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SOME EFFECTS OF RAINFALL, RADIANT DRYING, AND SOIL FACTORS ON INFILTRATION UNDER RAINFALL INTO SOILS
Author(s) -
ROSE C. W.
Publication year - 1962
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1962.tb00708.x
Subject(s) - infiltration (hvac) , soil water , water content , soil science , moisture , environmental science , dew , illite , geology , geotechnical engineering , mineralogy , materials science , clay minerals , composite material , meteorology , condensation , physics
Summary The effect of the structural condition of a soil on infiltration under laboratory simulated rainfall was investigated. Infiltration was greater with better structural condition for both undisturbed and disturbed samples. The infiltration rate of a soil surface damaged by intense rainfall decreases as rainfall continues. After equal periods of exposure there was little difference, for any of three soils examined, between total infiltration of rainfall at a rate of 6 in. per hour and at 4 in. per hour. The application of a pressure less than atmospheric to the underside of 2‐in.‐deep samples, simulating the moisture tension observed in the transmission zone on infiltration into deep soil columns, did not increase infiltration under rainfall as would be expected. For a clay soil previously exposed to rainfall, infiltration rate after radiant drying for 24 hr. and rewetting was only half that of replicates which were dried in shade. The nature of the cation with which a soil may be saturated markedly affects the permeability of the soil to water; and this effect persisted when water was applied with the added mechanical action of falling drops. Artificial crumbs of pure clays and a clay mixture were brought to moisture equilibrium with saturated water vapour, and their stability under rainfall examined. Calcium‐saturated kaolin crumbs were rapidly broken down and dispersed under rainfall, in marked contrast to their stability on immersion in water without the mechanical effect of falling drops. Calcium‐saturated illite and montmorillonite experienced no visible breakdown of the crumbs and no dispersion for the same rainfall exposure.