Abstract
In the northwest of China, loess is widely distributed, and the climate is mainly arid and semi arid. The use of loess as soil cover material for landfills is promising. In this paper, water balance analyses were carried out to evaluate the technical feasibility with a consideration of the climate characteristics and the hydraulic properties of the loesses. The analyses demonstrate that the loess, having a considerable water storage capacity and relatively low conductivity for water and gas flow, is a good cover material for the arid and semi arid regions. The required thickness of monolithic soil cover, depending on the climate condition and the type of loess, ranges from 0.5 to 2.0 m. For a given region, the designed thickness for the silty loess is the least, and that for the sandy loess is the largest. It is deserved to do more research and engineering practice on this topic.
