HEAT AND WATER MOVEMENT UNDER SURFACE ROCKS IN A FIELD SOIL: II, MOISTURE EFFECTS

Results are presented from a field experiment conducted to determine the effect of surface rocks on soil water content changes under bare soil. First, stones were placed at intervals over an initially-dry field (gravimetric water content = 0.021 g/g) and left for 6 weeks. Subsequent sampling showed a small but detectable excess of water stored under the rock compared to adjacent bare soil. Following an irrigation, buried thermal conductivity probes were used to monitor water content changes under and adjacent to surface rocks. After 24 days, the soil under the rock contained significantly more water than did the soil region adjacent to the rock, a finding confirmed by gravimetric sampling. Following this, the stones and probes were relocated for a further 24 days of observation, with similar results obtained. In a separate laboratory experiment using a large sealed soil column with a rock covering part of the surface it was demonstrated that a significant amount of water moved to the cylinder of soil under the rock from the soil region under the bare surface dure to horizontal temperature gradients induced by the rock covering part of the surface. A two-dimensional computer program calculating water vapor movement under thermal gradients was used with measured field temperature boundary conditions to estimate the amount of water vapor movement expected to occur due to a rock cover on the soil surface.

• Corporate Authors:

  Soil Science Society of America

  677 South Segoe Road
  Madison, WI  United States  53711
• Authors:
  • Jury, W A
• Conference:
  • Soil Science Society of America, Proceedings
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 509-513
• Serial:
  • Volume: 40
  • Issue Number: 4

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Computer programs; Field studies; Flow; Gravimetric analysis; Heat flow; Rocks; Soil water; Streamflow; Temperature gradients; Thermal conductivity; Water
• Old TRIS Terms: Field investigations; Gravimetric analyses; Soil water content
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00147875
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 16 1977 12:00AM