It is well known that there is a spectrum of pores in a soil profile. The conventional use of a single lumped value of soil hydraulic conductivity to describe a spectrum of hydraulically active pores may have unintentionally impeded the development of field-scale chemical transport theoryand perhaps indirectly hindered the development ofmanagement protocols for chemical application andwaste dis...

Understanding of soil processes is essential for addressing the global issues of food security, disease transmission and climate change. However, techniques for observing soil biology are lacking. We present a heterogeneous, porous, transparent substrate for in situ 3D imaging of living plants and root-associated microorganisms using particles of the transparent polymer, Nafion, and a solution ...

Oxygen is an important element for plant growth. Reducing its concentration in the soil affects plant physiological processes such as nutrient and water uptake as well as respiration, the redox potential of soil elements and the activity of microorganisms. The main mechanism of oxygen transport in the soil is by diffusion, a dynamic process greatly influenced by soil physical properties such as...

We propose to study the mechanical properties of a volcanic soil sample (monolith) using a computer model. We propose the use of CT-images to construct the Mechanical Computational Model. The image obtained from the CT-Scan give us a 3D model of the pores system of the monolith. This system relates the internal connectivity between different pores and the soil volume. To simulate fluid-solid in...

A solution is developed for the buildup, steady, and postarrest dissipative pore fluid pressure fields that develop around a conical penetrometer that self-embeds from free-fall into the seabed. Arrest from free-fall considers deceleration under undrained conditions in a purely cohesive soil, with constant shear strength with depth. The resulting decelerating velocity field is controlled by soi...

The aim of this study was to compare the toxic effects of selected two- and three-ringed PAHs (naphthalene, phenanthrene, and anthracene) and their N-heterocyclic analogs with one (quinoline, acridine, and phenanthridine) or two (quinoxaline, phenazine, and 1,10-phenanthroline) nitrogen atoms on the survival and reproduction of Enchytraeus crypticus in artificial soil. Toxicity of compounds was...

Wright, D.A., Killham, K., Glover, L.A. and Prosser, J.I., 1993. The effect of location in soil on protozoal grazing of a genetically modified bacterial inoculum. In: L. Brussaard and M.J. Kooistra (Editors), Int. Workshop on Methods of Research on Soil Structure/Soil Biota Interrelationships. Geoderma, 56: 633-640. Short-term laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the effect of l...

We present a new two-parameter expression for relative hydraulic conductivity (RHC) of partially saturated soils. It is based on the premise of Assouline et al. [1998] that soil structures evolve from a uniform random fragmentation process. This assumption allows us to derive hydraulic properties of soils (water retention curves and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity) from primary properties, s...

Pore-network models have been used to describe a wide range of properties from capillary pressure characteristics to interfacial area and mass transfer coefficients. The void space of a rock or soil is described as a network of pores connected by throats. The pores and throats are assigned some idealized geometry and rules are developed to determine the multiphase fluid configurations and trans...

Hydrochemical patterns across groundwater-fed wetlands, especially carbonate and redox gradients, can influence phosphorus (P) availability by controlling its distribution among different soil pools. We explored these linkages by comparing shallow (5–20 cm) soil properties along groundwater flowpaths in two rich fens, a marl fen, and a poor fen. Organic matter content, bulk density, and total e...