-Field experience has shown that soil conditions can have large effects on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) detection of landmines. We discuss available models for the prediction of the dielectric constant from soil physical properties including bulk density, soil texture, and water content. The soil dielectric constant determines the attenuation of the radar signal. The contrast between the diel...

The contamination of agricultural soils by heavy metals is a global problem. Soil texture as a biotic factor represents one of the most important factors that influences the distribution of organic matter and ultimately play decisive role in retention of heavy metals in soil ecosystem. The effects of heavy metals on soil microbial processes were investigated. Analytical grade sulphate and chlor...

A thorough understanding of thermal soil regimes is critical information for a wide variety of disciplines and engineering applications as well as for the evaluation of potential and limitations of thermal and optical sensors. In this study we have developed a procedure for the evaluation of global thermal soil regimes. First, pedotransfer functions are used to derive thermal soil properties (v...

northern khorasan province is located in north-east iran. according to demarton coefficient, it is a semiarid region. arid and semi-arid or subhumid zones are characterized by temperature variations, low and erratic rainfall, periodic droughts and different associations of vegetative cover and soils. this article looks at current dry lands and general guidelines for finding the best area for dr...

Exact estimates of soil clay (<2 μm) and silt (2-20 μm) contents are crucial as these size fractions impact key soil functions, and as pedotransfer concepts based on clay and silt contents are becoming increasingly abundant. We examined the effect of removing soil organic matter (SOM) by H2O2 before soil dispersion and determination of clay and silt. Soil samples with gradients in SOM were retr...

Capacitance and resistivity sensors can be used to continuously monitor soil volumetric water content (θ) and pore-water electrical conductivity (EC(p)) with non-destructive methods. However, dielectric readings of capacitance sensors operating at low frequencies are normally biased by high soil electrical conductivity. A procedure to calibrate capacitance-resistance probes in saline conditions...

abstract this paper presents a quantitative account of vegetation–environmental factor relationships in arid rangelands. vegetation cover was recorded using braun-blanquet combined abundance-cover scale in each quadrat. within each quadrat, one profile was dug and soil samples being taken at 0-20cm and 20-100cm depths. under study physical-chemical characteristics included texture, lime, organi...

determination of the best method to estimate the dispersion rate is very important to ensure accuracy of the computed data. the aim of this research is studying of transport length effects of dispersion of conservative tracer nacl in soils with different texture using several solute transport models including brigham, fried-combernous and solutions of the advection-dispersion equation with inve...

Although subterranean termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) foraging behavior involves the construction of gallery systems in soil, few studies have examined how colony size or soil environmental factors influence rates of construction and morphology of gallery systems. In this study, we investigated the effects of soil texture, soil moisture, and termite density on the rate of tunnel constructio...

Sub-surface irrigation with porous clay pipe can be an efficient, water saving method of irrigation for many less developed arid and semi-arid regions. Maximizing the efficiency of clay pipe irrigation requires guidelines and criteria for system design and operation. In this study, experimental and simulated (with HYDRUS (2D/3D)) soil wetting patterns were investigated for sub-surface pipe syst...