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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #94932
Title: LINKS BETWEEN SURFACE ROUGHNESS AND THE INTERNAL CONFIGURATION OF A FRAGMENTED SOIL

Author
item GIMENEZ, DANIEL - RUTGERS UNIV
item Allmaras, Raymond
item COPELAND, STEPHEN

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/10/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soil surface roughness (SSR) influences fluid movements over and through the soil surface. In the absence of a soil crust, SSR is related to aggregate-size distribution (ASD) of freshly-tilled soils, but quantification is needed. SSR also has potential to infer pore-size distribution (PSD) and thus, hydraulic properties of a tilled layer. The objectives of this research were to correlate parameters of SSR, ASD and PSD in freshly-tilled and somewhat consolidated field soils. Various tillage treatments were tested. Laboratory assemblies of field sampled aggregates were also studied. Measurements on a Normania clay loam were: surface roughness with a microrelief meter, ASD by dry-sieving, and PSD from resin-impregnated soil-sections. Fractal models reproduced parameters of surface roughness, and distributions of aggregate and pore-size. Relations among parameters of these properties are used to guide process modeling of hydraulic properties using simple and quick field measurements