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Soil Science and Hydrology: Water at the Crossroad of Two Disciplines

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Water".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 24826

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Yves Coquet

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Guest Editor

SIAFEE, AgroParisTech, 16 rue Claude Bernard, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France
Interests: soil physics; preferential flow; pesticide fate in soil; groundwater contamination by agricultural pollutants; soil geophysics

Dr. Isabelle Cousin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

UR Sols, INRAE, 2163 avenue de la pomme de pin, CS 40001 Ardon, 45075 ORLEANS Cedex 2, France
Interests: soil ecosystem services; soil physics; soil available water capacity

Dr. Laurent Lassabatere

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Guest Editor

ENTPE, LEHNA, 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin Cedex, France
Interests: water infiltration; soil physics; soil hydraulic properties; soil water and contaminant modeling
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil is a central agent of the water cycle. Soil controls the partition of precipitation between surfacewater and groundwater through its infiltration and surface-storage capacity. Soil also stores infiltrated water and brings it back to the atmosphere through the evapotranspiration process, and finally determines the recharge of groundwater aquifers.

Despite its importance, soil is often disregarded in hydrology and mostly considered as a black box. In the same way, water is considered to be one of the soil’s constituents and is generally isolated as a single sub-discipline of soil science: soil hydrology.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to establish an interdisciplinary dialogue between soil science and hydrology by focusing on their common point: water. It aims to bring together hydrologists who are keen on accounting for a better representation of hydrological processes in soils and related conceptual or numerical models, and soil scientists willing to improve our knowledge of soil water processes and and their impact on soil evolution in time and space. Possible topics, among others, could be:

conceptual or methodological innovations for a better representation of soils in hydrological models;
new data available for input in spatially distributed hydrological models;
new proxies and pedotransfer functions for deriving input parameters in hydrological models;
new measurement or estimation methods and data on soil water content, soil surface status, and soil infiltration/runoff partition;
a better understanding of the links between soil structure and soil hydraulic properties;
knowledge of the soil–plant continuum and improvements in our understanding of the evapotranspiration process;
the role of soil chemical and biological processes in soil hydraulic properties;
spatial and temporal variability of soil hydraulic properties;
long-term evolution of soils and their associated hydric properties, and their impact on hydrological processes;
deciphering the impacts of soil management on hydrology;
the role of soils in ecosystem services associated with water.

Prof. Yves Coquet
Dr. Isabelle Cousin
Dr. Laurent Lassabatere
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

soil hydraulic properties
soil water content
soil structure
soil surface
infiltration
evapotranspiration
hydrological models
soil management
heterogeneous soils
non-equilibrium processes

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 943 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pore Size Distribution Derived from Soil–Water Retention Characteristic Curve as Affected by Tillage Intensity

by Jalal David Jabro and William Bart Stevens

Water 2022, 14(21), 3517; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14213517 - 3 Nov 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3243

Abstract

Tillage practices can influence the pore size distribution (PSD) of the soil, affecting soil physical and hydraulic properties as well as processes that are essential for plant growth, soil hydrology, environmental studies and modeling. A study was conducted to assess the effect of no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) on PSD derived from soil–water retention curves (SWRCs) using the van Genuchten’s equation (vG) at 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm depths in a sandy loam soil. Values of PSD or slopes (C(h)) were calculated from the SWRCs by differentiating the vG equation. Soil water retention curves under both tillage systems and within two depths were determined using the evaporation HYPROP method. The vG equation was well fitted to measured soil water retention data. The diameter (D) of soil pores retaining water at various matric suctions (|h|) of water in soils was calculated by the capillary equation. A significant effect of tillage on soil PSD was observed in the macro-pore (D > 1000 μm, at |h| < 3 hPa) and meso-pore (D between 10 and 1000 μm, at |h| between 300 and 3 hPa) size classes, while the micro-pores size class (D < 10 μm, at |h| > 300 hPa) was unaffected at the 0–15 and 15–30 cm depths. Larger values of C(h) or PSD in CT were associated with greater soil loosening induced by the CT operations and greater proportion of large pores (structural porosity) occurred in soils under CT compared to soils under NT. Macro-pore and meso-pore proportions were significantly greater in soils under CT than in soils under NT within both soil depths. The hydraulic parameters of the vG equation and its derivative function can be used to compare soil–water retention curves and pore size distributions between soils under untilled and tilled conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Science and Hydrology: Water at the Crossroad of Two Disciplines)

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15 pages, 3389 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Microplastic Pollution Change Soil-Water Dynamics? Results from Controlled Laboratory Experiments

by Farhad Jazaei, Tareq Jamal Chy and Maryam Salehi

Water 2022, 14(21), 3430; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14213430 - 28 Oct 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3951

Abstract

Current knowledge about the potential impacts of microplastics (MP) on vadose zone hydrology is scarce. The primary goal of this study was to address some of the limitations of previous research by developing more reliable and conclusive statistical evidence to better understand whether MP pollution can potentially cause hydrological impacts. We examined the effects of MP shape (type), as well as the magnitude of pollution (MP/soil mass ratio, λ) on water holding capacity (WHC) and bare soil water evaporation (ER) of fine sand, under controlled laboratory conditions. Three different shapes (types) of MP—fiber (polyacrylic), strand (polymethyl methacrylate), and pellet (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), with six environmentally relevant MP concentration levels (MP/soil mass ratio), all ≤1.5%, were studied. Statistical regressions and non-parametric analyses of variance (i.e., Kruskal–Wallis analysis) indicate that MP pollution has a substantial potential to change WHC and late-stage evaporation, even at relatively low MP concentrations, but has minimal impacts on early stage evaporation of the studied fine sand. The magnitude of the impacts depends on individual MP shape (type) and concentration, connoting those MP impact mechanisms are complex. These findings suggest that the global issue of growing soil–MP pollution should be regarded as a concerning environmental and water resources stressor that could potentially cause widespread environmental change by altering soil-water dynamics at the watershed scale. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Science and Hydrology: Water at the Crossroad of Two Disciplines)

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16 pages, 1567 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Transport Behavior of RB5 Dye in Alluvial Soil in the Northeast of Brazil

by Adriana Thays Araújo Alves, Artur Paiva Coutinho, Vitor Hugo de Oliveira Barros, Laurent Lassabatere, Severino Martins dos Santos Neto, José Romualdo de Sousa Lima and Antonio Celso Dantas Antonino

Water 2022, 14(7), 1000; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14071000 - 22 Mar 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2095

Abstract

The textile industry generates a large volume of chemically diversified effluents containing, among other compounds, dyes. Untreated wastes are contaminants to surface water, soil, and groundwater. In this aspect, various studies have explored the issue of contamination of alluvial soils in the Alto Capibaribe region, northeast of Brazil, due to local textile activity. This region, inserted into the Brazilian semiarid region, suffers from water scarcity, and there is a need for rural communities to use alluvial formations for water supply. The simulation of solute transport is a fundamental tool for understanding the environmental performance and risks associated with contamination by textile dyes. Transport parameters that directly influence pollutant dynamics in sedimentary environments are characterized. This study evaluated the retention and mobility of the dye Remazol Black 5 (RB5) in two superficial layers of alluvial soil from Alto Capibaribe to obtain transport parameters. In the laboratory, tests of mobility in soil columns with RB5 dye (concentration of the 25 mg L⁻¹) and KBr tracer (concentration of the 35.7 g L⁻¹) solutions were conducted. The CDE and two-region models were used to model the KBr experimental transport data, and the two-site model was used to model the RB5 experimental transport data. Physical non-equilibrium was found in the soils for KBr transport, and the two-region model adequately modeled the experimental breakthrough curves (BTCs). For the transport of RB5, the results showed a chemical non-equilibrium, and the two-site model was adequate to model the experimental BTCs. The results indicate that the surface layer is most responsible for the retention of RB5, where the RB5 solution was less mobile than in the lower layer. Both layers showed low retention and high mobility for RB5, indicating that the RB5 dye in the region may contaminate groundwater. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Science and Hydrology: Water at the Crossroad of Two Disciplines)

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13 pages, 3105 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Soil Bulk Density and Moisture Content on the Physico-Mechanical Properties of Paddy Soil in Plough Layer

by Kan Zheng, Jian Cheng, Junfang Xia, Guoyang Liu and Lei Xu

Water 2021, 13(16), 2290; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162290 - 21 Aug 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5371

Abstract

For paddy-upland rotation areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the paddy soil has undesired physico-mechanical properties of tillage during the dry season. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of soil bulk density and moisture content on the physico-mechanical properties of paddy soil in the plough layer. The bulk density and moisture content were selected as experimental factors, and the cohesion, tangential adhesion, plasticity index, and soil swelling rate were chosen as experimental indices from physico-mechanical properties of paddy soil in the plough layer. The experimental factors were quantitatively analyzed to explore the change characteristics of the physico-mechanical properties of paddy soil in the plough layer. Conclusions were obtained that show that when the bulk density increased in the range of 1 to 1.6 g·cm⁻³, the cohesion, tangential adhesion, plasticity index, and swelling rate of paddy soil increased in different degrees. Between 15% and 35% moisture content, the cohesion increased first and then decreased with the increase of moisture content, while the peak cohesion value occurred at the moisture content of 20%. Moisture content was positively correlated with tangential adhesion and negatively correlated with soil swelling rate. This study provides a reference for the regulation of paddy soil tillability in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Science and Hydrology: Water at the Crossroad of Two Disciplines)

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19 pages, 43759 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Clay Content on Pore Structure Characteristics of Marine Soft Soil

by Wencan Jiao, Dong Zhou and Yetian Wang

Water 2021, 13(9), 1160; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091160 - 22 Apr 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3695

Abstract

This study investigates the pore structure characteristics of a marine soft soil of the Beibu Gulf, Guangxi Province, China and its variation with clay content. Pore-size distribution was measured by Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and analyzed based on fractal theory. The analysis of the results relies on the distinction of several types of pores: micropores, small pores, mesopores and macropores, separated by the critical pore diameters of 0.02 μm, 0.18 μm and 0.78 μm, respectively. Mesopores and small pores were dominant, accounting for more than 75% of the total pore volume. Small pore volume increases with clay content at the expense of the mesopore volume. Between 22.31% and 32.31% clay, the connectivity of pores improves with clay content, while the tortuosity of pores increases from 22.31% to 32.31% of clay and then decreases between 32.31% and 37.31% clay. Marine soft soil in the Beibu Gulf is characterized by multiple fractal dimensions. Macropores had a large (close to 3) fractal dimension, independent of clay content. Mesopores and small pores had a smaller fractal dimension comprised between 2.1 and 2.4, while the fractal dimension of micropores did not exceed 1.5. The fractal dimension of mesopores and micropores are influenced significantly by the clay content. The study of the porosity of the marine soft soil of the Beibu Gulf could serve as a useful basis for the prediction of its hydraulic properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Science and Hydrology: Water at the Crossroad of Two Disciplines)

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26 pages, 4953 KiB

Open AccessArticle

SHETRAN and HEC HMS Model Evaluation for Runoff and Soil Moisture Simulation in the Jičinka River Catchment (Czech Republic)

by Vesna Đukić and Ranka Erić

Water 2021, 13(6), 872; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13060872 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4665

Abstract

Due to the improvement of computation power, in recent decades considerable progress has been made in the development of complex hydrological models. On the other hand, simple conceptual models have also been advanced. Previous studies on rainfall–runoff models have shown that model performance depends very much on the model structure. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the use of a complex hydrological model leads to more accurate results or not and to analyze whether some model structures are more efficient than others. Different configurations of the two models of different complexity, the Système Hydrologique Européen TRANsport (SHETRAN) and Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS), were compared and evaluated in simulating flash flood runoff for the small (75.9 km²) Jičinka River catchment in the Czech Republic. The two models were compared with respect to runoff simulations at the catchment outlet and soil moisture simulations within the catchment. The results indicate that the more complex SHETRAN model outperforms the simpler HEC HMS model in case of runoff, but not for soil moisture. It can be concluded that the models with higher complexity do not necessarily provide better model performance, and that the reliability of hydrological model simulations can vary depending on the hydrological variable under consideration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Science and Hydrology: Water at the Crossroad of Two Disciplines)

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