Y. Onda et N. Itakura, AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY ON THE BURROWING ACTIVITY OF RIVER CRABS ON SUBSURFACE WATER-MOVEMENT AND PIPING EROSION, Geomorphology, 20(3-4), 1997, pp. 279-288
The effects of the burrowing activity of river crabs on subsurface wat
er movement and piping erosion were studied through a flume experiment
. Cohesive field soil was used and constant fluvial head was applied.
During the experiments with river crabs, burrows were excavated downwa
rds under the groundwater level. At the outlet of each burrow, the cra
bs excavated pellets of soil and stacked them in piles, in the form of
cone mounds. These mounds acted as effective dams for subsurface outf
low, but they sometimes collapsed. The roofs of the burrows also caved
in occasionally, whereby the crabs would excavate new burrows. The bu
rrowing activity of the crabs led to marked erosion. In contrast, no m
arked erosion was observed in experiments without crabs, indicating th
at piping erosion occurs through the assistance of burrowing activity.
It was observed that burrowing activity and piping erosion was pronou
nced when the hydraulic head was not significantly high (0.21-0.25). A
nalysis of the potential distribution of the soil mass indicated that
the head loss close to the burrow was small in the case of experiments
with crabs. This suggests that the burrow enhances rapid discharge of
subsurface water. Consequently, burrowing activity was found to play
an important role in piping erosion and rapid discharge of subsurface
water. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.