Characterization of land subsidence induced by groundwater withdrawals in Wenyu River alluvial fan, Beijing, China

Abstract. The Beijing plain area has suffered from severe land subsidence owing to groundwater overdraft. A major example is the Wenyu River alluvial fan in the Beijing plain area. This area has experienced as much as 10 m of land subsidence through 2000s. An integrated subsidence-monitoring program, including borehole extensometer and multilayer monitoring of groundwater, has been designed to meet the needs of monitoring land subsidence in this region. This work has allowed us to characterize land subsidence and understand the mechanical properties of the strata. The analysis results show the development of the land subsidence in this area is consistent with water-level change. The major strata contributing to compression deformation are Mid-Pleistocene stratum which contributed around 70 % of total subsidence. The shallow stratum and deep stratum show elastic mechanical behavior the intermediate stratum exhibit elastic-plastic mechanical behavior.