TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors determining subsidence in urbanized floodplains
T2 - Evidence from MT-InSAR in Seville (southern Spain)
AU - Ruiz-Constán, Ana
AU - Ruiz-Armenteros, Antonio M.
AU - Galindo-Zaldívar, Jesús
AU - Lamas-Fernández, Francisco
AU - Sousa, Joaquim João
AU - Sanz de Galdeano, Carlos
AU - Pedrera-Parias, Antonio
AU - Martos-Rosillo, Sergio
AU - Caro Cuenca, Miguel
AU - Delgado, J. Manuel
AU - Hanssen, Ramon F.
AU - Gil, Antonio J.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Major rivers have traditionally been linked with important human settlements throughout history. The growth of cities over recent river deposits makes necessary the use of multidisciplinary approaches to characterize the evolution of drainage networks in urbanized areas. Since under-consolidated fluvial sediments are especially sensitive to compaction, their spatial distribution, thickness, and mechanical behavior must be studied. Here, we report on subsidence in the city of Seville (Southern Spain) between 2003 and 2010, through the analysis of the results obtained with the Multi-Temporal InSAR (MT-InSAR) technique. In addition, the temporal evolution of the subsidence is correlated with the rainfall, the river water column and the piezometric level. Finally, we characterize the geotechnical parameters of the fluvial sediments and calculate the theoretical settlement in the most representative sectors. Deformation maps clearly indicate that the spatial extent of subsidence is controlled by the distribution of under-consolidated fine-grained fluvial sediments at heights comprised in the range of river level variation. This is clearly evident at the western margin of the river and the surroundings of its tributaries, and differs from rainfall results as consequence of the anthropic regulation of the river. On the other hand, this influence is not detected at the eastern margin due to the shallow presence of coarse-grain consolidated sediments of different terrace levels. The derived results prove valuable for implementing urban planning strategies, and the InSAR technique can therefore be considered as a complementary tool to help unravel the subsidence tendency of cities located over under-consolidated fluvial deposits.
AB - Major rivers have traditionally been linked with important human settlements throughout history. The growth of cities over recent river deposits makes necessary the use of multidisciplinary approaches to characterize the evolution of drainage networks in urbanized areas. Since under-consolidated fluvial sediments are especially sensitive to compaction, their spatial distribution, thickness, and mechanical behavior must be studied. Here, we report on subsidence in the city of Seville (Southern Spain) between 2003 and 2010, through the analysis of the results obtained with the Multi-Temporal InSAR (MT-InSAR) technique. In addition, the temporal evolution of the subsidence is correlated with the rainfall, the river water column and the piezometric level. Finally, we characterize the geotechnical parameters of the fluvial sediments and calculate the theoretical settlement in the most representative sectors. Deformation maps clearly indicate that the spatial extent of subsidence is controlled by the distribution of under-consolidated fine-grained fluvial sediments at heights comprised in the range of river level variation. This is clearly evident at the western margin of the river and the surroundings of its tributaries, and differs from rainfall results as consequence of the anthropic regulation of the river. On the other hand, this influence is not detected at the eastern margin due to the shallow presence of coarse-grain consolidated sediments of different terrace levels. The derived results prove valuable for implementing urban planning strategies, and the InSAR technique can therefore be considered as a complementary tool to help unravel the subsidence tendency of cities located over under-consolidated fluvial deposits.
KW - Fluvial system
KW - Historic town
KW - InSAR
KW - Subsidence
KW - SW Spain
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85023620796&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/esp.4180
DO - 10.1002/esp.4180
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85023620796
SN - 0197-9337
VL - 42
SP - 2484
EP - 2497
JO - Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
JF - Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
IS - 14
ER -