure Shear stress consolidation Mechanical properties and

behavior

Agricultural Land Use
Fertilizing

Chemical
compounds

Adsorption, chemical
reaction

Chemical composition, soil
structure

Irrigation and drainage Water Water and solute transfer Salt accumulation, water retention

River embankments Overburden

pressure

Mass runoff, shear stress,
consolidation

Hydraulic properties, mechanical
behavior

Underground water use Water, solutes Adsorption and

desorption

Chemical composition, salt
accumulation

Abnormal Climate
Gas component in air

CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O,
etc.

Adsorption, gas transfer Chemical composition, soil

structure

Air temperature Heat Heat transfer Water retention

Acid rain Acid

precipitation

Chemical reaction, solute
transfer

Hydraulic properties

Source: Yong, R.N., Nakano, M., and Pusch, R., Environmental Soil Properties and Behaviour , CRC Press, Boca
Raton, FL, 435 pp., 2012.