Continuous monitoring of an earth fissure in Chino, California, USA – a management tool

Abstract

Abstract. Continuous measurements of deformation have been made in Chino, California across an earth fissure and nearby unfissured soil since 2011 in two buried, horizontal, 150 mm pipes, 51 m long, which are connected by sealed boxes enclosing vertical posts at mostly 6 m intervals. Horizontal displacements and normal strain are measured in one line using nine end-to-end quartz tubes that are attached to posts and span fissured or unfissured soil. The free ends of the tubes are supported by slings and move relative to the attachment post of the next quartz tube. Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) sensors measure the relative movements. Five biaxial tilt sensors were also attached to selected posts in that line. Relative vertical movement was measured at nine locations along the line in the second pipe using low-level differential pressure sensors. The second pipe is half full of water giving a free water surface along its length. Data are recorded on a Campbell CR10 using multiplexers.The quartz-tube horizontal extensometers have exhibited more than 3 mm of predominantly elastic opening and closing in response to about 32 m of seasonal drawdown and recovery, respectively, in an observation well 0.8 km to the south. The nearest production well is 1.6 km to the west. The horizontal strain was 5.9 × 10 −5 or 30 % of the lowest estimate of strain-at-failure for alluvium. Maximum relative vertical movement was 4.8 mm. Maximum tilt in the fissure zone was 0.09 arcdeg while tilt at a separate sensor 100 m to the east was 0.86 arcdeg, indicating a wider zone of deformation than is spanned by the instrumentation. High correlation of horizontal displacements during drawdown, and especially recovery, with change in effective stress supports differential compaction as the mechanism for earth-fissure movement.The continuous measurements of horizontal strain coupled with water-level fluctuations and vertical borehole extensometry can provide a real-time adaptive management tool for restricting pumping if strain approaches the lower limit of strain-at-failure or a stress-strain curve deviates from the previous mostly elastic regimen.

Development characteristics and dynamic mechanisms of tectonic ground fissures in Weihe Basin, China

“…2016;Peng et al 2018a, b, c). The extension and opening of fissures are impacted by hydrodynamic processes, including pumping and raining (Carpenter 1993(Carpenter , 2015Conway 2015;Wang et al 2019a, b;Zang et al 2019).…”

“…Tectonic processes include slip along faults, earthquake shaking, volcano activity, and continued development of the fold. Surface geologic processes include subsidence, pumping, mining, differential compaction, and collapse of sediments (Holzer 1980;Robert et al 1982;Pampeyan et al 1988;Keaton and Shlemon 1991;Haneberg et al 1995;Burbey 2002;Ramelli et al 2003;Carpenter 2015;Conway 2015). Since the 1950s, hundreds of fissures of various types and complicated causes have appeared in the surrounding basins of the Ordos Block in northern China (Li et al 2000).…”

Understanding Ground Rupture Due to Groundwater Overpumping by a Large Lab Experiment and Advanced Numerical Modeling

“…Ground ruptures, associated with land subsidence due to excessive groundwater withdrawal, are becoming a widespread environmental hazard, mainly affecting semiarid regions. An increasing effort has been devoted to monitor (Carpenter, 2015; Holzer & Pampeyan, 1981; J. Liu et al., 2017; X. Liu et al., 2019), model (Hernandez‐Marín & Burbey, 2012; Malinowska et al., 2018; Panda et al., 2015; Ye et al., 2018), and understand the main mechanisms of this hydrogeomechanical process through general hazard and sensitivity analyses (Choubin et al., 2019; Frigo et al., 2019; Y. Liu et al., 2019).…”

“…Ground ruptures, associated with land subsidence due to excessive groundwater withdrawal, are becoming a widespread environmental hazard, mainly affecting semiarid regions. An increasing effort has been devoted to monitor (Carpenter, 2015;Holzer & Pampeyan, 1981;J. Liu et al, 2017;X.…”

Distribution Characteristics and Genesis Mechanism of Ground Fissures in Three Northern Counties of the North China Plain

“…Ground fissures refer to the surface ruptures of shallow crustal rocks or soils caused by the combined effects of internal and external forces, as well as human engineering activities [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. These fissures are widely distributed across the globe, with occurrences reported in Arizona, California, and Texas in the United States [8][9][10][11], the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou region and the Fenwei Basin in China [12][13][14], as well as Iran, Japan, Ethiopia, and other regions that have suffered from the harm of Disclaimer/Publisher's Note: The statements, opinions, and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions, or products referred to in the content.…”