THE EFFECT OF SOIL TEXTURE AND DENSITY ON THE NEUTRON AND DENSITY PROBE CALIBRATION FOR SOME TROPICAL SOILS

THE EFFECT OF SOIL TEXTURE AND BULK DENSITY ON CALIBRATION OF NEUTRON MOISTURE AND DENSITY PROBES WAS INVESTIGATED FOR FIVE TROPICAL FERRALLITIC SOILS. SOIL TEXTURE AND BULK DENSITY WERE FOUND TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE NEUTRON PROBE CALIBRATION. FINE-TEXTURED SOIL WITH HIGH CONTENT OF EXTRACTABLE FE HAD AN INTERCEPT OF 0.465 AS COMPARED TO 0.044 FOR COARSE-TEXTURED SOIL. FOR 20 PERCENT VOLUMETRIC MOISTURE CONTENT THE COUNT RATIO CHANGED FROM 0.568 FOR DRY DENSITY OF 1.0 G/CU CM TO 0.943 WITH TWICE THE VALUE OF SOIL DENSITY. SIMILARLY, TEXTURE AND INITIAL MOISTURE CONTENT SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCED THE DENSITY PROBE CALIBRATION. THEREFORE, WIDESPREAD HETEORGENEITY OF TROPICAL SOILS LIMITS THE USEFULNESS OF THE NEUTRON-SCATTERING TECHNQIUE AS A ROUTINE METHOD OF MONITORING SOIL MOISTURE REGIMES. /AUTHOR/

• Authors:
  • Lal, R
• Publication Date: 1974-4

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 183-90
• Serial:
  • Soil Science
  • Volume: 117
  • Issue Number: 4

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Density; Iron; Neutrons; Probes (Measuring devices); Soil water; Soils; Texture; Tropics
• Old TRIS Terms: Probes; Soil texture
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00217395
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 5 1974 12:00AM