The effect of clay dehydration on land subsidence in the Yun-Lin coastal area, Taiwan

The smectite dehydration theory developed by Ransom and Helgeson was applied for simulation of land subsidence in the Yun-Lin coastal area, Taiwan. The volumetric reduction of smectite clay at equilibrium state was computed by assuming that the dehydration of interlayer water in smectite clay can be described with a regular solid solution reaction. By using the in situ stratigraphic data collected from the subsidence monitoring wells in the simulated area, the amounts of land subsidence caused by smectite dehydration in three scenarios with pressure variation were calculated. The results indicate that significant amounts of land subsidence can be attributed to smectite dehydration. This finding reveals that smectite dehydration is of importance for assessment and prediction of land subsidence. Additionally, the results also indicate the overburden weight has a larger effect on clay dehydration than the effective stress change resulting from over-pumping, although both of them induce relatively minor variations on land subsidence.