Soil physics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soil physics deals with the physics of soil systems. Soil physics involves the quantification of soil constituents and arrangement. This process necessarily involves what could be termed The Architecture of the Soil, that is the geometrical arrangement or pattern of the soil components. Soil physics studies the properties and processes of materials in the soil. The area of soil physics span from the physical description of soil particles, soil aggregates, into the storage and transport phenomena of water, gas, heat, and solute in soil.
The examples of the area of research:
- Measurement of soil moisture content in the field: The use of electromagnetic and dielectric properties of soil, including the use of time domain reflectometry, frequency domain sensors, and capacitance probes.
- Modelling the transport of water, air, heat and solute in the soil and porous medium, including gas diffusion in soil and soil thermal properties.
- Characterization of mechanical properties in soil, like bulk density.
- Management of water content and irrigation.
- Description and modelling of soil pore distribution.
[edit] See also
[edit] Prominent soil physicists
- Edgar Buckingham (1867-1940)
- The theory of gas diffusion in soil and unsaturated water flow in soil. See The Soil Physics Contributions of Edgar Buckingham by John R. Nimmo and Edward R. Landa
- Lorenzo A. Richards (1904-1993)
- General transport of water in usaturated soil, measurement of soil water potential using tensiometer.
- John R. Philip (1927-1999)
- Analytical solution to general soil water transport, Environmental Mechanics.
