This book is an operational laboratory and field handbook that provides a set of standard methods that are cost-effective and well suited to land resource survey. It provides practical guidelines on the soil physical measurements across a range of soils, climates and land. The book uses straightforward descriptions for each method (including common pitfalls) that can be applied by people with a rudimentary knowledge of soil physics. It includes guidelines on the interpretation of results and its integration with land resource assessment. The eBook is available from eRetailers (e.g. Apple Store, Google Play) or, with institutional access, through CSIRO Publishing [387 pages]. #
Contents:
Preliminaries:
Soil physical measurement for land evaluation
Field sampling
Pore space and water retention:
Bulk density and pore space retention
The soil water characteristic
Water repellence
Hydraulic conductivity:
Selecting a method for hydraulic conductivity
The twin-ring method for measuring saturated conductivity and sorptivity in the field
Field measurements of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using tension infiltrometers
Field measurements of saturated conductivity using the well permeameter
Laboratory measurement of hydraulic conductivity
Watertable depth:
Watertable depth and piezometers
Dispersion, aggregation and particle size analysis:
Emerson dispersion test
Clay dispersion
Measurement of size distributions of dry soil aggregates
Non-dispersed particle size analysis
Particle size analysis
Soil shrinkage and atterberg limits:
Soil shrinkage
Liquid and plastic limits
Soil strength:
Measurement of soil strength using penetrometers
Modulus of rupture
Pedotransfer functions:
Estimating soil physical properties using more readily available data
Applications:
Estimation of drainage flux below the root zone in the B horizon of a red dermosol
Integrating biophysical modelling and soil physical properties for quantitative land evaluation
Soil water balance of three temperate pasture systems in Southern Australia
Particle size and dispersion measurements in urban erosion risk assessment
Assessing site suitability for an effluent-irrigated plantation
Estimation of the RUSLE soil erodibility factor
Estimation of the self-mulching characteristics of surface soils