Abstract. The ploughing of soils in autumn drastically loosens the soil structure and, at same time, reduces its stability against external stresses. A fragmentation these artificially produced clods during wintertime is often observed areas with air temperatures fluctuating around freezing point. From pore perspective, it still unclear (i) under which conditions frost action has a measurable e...

This paper describes the scientific principles of Darcy’s law and hydraulic resistance as they relate to the in-ground dispersal of onsite wastewater effluent. A clear understanding of how water moves into the ground via dispersal trenches is needed to facilitate proper system design and effect some standardization of dispersal trench sizing and design. Hydraulic conductivity of the media, hydr...

Collapsing gullies are among the most severe soil erosion problems in the tropical and subtropical areas of southern China. However, few studies have examined the relationship of soil particle size distribution (PSD) changes with land-use patterns in the alluvial fans of collapsing gullies. Recently, the fractal method has been applied to estimate soil structure and has proven to be an effectiv...

Transport of Cryptosporidium parvum through macroporous soils is poorly understood yet critical for assessing the risk of groundwater contamination. We developed a conceptual model of the physics of flow and transport in packed, tilted, and vegetated soilboxes during and immediately after a simulated rainfall event and applied it to 54 experiments implemented with different soils, slopes, and r...

Successful application of dual permeability models (DPM) to predict contaminant transport is contingent upon measured or inversely estimated soil hydraulic and solute transport parameters. The difficulty in unique identification of parameters for the additional macropore- and matrix-macropore interface regions, and knowledge about requisite experimental data for DPM has not been resolved to dat...

[1] Traditionally, analytical solutions for heat transport in soils have been used in combination with heat pulse probe (HPP) measurements to estimate soil thermal properties. Although the analytical method has resulted in accurate estimation of soil thermal properties, we suggest that parameter estimation using inverse modeling (IM) provides new and unique opportunities for soil thermal charac...

Soil heterogeneity and the lack of detailed site characterization are two ubiquitous factors that render predictions of flow and transport in the vadose zone inherently uncertain. We employ the Green–Ampt model of infiltration and the Dagan– Bresler statistical parameterization of soil properties to compute probability density functions (PDFs) of infiltration rate and infiltration depth. By goi...

The magnitude of hydraulic redistribution of soil water by roots and its impact on soil water balance were estimated by monitoring time courses of soil water status at multiple depths and root sap flow under drought conditions in a dry ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws) ecosystem and in a moist Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) ecosystem. The fate of deuterated wat...