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Title: USE OF NEAR-SURFACE TDR MEASUREMENTS TO PREDICT SUBSURFACE SOLUTE TRANSPORT

Author
item GAUR, ANJU - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item HORTON, ROBERT - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item Jaynes, Dan

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/14/2002
Publication Date: 11/14/2002
Citation: GAUR, A., HORTON, R., JAYNES, D.B. USE OF NEAR-SURFACE TDR MEASUREMENTS TO PREDICT SUBSURFACE SOLUTE TRANSPORT. SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL MEETING. 2002. CD-ROM. MADISON, WI.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Successful prediction of the fate and transport of solutes requires accurate transport parameters. We attempt to determine near-surface chemical transport properties and evaluate whether the shallow measurements can be used to predict solute transport in the soil profile. The field TDR (time domain reflectometry) setup was used to measure near-surface chemical properties. The setup included multiple drippers as point sources of solutes and TDR probes to measure to bulk electrical conductivity. Salt solution was applied as a step input tracer. The measured chemical transport properties were immobile water content, mass transfer rate coeffieient, and dispersion coefficient. Solute movement within the soil profile was measured via a cylinder infiltrometer setup. The observed salt distribution within the soil profile from the cylinder infiltrometers were found to be in the range of salt distribution predicted by the near-surface chemical transport properties. The results suggest that near-surface chemical transport properties can be utilized to describe solute transport within the deeper soil profile.