Abstract
AbstractWe studied the drying behavior of slurries of Markermeer sediments in the Netherlands having different solid compositions. Natural processes such as sand–mud segregation and oxidation of organic matter were mimicked to analyze the effect of changes in sediment composition. Evaporation experiments were performed with soft slurry samples using the Hyprop setup. Soil water retention curves (SWRCs) and hydraulic conductivity curves (HCCs) were determined as a function of the water ratio (WR, defined as volume of water/volume of solids). The sediment remained close to saturation until the end of the experiments. The Atterberg limits reduced significantly after sediment treatment involving drying at 50 °C, rewetting, and chemical oxidation. Furthermore, the oxidized sediment lost capacity to retain water. The SWRCs of sandy and oxidized clays were steeper, and fine‐textured sediments showed large water ratios. At low matric suctions, the water retention capacity of the upper sediment samples containing more labile organic matter was larger than that of the sediment underneath. Clear correlations were found between van Genuchten parameters and the degree of degradation of the organic matter. The hydraulic conductivity of fine‐textured samples with less labile organics was larger. The results give insight into the drying behavior of Markermeer sediment, currently used to build wetlands.
Highlights
The Marker Wadden is a Building with Nature (BwN; de Vriend, van Koningsveld, Aarninkhof, de Vries, & Baptist, 2015) project which aims to improve the ecosystem of Lake Markermeer in the Netherlands by creating a new wetland with slurries originating from lake bed sediments (Figure 1)
The assumptions of having linear gradients in the suction and water content were not met. These assumptions are necessary to calculate the hydraulic conductivity. This suggests that this method cannot be used to determine the hydraulic conductivity with the Hyprop for these samples
The soil water retention curve (SWRC) were fitted with a van Genuchten model following Equation 3: water ratio (WR)
Summary
Sandy sediments are traditionally preferred for reclamation projects to minimize deformation after construction, as muddy sediments show significant settlement when consolidating and drying. Fine sediments are increasingly being used for nature building. The Marker Wadden is one of the first projects in the Netherlands to use fresh unconsolidated cohesive sediment for wetland construction. The Marker Wadden is a Building with Nature (BwN; de Vriend, van Koningsveld, Aarninkhof, de Vries, & Baptist, 2015) project which aims to improve the ecosystem of Lake Markermeer in the Netherlands by creating a new wetland with slurries originating from lake bed sediments (Figure 1). These slurries are deposited in sand compartments
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