Ground Deformation of the Chongming East Shoal Reclamation Area in Shanghai Based on SBAS-InSAR and Laboratory Tests

Abstract

With the development of the economy, land reclamation, as a result of dredged soil, has become an effective measure to alleviate land scarcity in many coastal cities around the world. Chongming East Shoal (CES), a typical reclamation area in Shanghai that is formed by multi-phase reclamation projects, was selected as the study area. The small baseline subset–interferometry synthetic aperture radar (SBAS-InSAR) method was applied to derive the map of velocity distribution and accumulated deformation with 70 Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images collected from 22 March 2015 to 2 December 2019. In addition, 25 undisturbed soil samples, including dredger fill and underlying soil layers, were collected from five boreholes (maximum depth 55 m) through a field investigation. Laboratory tests were then performed on all soil samples in order to facilitate an understanding of geological features, including the measurement of basic physical properties, cation exchange capacity, compressibility, microscale structure, and pores. The present results show that the whole CES was undergoing differential ground deformation, with a velocity ranging from −47.5 to 34.6 mm/y. Fast (−3.4 mm/y) to slow (−0.3 mm/y) mean subsidence velocities were detected in multi-phase reclamation areas from inland areas to the coastline, and were controlled by building load and geological features of soil layers. Urbanization is the main factor that triggers accelerated subsidence and should receive special attention for reclamation areas that have been finished for a long time (over 20 years in this study). The geological features indicated that poor drainage conditions in offshore soil layers resulted in slow subsidence. The field investigation and laboratory test can be powerful explanatory tools to monitor the results from a mechanical perspective.