Abstract
Huang, M., Rodger, H. and Barbour, S. L. 2015. An evaluation of air permeability measurements to characterize the saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil reclamation covers. Can. J. Soil Sci. 95: 15–26. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of soil covers used in land reclamation is known to change over time as the result of weathering processes. Guelph permeameter (GP) measurements have been used to track the evolution of Ks for soil covers at an oil sands mine near Ft. McMurray, Alberta. Although successful, the method was time consuming and consequently a rapid method of estimating Ks based on in situ air permeability measurements was developed. The objectives of this study were: (1) to use air permeability measurements to characterize the spatial variations of Ks for typical reclamation soils and (2) to compare air permeability measurements to direct measurements obtained through laboratory and GP measurements. The results highlight that the values of Ks estimated from measured air permeability values were higher than the values of Ks measured directly using the GP. This is likely due to swelling of clay soils or air-entrapment during GP measurements. Although the magnitude was over-estimated, the variability of Ks was captured by the air permeability measurements. Consequently, a limited program of comparative GP and air permeameter measurements could be used to more rapidly characterize the Ks of reclamation covers over time.
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