Characterization of preferential flow in undisturbed, structured soil columns using a vertical TDR probe

摘要

Rapid movement of agricultural chemicals through soil to groundwater via preferential flow pathways is one caused of water contamination. Previous studies have shown that time domain reflectometry(TDR)could be used to characterize solute transport in soil. However, previous studies have only scarcely addressed preferential flow. This study presents an extended application of TDR for determining preferential flow properties. A TDR method was tested in carefully controlled laboratory experiments using 20-cm long and 12-cm diameter undisturbed, structured soil columns.