Environmental construction safety on loess soils in the coastal zone of reservoirs

Abstract

The Volga region territory is a region with very high environmental stress because there are various industries, agriculture, and a large number of major cities, high population density. The probability of natural and man-made disasters is increasing in recent years. They cause significant damage to the economy and the environment. Also, they are accompanied by the destruction of human settlements and human victims. A large number of accidents are related to the soil properties. That is why the peculiarities of its geotechnical properties that are different from other soil types are important. In the European part of Russia, the loess soils are widely spread in the mid-channel of the Volga River, which currently represents a cascade of reservoirs created over 50 years ago. Within the Samara region, there are two large lowland reservoirs on the Volga (Kuybyshev and Saratov), which have a significant impact on the surrounding area. The paper describes the specific geotechnical properties of loess soils, their characteristic geological processes, material composition and microstructure features, as well as their changes during flooding. The effects of flooding on the loess soils in urban areas have been studied. The following results were obtained: identified the range of variation of physico-mechanical properties of soils and it is shown that as a result of years of flooding have changed significantly the properties of collapsible soils and their classification (category from solid to low-plasticity).