The rhizosphere is one of the major components in soil–plant–atmosphere continuum which controls flow water from soil into roots. Plant roots release mucilage capable altering physio-chemical properties this region. Here, we showed how impacted on hydraulic properties, using simple experiments. An artificial rhizosphere, treated or not with mucilage, was placed a sample and suction applied to m...

Based on fractal theory, the fractal characteristics of soil particle size distribution (PSD) and soil water retention curve (WRC) under the five vegetation types were studied in the mountainous land of Northern China. Results showed that: (1) the fractal parameters of soil PSD and soil WRC varied greatly under each different vegetation type, with Quercus acutissima Carr. and Robina pseudoacaci...

where Se is the eff ective saturation, h is the pressure head, θ is volumetric water content, θs and θr are saturated and residual volumetric water contents, respectively, and α and m (n = 1 − 1/m) are water retention parameters related to the water entry pressure and soil pore size distribution, respectively. Th e water retention parameters are usually estimated from water retention data obtai...

We present a new method of characterizing the void structures of soils from water retention curves as the primary source of data. The method avoids the problems of other current approaches, which use smoothing curves and can miss the subtleties of soil structure, and usually ignore the shielding of large pores by the small connecting throats surrounding them. In the new method, software we have...

We study rain water infiltration and drainage in a dry model sandy soil with superabsorbent hydrogel particle additives by measuring the mass of retained water for non-ponding rainfall using a self-built 3D laboratory set-up. In the pure model sandy soil, the retained water curve measurements indicate that instead of a stable horizontal wetting front that grows downward uniformly, a narrow fing...

In this study we propose an uspcaling approach to derive time series of (a) REW scale state variables, and (b) effective REW scale soil hydraulic functions to test and parameterise models based on the REW approach. To this end we employed a physically based hydrological model, that represents the typical patterns and structures in the study catchment, and has previously been shown to reproduce ...