EART3339 Land Rehabilitation

Lecture 9: Water Retention in Soil

æ  Slides from Gardner of Washington æ  Cohesion
State University in the 1950’s and æ  Adhesion
1960’s æ  Surface Tension
æ  How pore size influences water flow æ  Capillarity
æ  Matric Potential
æ  Volumetric Water Content
Learning Outcomes from Module 2
æ  (Re)Learn how to add up!
æ  Think like a sponge!
æ  Ground control to Major Tom.
æ  “A little learning is a dangerous
thing; drink deep, or taste not
the Pierian spring: there
shallow draughts intoxicate the
brain, and drinking largely
sobers us again.” Pope, 1709
æ  Understand the principals of
the water balance of a soil
cover system
æ  Understand how water is
stored in and moves through
soil
æ  Understand soil covers as the
life support system for the
ecosystem.
æ  Apply this knowledge to design
sustainable soil cover systems
You all started this course with 100%
These are common ways to get a poor grade

æ  Not attending computer labs æ  Asking your lecturer “How do I

æ  Not being able to add up!
æ  Not being able to deal with
units, unit conversions or
working out what the units
should be from the
equation!!!!!!
æ  Not being able to attend
because you have to go to
work.
do this?” the day before the
assessment is due.
æ  Copying!!!! And seven of you
making the same mistakes!!!!!
æ  Not attending tutorials.
æ  Not attending guest lecturer
talks.
æ  Asking for an extension,
getting approval from the
Faculty for a 1 week extension
which they give to you 3 weeks
later, then you hand in.
Wednesday Guest Lecture

æ Karissa Wilson
Department of Minerals and Petroleum, Western
Australian Government
•  Role of DMP
•  Mining Rehabilitation Fund
•  Introduction to Black Diamond for Module 3
æ Best Student Project to be Incorporated into the
DMPs Official Mine Closure Plan for Black
Diamond
Polar nature of water
æ  Uneven spatial distribution of charge
æ  Leads to attraction of water to itself
æ  Hydrogen bonding forces are strong
which gives waters peculiar properties
i.e. high enthalpy of evaporation, high
heat capacity etc
Forces acting on water in an air – water – soil mixture

æ  Cohesion
•  Attraction of water molecules to each other
æ  Adhesion
•  Attraction of water molecules for solid surfaces
 At the water – air
interface water
molecules are weakly
attracted to air and
strongly attracted to
each other

Water tends to minimize

the surface area to
volume ratio
Contact Angle

Contact angle depends upon

the relative magnitude of
the cohesive forces between
water molecules
and
the adhesive forces (i.e.
between water and the solid)
 Capillarity æ  Force Balance
•  Downward weight = Upward capillary force

Equation 1
Web tool
•  http://www.soil-physics.ch/inhalt_en/seiten/exp1200/animation_1200.htm
Water content of soil

æ  Volumetric Water Content θv

•  Volume of water per unit volume of soil
•  Units = vol H2O/vol soil or cm3/cm3
æ  Gravimetric Water Content θg
•  Mass of H2O per unit mass of soil
•  Units = g H2O / g soil
æ  Soil dry bulk density ρb
•  Mass of soil / volume of soil
•  Units = g /cm3
æ  Density of water
•  Mass H2O / Volume of H2O ~ 1 g/cm3
æ  θv = ρb × θg ÷ ρw
Soil as a bundle of capillaries
æ  Pores in soil can be thought of as
being like a capillary with a
particular radius
æ  The capillary rise can be expressed
as the pressure h to empty the
capillary tube
æ  The amount of water a soil can
hold at a certain tension (i.e.
negative pressure) depends upon
the frequency of pores of a given
size.
æ  E.g. if the tension on water is
greater than h then pores < r
(Equation 1 two slides back) will
remain filled
Definition of Matric Potential

æ  Potential is defined as the amount of work necessary to move a unit of

water on a volume basis from one point (reference) to another point

æ  Matric potential is the potential due to surface tension forces acting on

water in soil

æ  Matric potential of a saturated soil is zero (the reference state)

Measure the water retention characteristic of a soil
Pressure Plate Apparatus

æ  Chamber with soil samples is

pressurized with compressed air
æ  Saturate soil samples and place in
chamber
æ  Pressurized air forces water out of soil
pores with radius less than the
equivalent pressure h
æ  Measure the water content by
weighing saturated, post
pressurization and then oven dried
æ  Get pressure vs volumetric water
content relationship which is the water
retention characteristic curve
Water Retention Characteristic

æ  Usually plot on semi-log axes

æ  Quick changes in volumetric water
content with small change in
pressure indicate few pores of a the
associate radius
æ  Gradual change indicates more
pores of those sizes at the
corresponding pressures
Air entry on drying
Biomodal pore sizes

Abouthydrology.blogspot.com.au
Water Retention Functions

Brooks and Corey (1964)

Van Genuchten (1978, 1980)

With m = 1-1/n
Kosugi, Dane and Hopmans
Drainage and Imbibition

æ  Drainage: reduction in water content

æ  Imbibition: increase in water content

æ  Animation
•  http://www.soil-physics.ch/inhalt_en/index.php?seite=1300#
 Top View

Dry Soil

Wet Soil
Side View
# minutes

Fine
Loam

Coarse Sand
 Fine
Loam

Coarse Sand
Fine
Loam

Coarse Sand

Fine
Loam
Fine
Loam

Coarse Sand

Fine
Loam
Coarse
Sand

Fine Loam

Coarse
Sand
Coarse
Sand

Loam

Coarse
Sand
 Coarse Sand

Coarse Sand

Fine
Loam
Infiltration
Organic matter acting as a
capilliary barrier
Macropores function differently
depending upon where they are
Vertical Infiltration with spots where dye was applied
Water level