“…Loess soils are widely distributed in semi-arid and arid regions and are considered susceptible to a sudden decrease in volume when subjected to wetting, referred to also as “collapse” ( Wang, 2003 ; Xue et al, 2021 ). Microstructural deterioration, induced by chemicals, can cause a degradation of the macro mechanical properties ( Hu et al., 2022 ; Wang et al., 2022b ; Xue et al, 2022 ; Bai et al, 2019 , Bai et al, 2021 , Bai et al, 2021 , Bai et al, 2021 , Bai et al, 2022 ). Permeability evolution starts drawing attention in recent years as it is deemed crucial in shale gas exploration and exploitation ( He et al., 2019 ; Nygård et al., 2006 ; Boulin et al., 2013 ; Rezaeyan et al., 2015 ; Wu et al., 2020 ; Bai et al, 2021 ).…”