Problem statement: Oil contamination due to accidental spillage or leakage brings hefty damage to the environments. It percolates steadily into subsurface environments and contaminates the soil and water system. Hydrocarbon contamination has not just affected the quality of the soil but will also alter the physical properties of oil-contaminated soil. Approach: This study presented the geotechnical properties of oil-contaminated soils as well as uncontaminated soils for comparison. Testing programs performed on the studied soils included basic properties, Atterberg limit, compaction, permeability and unconsolidated undrained triaxial tests. The base soils used were originated from weathered basaltic rock of grades V and VI. Soil samples were artificially contaminated with 4, 8, 12 and 16% oil of the dry weight of based soils. Results: The results showed that the oil contamination decreased the liquid limit and plastic limit values for both grades of weathered soils. For soil grade V, the decrease in plastic limit and liquid limit were represented by 21 and 39%, respectively. Meanwhile, for soil grade VI, the drop was significantly high for liquid limit (39%) and lower for plastic limit (19%) if compared to soil grade V. The oil-contaminated soils also indicated a lower Maximum Dry Density (MDD) and optimum water content if compared with uncontaminated soils. The MDD for soil grade V and VI decreased from 1.67-1.50 and 1.60-1.55 g cm^-3, respectively. The OMD values dropped from 23.5-17.5% for soil grade V and 23.0-16.5% for soil grade VI when oil contents were increased. A reduction in permeability was observed as a result of the oil contamination. The permeability of soil grade V and VI decreased from 3.74-0.22 and 2.65-0.22 cm sec^-1, respectively. In terms of undrained shear strength, C_u was clearly affected by the increase in oil content in contaminated soils. Both soil grades showed stress dependant behavior with a brittle mode of failure. The C_u values for uncontaminated soils of both grades were 126 and 106 kPa and then dropped to very close values of 35 and 32 kPa at oil content of 16%. Conclusion: The results showed that the addition of oil has adverse effects to the geotechnical properties of the studied residual soil. Contaminated residual soils might be used for geotechnical purposes and these results will benefit to engineers or decision makers in recycling or re-using of contaminated soils

Land use activities within a basin serve as one of the contributing factors which cause deterioration of river water quality through its potential effect on erosion. Sediment yield in the form of suspended solid in the river water body which is transported to the coastal area occurs as a sign of lowering of the water quality. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine potential soil loss using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model and the sediment yield, in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment within selected sub-catchments of Pahang River Basin. RUSLE was used to estimate potential soil losses and sediment yield by utilizing information on rainfall erosivity (R) using interpolation of rainfall data, soil erodibility (K) using field measurement and soil map, vegetation cover (C) using satellite images, topography (LS) using DEM and conservation practices (P) using satellite images. The results indicated that the rate of potential soil loss in these sub-catchments ranged from very low to extremely high. The area covered by very low to low potential soil loss was about 99%, whereas moderate to extremely high soil loss potential covered only about 1% of the study area. Sediment yield represented only 1% of the potential soil loss. The sediment yield (SY) value in Pahang River turned out to be higher closer to the river mouth because of the topographic character, climate, vegetation type and density, and land use within the drainage basin

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A B S T R A C TThe demand for land in conjunction to infrastructure development is become crucial and expensive. In the near future, a problematic soil such as peat is becoming a final alternative. In crucial cases, peat land cannot be avoided and has been hosted for engineering structures (e.g., road, highway, railway and bridge). Peat soil is well established of its downgraded characteristics, highly compressibility and low in shear strength. This study aimed to investigate effect of fly ash and gypsum on the mechanical properties of peat soil. Fly Ash (FA) is a by-product material that is generated from the burning of coal in thermal power plants. In this study, gypsum was prepared chemically in the laboratory to simulate residue from Neutralization Underflow Process (NUF). For the first batch of samples, the peat samples were initially treated with Synthetic Gypsum (SG) in the ranges between 0 and 20% of sample dried weight (SG treated soil). In a second batch, the peat samples were prepared with 10% FA and then mixed thoroughly with different amounts of SG contents (0, 5, 10 and 20%) (10FA-SG treated soil). The results showed that soil treated with mixture of 10% FA and SG indicated lower liquid limit values than the SG treated soil. In compaction tests, the maximum dry density of both increased in both SG treated soil and FA-SG treated soil. The permeability of SG treated soil increased with the increases in SG contents. Similarly, occurred to permeability of FA-SG treated soil however, its values are lower than the soil treated without FA. Shear strength of SG treated showed decreased with increasing amount of SG content. In contrast, the FA-SG treated soil exhibited higher strength if compared to that of SG treated soil. The result suggested that the application of FA and SG mixture is more effective in stabilization in mechanical strength and densification of peat soil than the use of SG only.

In the present study, an assessment of land suitability potential for agriculture in the study area of IBB governorate, Republic of Yemen has been conducted through close examination of the indicators of land characteristics and qualities. The objective of this study is to evaluate the available land resource and produce the potential map of the study area. Remote sensing data help in mapping land resources, especially in mountainous areas where accessibility is limited. Satellite imagery data used for this study includes data from multi-temporal Landsat TM which dated June 2001. The parameters taken into consideration were 16 thematic maps i.e., slope, DEM, rainfall, soil, land use, land degradation as well as land characteristics maps. Satellite image of the study area has been classified for land use, land degradation and soil maps preparation, while topo sheet and ancillary data have been used for slope and DEM maps and soil properties determination. The land potential of the study area was categorized as very high, high, moderate, low and very low by adopting the logical criteria. These categories were arrived at by integrating the various layers with corresponding weights in a Geographical Information System (GIS). The study demonstrates that the study area can be categorized into spatially distributed agriculture potential zones based on the soil properties, terrain characteristics and analyzing present land use. This approach has the potential as a useful tool for guiding policy decision on sustainable land resource management.