Non-invasive monitoring of water and solute fluxes in a cropped soil
type: CreativeWork
description: Although the influence of root water uptake on solute transport is commonly recognized as important, it has barely been studied throughout the literature. However, plants take up a big amount of the infiltrating water and therefore they influence water flow patterns in the soil and concurrently solute transport processes. For this reason, experiments are required to investigate the relationship between plant root water uptake and flow field variability. Within this PhD project, we tried to elucidate the role of root water uptake on soil moisture distribution and solute transport in two undisturbed soil columns. During three consecutive experimental phases, the soil hydraulic and solute transport characteristics were investigated and the influence of growing barley on water content and tracer movement were studied. Soil water concentration and moisture content in the lysimeters were monitored non-invasively using 3-D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). ERT is a valuable technique to monitor processes in the unsaturated zone. It is suitable to quantify solute concentration or soil moisture content at the decimeter scale in different soils and under varying conditions. In combination with TDR and effluent measurements, different aspects of the solute transport process and manifestations of preferential flow can be investigated. Steady-state step tracer experiments are very suitable for this purpose. Soil moisture measurements with ERT were conducted as well, but an horizon-specific in-situ calibration of the ERT-measurements for water content was a prerequisite for success. We observed that the solute transport in our silty lysimeters was considerably more heterogeneous than in the loamy-sand soil studied by Koestel (2008; 2009a; 2009b). We observed a clear preferential flow path in one of the lysimeters and found that soil layering had a big influence on the leaching process. The measured water depletion rate, being the result of combined effects of root water up…
abstract: Although the influence of root water uptake on solute transport is commonly recognized as important, it has barely been studied throughout the literature. However, plants take up a big amount of the infiltrating water and therefore they influence water flow patterns in the soil and concurrently solute transport processes. For this reason, experiments are required to investigate the relationship between plant root water uptake and flow field variability. Within this PhD project, we tried to elucidate the role of root water uptake on soil moisture distribution and solute transport in two undisturbed soil columns. During three consecutive experimental phases, the soil hydraulic and solute transport characteristics were investigated and the influence of growing barley on water content and tracer movement were studied. Soil water concentration and moisture content in the lysimeters were monitored non-invasively using 3-D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). ERT is a valuable technique to monitor processes in the unsaturated zone. It is suitable to quantify solute concentration or soil moisture content at the decimeter scale in different soils and under varying conditions. In combination with TDR and effluent measurements, different aspects of the solute transport process and manifestations of preferential flow can be investigated. Steady-state step tracer experiments are very suitable for this purpose. Soil moisture measurements with ERT were conducted as well, but an horizon-specific in-situ calibration of the ERT-measurements for water content was a prerequisite for success. We observed that the solute transport in our silty lysimeters was considerably more heterogeneous than in the loamy-sand soil studied by Koestel (2008; 2009a; 2009b). We observed a clear preferential flow path in one of the lysimeters and found that soil layering had a big influence on the leaching process. The measured water depletion rate, being the result of combined effects of root water up…
author: Garré, Sarah
language: en
keywords: Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences, Earth sciences & physical geography, Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre, Sciences de la terre & géographie physique
date published: 2010-11-26
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:49:17Z
provider: Université de Liège
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Bonn