Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wtssw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-11T13:21:13.198Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measurement of the suction of soil water by Portland stone absorbers calibrated by a new method for determining vapour pressures near to saturation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. L. C. Davidson  and
R. K. Schofield
A. L. C. Davidson
Affiliation:
Soil Physics Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts
R. K. Schofield
Affiliation:
Soil Physics Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. A filter apparatus cannot be relied upon to give a correct reading of the suction of soil water when this exceeds about 400 cm. of water.

2. Owing to the contribution of dissolved matter to the freezing-point depression the suction in a soil of normal low salt content can only be obtained from the freezing-point depression with reasonable accuracy when it exceeds about 4000 cm. of water (freezing-point depression greater than 0–3° C).

3. Suctions in the range 400 to 4000 cm. have been measured with the aid of calibrated absorbers consisting of thin plates of Portland stone.

4. The plates were calibrated up to 1000 cm. by the application of suction through a filter, and above 1000 cm. by measuring the vapour-pressure depression by a new technique.

5. When applied direct to soil, the new vapour-pressure technique is more reliable than the freezing-point method, and can be applied to materials which do not exhibit a well-defined freezing-point.

6. A suitable soil was washed free from salts and brought to 1000 cm. suction on a filter. Measurements of the vapour-pressure depression and the freezing-point depression checked well with the thermodynamic formulae.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , October 1942 , pp. 413 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1942

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Botelho da Costa, J. V. (1938). J. Agric. Sci. 28, 654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouyoucos, G. J. & Mccool, M. M. (1916). Tech. Bull. Mich. Agric. Exp. Sta. no. 31.Google Scholar
Bouyoucos, G. J. & Mick, A. H. (1940). Tech. Bull. Mich. Agric. Exp. Sta. no. 172.Google Scholar
Briggs, L. J. & Mclane, J. W. (1907). Bull. U.S. Bur. Soils, no. 45.Google Scholar
Briggs, L. J. & Shantz, H. L. (1912). Proc. Amer. Soc. Agron. 3, 250.Google Scholar
Briggs, L. J. & Shantz, H. L. (1912). Boi. Oaz. 53, 20, 229.Google Scholar
Briggs, L. J. & Shantz, H. L. (1912). Bull. U.S. Bur. Pl. Ind. no. 230.Google Scholar
Gaedner, R. (1937). Soil Sci. 43, 277.Google Scholar
Haines, W. B. (1927). J. Agric. Sci. 17, 264.Google Scholar
Haines, W. B. (1930). J. Agric. Sci. 20, 97.Google Scholar
Hardy, M. A. (1923). J. Agric. Sci. 13, 355.Google Scholar
Hardy, M. A. (1928). Soil Sci. 24, 71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Livingston, B. E. (1906). Publ. Carneg. Instn, no. 50.Google Scholar
Livingston, B. E. & Koketsu, R. (1920). Soil Sci. 9, 469.Google Scholar
Mason, T. G. (1922). Bull. West Indies, 9, 137.Google Scholar
Mathieu, G. (1933). Univ. Clermont, Thesis to the Faculty of Science.Google Scholar
Puri, A. N., Crowther, E. M. & Keen, B. A. (1925). J. Agric. Sci. 15, 68.Google Scholar
Schaffer, K. J., Wallace, J. & Garwood, F. (1937). Trans. Faraday Soc. 33, 723.Google Scholar
Schofield, R. K. (1935). Trans. Third Int. Congr. Soil Sci. 2, 37.Google Scholar
Schofield, R. K. & Botelho da Costa, (1935). Trans. Third Int. Congr. Soil Sci. 1, 6.Google Scholar
Schofield, R. K. & Botelho da Costa, (1938). J. Agric. Sci. 28, 644.Google Scholar
Shull, C. A. (1916). Bot. Gaz. 62, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, J. D. (1927). Plant Physiol. 2, 385.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. D. & Livingston, B. E. (1932). Plant Physiol. 7, 1.Google Scholar