The Effects of Particle Gradation on Salinized Soil in Arid and Cold Regions
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The research topic that the authors dealt with is of significant importance for road engineering in cold regions of the world. The main research problem has been adequately presented. The results achieved can be used in future works dealing with highways in cold regions cold region.
The presented article has correct structure. The article has been prepared carefully in terms of editing (eg. Figures are correct and accurate) and does not contain any significant factual errors. However, in order to make its content easier for readers to understand, it is advisable to introduce some changes / corrections. Detailed comments on the individual parts of the article are presented below:
-“Abstract”: The abstract contains all the most important information. After reading it, the reader knows what the authors did and what the scope of their work was.
-“Introduction”: The introduction presents relevant data on the current state of the art in the relevant research field. The reasons for taking up the topic by the authors were explained. However, the message contained in the last sentence of the introductory part has not been fully proven / its validity has not been demonstrated. The authors write “The present study provides significant theoretical guidance for preventing subgrade salt-frost heaving and dissolution collapse induced by salinized soil in this region”. It should be explained what exactly the “significant theoretical guidance” includes and why the authors consider it important. Additionally, it should be noted that the authors, in most cases, limit themselves to citing the works of Chinese researchers. Some of the indicated literature items are written in Chinese, which limits their use by researchers from other countries. So (considering that the authors want to publish the results of their work in an international journal), it is reasonable to expand the list of publications to include items authored by people from outside of China.
- “Materials and methods” and “Conclusions” – The authors write “This study aimed to examine the effects of gradation quality and particle size on the characteristics of natural salinized soil from the Dushanzi-Kuqa Highway”. The criteria for selecting the research area should be explained and it should be outlined to what extent, in the opinion of the authors, the results obtained for the samples collected from the indicated area can be generalized.
- “Materials and methods”: If the authors believe that any new research methodology was used, the new elements should be discussed / emphasized.
- “Discussion": The information in this section is too general. It would be reasonable to discuss the obtained results in more detail and the possibility of their use (both in practice and during research conducted by other researchers). Additionally, it should be explained why it has not been corrected / e.g. by carrying out additional spotted research in respect of the observed shortcomings. The authors write “One shortcoming of this study lay in the insufficient freezing-thawing cycles. Consequently, the variation after the seventh freezing-thawing cycle followed previous research findings. There were no microscopic tests performed in this study. Instead, the micro- structural rules were based on past theoretical analysis”. It should be added how these shortcomings influenced the quality of the obtained results and the possibility of drawing conclusions of a more general nature.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper deals with the impact of particle size grading on heaving and dissolution collapse events of salinized soil in arid and cold climate conditions. The research was carried out on three soil columns with different gradations to explore the influence of freeze-thaw cycles on salinized soil's salt-frost heaving and dissolution collapse characteristics. As expected, poorly graded soils with coarse particle content are significantly affected during freezing-thaw cycles while well-graded soils, with high content of fines, are much less influenced. In technical sense this paper is significant for highway construction in arid and cold climate conditions. Although the obtained results were expected in certain aspects of the research, in terms of novelty and technical content, the paper also achieves the standard for publication in scientific journal. The authors are advised to respond to the comments of the reviewer given bellow to improve the quality of their manuscript.
- The sampling range given in coordinates (i.e 85°00′53″E~84°54′20″E, 114 44°14′02″N~44°10′20″N) is not of scientific interest. The micro location of the sampling point given in Figure 1 is satisfactory and precise enough for the purpose of the research paper.
- The authors should explain criteria upon which they decided to form artificial gradation of salinized soil samples notably with good gradation and poor gradation. Why choosing this type of gradation A-grade and B-grade samples and not some other combinations? How the natural gradation of the soil samples affected their choice?
- Some of the sentences are constructed in slightly unexpected form ( e.g. The results are: in Figures 8 and 9.) and should be corrected using the better command of English language.
- The authors should better explain what is ˝salt-frost heaving quantity ˝ given in the caption of Figure 8.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors of the article took into account most of the reviewer's comments. A part of the description has been changed. After the changes have been carried out, the article is more understandable to the readers.
Referring to the particular recommendations of the reviewer, the following should be observed:
-“Introduction” part: The list of enclosed references has been extended. It can be considered that in the currently presented form, it is adequately selected to the subject of the research works carried out and the scope of their implementation. The controversial sentence (“The present study provides significant theoretical guidance for preventing subgrade salt-frost heaving and dissolution collapse induced by salinized soil in this region”) originally included in this section has been removed which has had a positive impact on the transparency of this part of the article
- “Materials and methods” and “Conclusions” – It can be considered that the missing elements indicated in the reviewer's opinion have been supplemented. The criteria for selecting the research area have been explained. The section on the conclusions has been extended. The conclusion no 5 has been added. The authors state that “It should be noted that this experimental work is only applicable to saline soil. Further studies should investigate related geomaterials.” Therefore, it should be noted that the basic requirements for this part of the article have been met.
- “Materials and methods”: The authors have expanded this part of the description. They tried to emphasize the new elements that were included in the article (in relation to the works of other researchers).
- “Discussion": This point has been removed from the article. The analysis of this research result has been carried out in the part "Results and Analysis”. The scope of the information presented there can be considered scientifically. The currently proposed layout of the work is more understandable to the reader and creates a coherent whole.
Summarizing the information presented above, in its current form (after minor corrections) the article is suitable for publication. Before publishing the paper, the authors should:
- Introduce editorial corrections, concerning, for example, the use of a uniform format for the presentation of all literature items (part “References”)
- Referring to the works of other authors, it is necessary to cite specific items of literature. In the current version of the article, in some places data on this subject is missing. For example: on page 4 the reader can find the following sentence „In previous researches on the characteristics of saline soil, seldom consider grading as a variable affecting the characteristics of saline soil, and grading is a crucial factor for subgrade saline soil”. Concrete examples of work should be presented.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
