IIn seasonally frozen regions, freeze-thaw cycles (FTCs) influence the performance of cover systems on mine dumps, directly affecting percolation control and slope stability. Locally sourced soil-rock mixtures (SRM) provide an economical capillary barrier cover solution. However, existing studies primarily focus on homogeneous soils, with limited research on the coupled impacts of rock content (RC) and FTCs on the hydraulic performance of SRM, which hinders the durability design of covers in cold climates. This study examines how RC and FTCs jointly affect the hydraulic properties of SRM. Saturated hydraulic conductivity (ks), water retention, and pore structure were quantified through laboratory measurements (saturated hydraulic conductivity tests, centrifuge-derived soil–water characteristic curves, and nuclear magnetic resonance pore analysis), two-month field monitoring, and numerical simulations. The results show that a 20% increase in RC elevates ks by one order of magnitude, while FTCs increases ks with diminishing increments; FTCs shifts the soil-water characteristic curve downward, reducing saturation and residual volumetric water content; High RC disperses pore distribution, while FTCs expands pores in the 1–100 μm range; Field monitoring recorded cumulative percolation <2 mm during the two‑month rainy period, confirming effective capillary barrier performance. This study provides insights for durable cover designs in freeze-thaw regions.
Duan et al. (Wed,) studied this question.