Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.geoderma.2011.10.008
Title (Primary) Prediction of the water sorption isotherm in air dry soils
Author Schneider, M.; Goss, K.-U.
Source Titel Geoderma
Year 2012
Department AUC
Volume 170
Issue 1
Page From 64
Page To 69
Language englisch
Abstract

Within this work we present a revised pedotransfer function (PTF) that predicts water sorption isotherms for dry soils based on the clay content of the soils. When the water sorption isotherm is plotted as a water retention curve (log water potential plotted against the water content) it typically results in a log linear function as described by Campbell and Shiozawa (1992). The linear function is defined by its slope and a fixed endpoint at zero water content. The reciprocal of the slope shows a strong correlation with the clay fraction. For the calibration of a PTF we measured water sorption data for 18 soils with clay contents from 2% to 61%. The final predictions of the water sorption isotherms from the clay mass fraction were very good if the clay content was higher than 7%. The use of a revised theoretical endpoint at the dry end of the WRC did improve the prediction as compared to the endpoint that has been used in the literature before. In addition Literature data for 22 soils and 3 pure clay minerals were used for validation. The good performance of the PTF only occurred if the clay fraction was dominated by 2:1 clay minerals. The water retention isotherm of soils rich in the 1:1 clay mineral kaolinite could not be predicted by this approach; the actual water content was strongly over-predicted and the water retention curve did not follow a log linear relationship.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=11985
Schneider, M., Goss, K.-U. (2012):
Prediction of the water sorption isotherm in air dry soils
Geoderma 170 (1), 64 - 69 10.1016/j.geoderma.2011.10.008