GATE Civil Engineering (CE) 2022 Shift 2 Solved Paper

A soil sample is underlying a water column of height h₁, as shown in the figure. The vertical effective stresses at points A, B, and C are σ'_A, σ'_B, σ'_C respectively. Let γ_sat and γ' be the saturated and submerged unit weights of the soil sample, respectively, and γ_W be the unit weight of water. Which one of the following expressions correctly represents the sum (σ'_A + σ'_B + σ'_C) ?