Seasonal Subsidence and Heave Recorded by Borehole Extensometers in Houston
Publication: Journal of Surveying Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 1
Abstract
Seasonal ground movements, particularly subsidence and heave, present a great challenge for the design of roadways, parking lots, underground utility lines, and buried culverts. The US Geological Survey has been operating 13 deep borehole extensometers in Houston, Texas, for land subsidence monitoring since the 1970s and the early 1980s. The half-century extensometer datasets provide direct and continuous measurements of seasonal ground movements in the vertical direction. The Houston global positioning system (GPS) network (HoustonNet) provides independent measures for the timely evaluation of extensometer data. According to this study, shallow expansive soils can induce up to 4 cm (peak-to-trough) seasonal subsidence and heave, and deep sediments can further produce up to 2 cm seasonal subsidence and heave. The latter is primarily caused by the seasonal fluctuations of hydraulic heads in the lower Chicot and upper-Evangeline aquifers, varying considerably over time and space. The results from this study are important for determining potential vertical movement (PVM) for the design of pavements and shallow foundations and for the optimization of groundwater management in the Houston region.
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Data Availability Statement
All processed data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request. Extensometer, groundwater, and GPS data were provided by a third party. Direct requests for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments. The Python programs for decomposing extensometer, groundwater, and GPS data are archived (https://github.com/bob-Github-2020).
Acknowledgments
I acknowledge US Geological Survey (USGS) and Harris-Galveston Subsidence District (HGSD) for providing extensometer data to the public. I appreciate Jason K. Ramage and John H. Ellis at USGS for clarifying my questions related to extensometer data and local aquifers. I appreciate two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. GPS raw data are obtained from Harris-Galveston Subsidence District (https://hgsubsidence.org), UNAVCO (https://www.unavco.org), and National Geodetic Survey (https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS). Extensometer and groundwater data are obtained from US Geological Survey (https://txpub.usgs.gov/houston_subsidence).
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Published In
Journal of Surveying Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 1 • February 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Mar 20, 2022
Accepted: Sep 5, 2022
Published online: Nov 10, 2022
Published in print: Feb 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Apr 10, 2023
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