Search results for "Loam"
showing 10 items of 76 documents
Evaporation from soils of different texture covered by layers of water repellent and wettable soils
2020
Water repellent soils are able to channel water deep into the soil profile by fingered flow, minimising water storage in the water repellent top layer where water is most susceptible to evaporation. To date, the effect of water repellent or wettable surface layer on evaporation from wet sublayer has only been reported for coarse materials, and an increase in water repellency led to a greater delay in water evaporation. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of water repellent vs. wettable top layers with different thickness on water evaporation from coarse and fine texture subsoils that were pre-moistened. Clay loam soil samples were taken from Pinus pinaster woodland of Ciavo…
Response of grapevine (Cabernet Sauvignon cv) to above ground and subsurface drip irrigation under arid conditions
2018
Abstract The response of wine grapes to irrigation systems was investigated in a Cabernet Sauvignon/140 Ru vineyard in sandy loam soil in Sicily during a two-year study. Two different drip irrigation systems were evaluated: one surface drip and two subsurface drip irrigation systems, with the trickle line located at different distances from vine trunks. Vegetative and quantitative parameters, must quality and root distribution were compared among irrigation treatments. During the two study years, irrigation of grapevines via a subsurface drip system resulted in greater water use efficiency without affecting must composition. Establishing the trickle line near the trunk positively influenced…
Determining hydraulic properties of a loam soil by alternative infiltrometer techniques
2015
Testing infiltrometer techniques to determine soil hydraulic properties is necessary for specific soils. For a loam soil, the water retention and hydraulic conductivity predicted by the BEST (Beerkan Estimation of Soil Transfer parameters) procedure of soil hydraulic characterization was compared with data collected by more standard laboratory and field techniques. Six infiltrometer techniques were also compared in terms of saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks. BEST yielded water retention values statistically similar to those obtained in the laboratory and Ks values practically coinciding with those determined in the field with the pressure infiltrometer (PI). The unsaturated soil hyd…
Extent and persistence of soil water repellency induced by pines in different geographic regions
2018
The extent (determined by the repellency indices RI and RIc) and persistence (determined by the water drop penetration time, WDPT) of soil water repellency (SWR) induced by pines were assessed in vastly different geographic regions. The actual SWR characteristics were estimated in situ in clay loam soil at Ciavolo, Italy (CiF), sandy soil at Culbin, United Kingdom (CuF), silty clay soil at Javea, Spain (JaF), and sandy soil at Sekule, Slovakia (SeF). For Culbin soil, the potential SWR characteristics were also determined after oven-drying at 60°C (CuD). For two of the three pine species considered, strong (Pinus pinaster at CiF) and severe (Pinus sylvestris at CuD and SeF) SWR conditions we…
Screening for new accumulator plants in potential hazards elements polluted soil surrounding Peruvian mine tailings
2016
Abstract Tailings usually provide an unfavorable substrate for plant growth because of their multi-stress environment. Plants growing on naturally metal-enriched soils are of particular interest in this perspective, since they are genetically tolerant to high metal concentrations and have an excellent adaptation to extreme conditions. Soil and plant samples were taken in Peru, at a polymetallic mine (mainly Ag, Pb and Cu) in Cajamarca Province, Hualgayoc district. Top soils (0–20 cm) were analyzed for physical and chemical properties by standard methods. Total As, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations in top soils were determined by ICP–OES. Similar metals in plants were analyzed separately (aerial …
Effect of a Heavy Rainstorm on the Surface Hydrodynamic Properties of a Sandy-Loam Soil
2022
Changes in surface-soil hydrodynamic properties associated with torrential natural rainstorms are largely unknown. This investigation aimed at verifying if the surface hydrodynamic properties of a sandy-loam soil varied due to the heavy rainfall event (130 mm in nearly three hours) that occurred in the summer of 2020 at Palermo (Italy) and also to establish if soil recovery processes occurred soon after the event. The soil of an orchard was sampled immediately before the rainstorm and a few days and 1.5 months later. The rainstorm determined a moderate decrease (by 1.8 times) of the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks, and an increase of its relative variability. In the subsequent wee…
Determining short-term changes in the hydraulic properties of a sandy-loam soil by a three-run infiltration experiment
2020
Soil structure-dependent parameters can vary rapidly as a consequence of perturbing events such as intense rainfall. Investigating their short-term changes is therefore essential to understand the general behaviour of a porous medium. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the effects of wetting, perturbation and recovery processes through different sequences of Beerkan infiltration experiments performed on a sandy-loam soil. Two different three-run infiltration experiments (LHL and LLL) were carried out by pouring water at low (L, non-perturbing) and high (H, perturbing) heights above the soil surface and at short time intervals (hours, days). The results demonstrate that the propos…
Water transmission properties of a sandy-loam soil estimated with Beerkan runs differing by the infiltration time criterion
2021
Abstract The Beerkan method consists of a ponded infiltration experiment from a single ring inserted a small depth into the soil. Fixed, small volumes of water are repeatedly poured into the ring to maintain a quasi-zero head on the soil surface. According to the standard Beerkan infiltration run, a new water volume is poured on the infiltration surface when the previously applied volume has completely infiltrated and the soil surface is entirely exposed to air (ta criterion). However, water could also be applied when the soil exposition to air begins (to criterion) or half the soil surface is exposed to air (tm criterion). The effect of the infiltration time criterion on determination of t…
Evaluating equilibrium and non-equilibrium transport of bromide and isoproturon in disturbed and undisturbed soil columns.
2007
19 pages; International audience; In this study, displacement experiments of isoproturon were conducted in disturbed and undisturbed columns of a silty clay loam soil under similar rainfall intensities. Solute transport occurred under saturated conditions in the undisturbed soil and under unsaturated conditions in the sieved soil because of a greater bulk density of the compacted undisturbed soil compared to the sieved soil. The objective of this work was to determine transport characteristics of isoproturon relative to bromide tracer. Triplicate column experiments were performed with sieved (structure partially destroyed to simulate conventional tillage) and undisturbed (structure preserve…
Field testing parameter sensitivity of the two-term infiltration equation using differentiated linearization
2003
Knowledge of soil hydraulic conductivity in the vadose zone is important in many agronomic, engineering and environmental areas. Transient tension infiltrometer experiments can be used to estimate the hydraulic conductivity, K0, corresponding to a given pressure head by the single-test (TST) method that uses the coefficients C1 and C2 of the two-term infiltration equation. The “Differentiated Linearization” (DL) method has been proposed to estimate these coefficients when a layer of contact material is used for the experiment. A field test of the DL and TST methods was conducted on a sandy loam and a clay soil. Eliminating the early-time influence of the contact layer was easy when the sorp…