Salt Transport in Cracking Soils: Bromide Tracer Study

Cracking clay soils pose unique and complex water and salt management problems. Crack volumes greatly affect water and salt movement in these soils. The purpose of our study was to determine the effect of crack flow on tail water quality and the contribution of crack flow to salt leaching. Our exper...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of irrigation and drainage engineering 1997-09, Vol.123 (5), p.329-335
Main Authors: Shouse, P. J, Letey, J, Jobes, J, Fargerlund, J, Burch, S. L, Oster, J. D, Rhoades, J. D, O'Halloran, T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AGENTES NOCIVOS
Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
AGUA
AGUA DE RIEGO
AGUA SUPERFICIAL
Biological and medical sciences
BROMIDES
BROMURE
BROMUROS
CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIE
CARACTERISTICAS MORFOLOGICAS SUELO
CLAY SOILS
DEBIT
DEPTH
EAU
EAU D'IRRIGATION
EAU SUPERFICIELLE
FACTEUR NUISIBLE
FLOW RATE
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
GASTO
General agronomy. Plant production
GONFLEMENT
HEAVY-TEXTURED SOILS
HINCHAMIENTO
INJURIOUS FACTORS
IRRIGATION WATER
Irrigation. Drainage
LEACHING
LESSIVAGE DU SOL
LIGHT-TEXTURED SOILS
LIXIVIACION
LOAM SOILS
MEDICAGO SATIVA
MERMA
MOUVEMENT DE L'EAU DANS LE SOL
MOVEMENT IN SOIL
MOVIMIENTO DEL AGUA EN EL SUELO
PROCESOS DE TRANSPORTE EN EL SUELO
PROFONDEUR
PROFUNDIDAD
RETRAIT
SALT IN SOILS
SANDY SOILS
SHRINKAGE
SOIL MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES
SOIL TEXTURE
SOIL TRANSPORT PROCESSES
SOIL WATER MOVEMENT
SOL ARGILEUX
SOL SABLEUX
SOL SABLOLIMONEUX
SUELO ARCILLOSO
SUELO ARENOSO
SUELO FRANCO
SURFACE WATER
SWELLING
TECHNICAL PAPERS
TECHNIQUE DES TRACEURS
TECNICAS DE TRAZADORES
TEXTURA DEL SUELO
TEXTURE DU SOL
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRAIT MORPHOLOGIQUE DU SOL
TRANSPORT DANS LE SOL
WATER
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Description
Summary:Cracking clay soils pose unique and complex water and salt management problems. Crack volumes greatly affect water and salt movement in these soils. The purpose of our study was to determine the effect of crack flow on tail water quality and the contribution of crack flow to salt leaching. Our experiment was conducted on two farmers fields near Brawley, California. One field contained a nonswelling sandy loam soil and the other contained a high shrink-swell clay soil. Both fields were planted to alfalfa on shallow beds. Soil samples were taken prior to bromide treatment, after treatment, and after several subsequent irrigations. Three experiments were conducted on each soil: (1) initial bromide spike injection; (2) midstream bromide spike injection; and (3) infiltration box bromide injection. Surface water was sampled during bromide application and during subsequent irrigations. On the noncracking soil the water and salt moved to a depth of 60-75 cm. During subsequent irrigations salt was leached to deeper depths and surface waters had only small amounts of bromide. In the clay soil, water and salt rapidly filled and flowed in the soil cracks. Significant quantities of bromide were found at the 90-120 cm depths. Surface waters were laden with bromide during subsequent irrigations, and bromide was transported down the furrow by irrigation water. Traditional water and salt transport concepts for porous media are not applicable to cracking clay soils.
ISSN:0733-9437
1943-4774
DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9437(1997)123:5(329)