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Assessment of Ecological, Hydrological and Geological Environments

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2026 | Viewed by 1292

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Guest Editor
School of Water and Environment, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
Interests: hydraulic engineering; hydrology and water resources; environmental engineering
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid growth of population and economy has placed tremendous pressure on resources and the environment. Continuous human activities and climate change have led to deterioration of the ecological environment, and frequent geological disasters. Improving the ecological environment and reducing natural disasters are common goals pursued by all countries around the world. Through quantitative calculation and assessment of ecosystem service functions, it is possible to accurately determine whether the ecosystem is in a good state, facilitating the adoption of relevant measures. Continuous monitoring and risk assessment of geological environments such as topography, soil properties, and slope stability can promptly detect potential geological disaster hazards and enhance the effectiveness of geological disaster prevention and control. However, controlling disaster risks seems unrealistic, especially quantifying human activities is very difficult. In these cases, methods such as hydrogeological models, numerical simulations, and scenario predictions seem to be the most promising approaches, which are of great significance for protecting the environment, preventing disasters, rational resource utilization, and promoting sustainable social development.

Based on this scientific framework, we sincerely invite scientists engaged in related research in this field to contribute to this Special Issue. This Special Issue will mainly focus on the impact of climate change, human activities or other driving factors on ecosystems and geological environments, covering ecological environment indicators and risk assessment of geological disasters. Therefore, manuscripts on topics such as land use simulation under climate change, ecological environment evaluation research, assessment of geological environment trends, and risk analysis of different-scale natural disasters will also be welcome for submission.

Prof. Dr. Aidi Huo
Prof. Dr. Pingping Luo
Dr. Chunli Zheng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • climate change
  • ecological restoration
  • ecological environment assessment
  • geological disaster risk monitoring
  • numerical simulation
  • sustainable development

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 3989 KB  
Article
Quantifying Rainfall-Induced Instability Thresholds in Arid Open-Pit Mine Slopes: GeoStudio Insights from a 12-Hour Saturation Window
by Jia Zhang, Haoyue Zhao, Wei Huang, Xinyue Li, Guorui Wang, Adnan Ahmed, Feng Liu, Yu Gao, Yongfeng Gong, Jie Hu, Yabo Zhu and Saima Q. Memon
Water 2026, 18(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18010010 - 20 Dec 2025
Viewed by 937
Abstract
In arid open-pit mines, rainfall-triggered slope instability presents significant risks, but quantitative thresholds are poorly defined due to limited integration of transient seepage and stability in low-permeability soils. This study fills this gap by using GeoStudio’s SEEP/W and SLOPE/W modules to simulate rainfall [...] Read more.
In arid open-pit mines, rainfall-triggered slope instability presents significant risks, but quantitative thresholds are poorly defined due to limited integration of transient seepage and stability in low-permeability soils. This study fills this gap by using GeoStudio’s SEEP/W and SLOPE/W modules to simulate rainfall effects on a moderately steep-slope (51° average) limestone mine slope in Ningxia’s Kazimiao Mining Area (annual precipitation: 181.1 mm). The novelty lies in identifying a 12 h saturation window under intense rainfall (≥100 mm h−1), during which pore water pressure stabilizes as soil reaches saturation, creating an “infiltration buffering effect” driven by arid soil properties (hydraulic conductivity: 2.12 × 10−4 cm s−1). Results show that the factor of safety (FOS) drops sharply within 12 h (e.g., from 1.614 naturally to 1.010 at 200 mm h−1) and then stabilizes, with FOS remaining >1.05 (basically stable) under rainfall intensities ≤ 50 mm h−1, but drops into the less-stable range (1.00–1.05) at 100–200 mm h−1, reaching marginal stability (FOS ≈ 0.98–1.02) after 24 h of extreme events, according to GB/T 32864-2016. Slope protection measures increase FOS (e.g., 2.518 naturally). These findings quantify higher instability thresholds in arid compared to humid regions, supporting regional guidelines and informing early-warning systems amid climate-related extremes. This framework enhances sustainable slope management for mines worldwide in arid–semi-arid zones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment of Ecological, Hydrological and Geological Environments)
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