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Effect of subcritical hydrophobicity in a sandy soil on water infiltration and mobile water content
Author(s) -
Lamparter Axel,
Deurer Markus,
Bachmann Jörg,
Duijnisveld Wilhelmus H. M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of plant nutrition and soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 1436-8730
DOI - 10.1002/jpln.200521743
Subject(s) - infiltration (hvac) , infiltrometer , soil water , vadose zone , water content , hydraulic conductivity , soil science , water flow , wetting , soil horizon , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , geotechnical engineering , materials science , composite material
Recent research shows that most soils are more or less water repellent. Already subcritical water repellency may cause incomplete soil wetting and preferential flow. Both processes potentially reduce the residence time of water and solutes in the vadose zone, resulting in an enhanced risk of groundwater contamination. The objective of the present paper is, therefore, to evaluate the impact of reduced soil wettability on the soil water infiltration rate and to investigate the tendency towards preferential flow with the analysis of the immobile water content in the infiltration zone. In november 2002, a field experiment was done in a coniferous forest, 30 km N of Hannover, Germany. Soil hydrophobicity was quantified by measuring the contact angles. The hydraulic conductivity of the podsolic sandy soil was measured depth‐dependent with a double‐ring tension infiltrometer in three soil horizons. To quantify possible preferential‐flow effects, a LiBr‐Tracer was added to the infiltrating water to evaluate the mobile water‐content fraction after infiltration. Additionally, infiltration rates of water were compared with infiltration rates of ethanol which were determined after water infiltration at the same locations. Results show that the actual water repellency of field‐moist soil was mainly subcritical (contact angle <90°). Water infiltration rates were reduced due to subcritical repellency by a factor of 3–170 compared with ethanol infiltration rates (exclusion of wetting effects). This spatially variable infiltration behavior was not clearly reflected neither by the small‐scale contact‐angle measurements nor by the analysis of the average immobile soil water content in the infiltration zone. We conclude that this specific infiltration behavior of water caused by small‐scale wettability effects may temporarily reduce the local connectivity of water‐flow pathways.