Regional subsidence at the former Texcoco Lake: numerical modelling and settlements prediction

Abstract

This paper describes the application of an EVP one-dimensional constitutive soil model to analyse regional subsidence. The model was modified assuming that the boundary conditions vary over time, as well as considering the stratification of the subsoil. It adequately simulates the consolidation process caused by the exploitation of the aquifers that underlie the Mexico basin, and is validated at a site in the former Texcoco Lake, some 14 km north of Mexico City, where geotechnical and piezometric information is available together with records of past subsidence. Settlement predictions were carried out for different periods of time, assuming that pore pressure depletion rates at the permeable borders of the compressible strata remain constant over time.