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Soil Water Movement as Affected by Deep Freezing
Author(s) -
Sartz Richard S.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1969.03615995003300030005x
Subject(s) - soil water , frost (temperature) , infiltration (hvac) , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , environmental science , groundwater , penetration (warfare) , water content , soil science , geotechnical engineering , geomorphology , meteorology , geography , operations research , engineering
Knowledge of water movement into and through frozen soils is needed for studying the hydrologic behavior of northern watersheds. Soil water was logged by the neutron method in both sandy and silty soils over four winters in southwestern Wisconsin. Bonded frost depth, which ranged from 8 to 120 cm at maximum penetration, was measured concurrently by frost probe or resistance blocks. Changes in soil water took place throughout much of the frost season, even with deep soil frost. One series of data showed that water may infiltrate and percolate through more than 60 cm of hard‐frozen ground. However, frozen ground did impede percolation, causing a buildup of water in the frozen zone during spring melt. Although neutron readings increased at upper levels during the frost season, most of the increases could not be accounted for by decreases at lower levels. Thus, they appeared to result more from infiltration than from upward migration as reported by others.