Time domain reflectometry (TDR) has been developed to an operational level for the measurement of soil water content during the past decade. Because it is able to provide fast, precise and nondestructive in situ measurements, it has become an alternative to the neutron scattering method, in particular for monitoring water content under field conditions. One of the major disadvantages of the neutron scattering technique is that, due to the relatively high sensitivity of the signal to factors other than water content, site‐specific calibration is usually required. In this paper a calibration curve for the TDR method is presented which is not restricted to specific soil conditions. The calibration is based on the dielectric mixing model of Dobson et al. (1985). Measurements of volumetric water content and dielectric number at eleven different field sites representing a wide range of soil types were used to determine the parameter of the model by weighted nonlinear regression. The uncertainty (root mean square error) of water content values calculated with the optimized calibration curve was estimated not to exceed 0.013 cm3/cm3. This value is comparable to the precision of the thermogravimetric method. From a sensitivity analysis it was determined that the temperature dependence of the TDR signal may have to be corrected to obtain optimum accuracy.

In a field experiment we investigated the efficiency of two hyperaccumulating species, four agricultural crop plants, and one woody crop, at phytoextraction of Zn, Cd, and Cu from a polluted calcareous soil. In addition, we examined the possibility to enhance the phytoextraction of these metals by application of nitrilotriacetate (NTA) and elemental sulfur (S 8 ) to the soil. Metal uptake by hyperaccumulating species was higher than that by crop species but was generally low in all treatments compared to results reported in the literature, maybe as a result of lower total and available soil metal concentrations. Soil amended with either S 8 or NTA increased the solubility (NaNO 3 -extraction) of Zn, Cd, and Cu ions by factors of 21, 58, and 9, respectively, but plant accumulation of these metals was only increased by a factor of 2-3. As a result, even the highest metal removal rates achieved in this study were still far from what would be required to make this technique practicable for the remediation of the Dornach field site. To extract for example 50% of the total Cu, Zn, or Cd present in this soil within 10 years, plant metal concentrations of 10.000 mg kg -1 Cu or 10.000 mg kg -1 Zn or 45 mg kg -1 Cd would be required at a biomass production of 7.8 t ha -1 , or 10t ha -1 , or 10t ha -1 , respectively, assuming a linear decrease in soil metals.

A chloride tracer was applied to the surface of a vegetable field and then leached downward by rainfall and irrigation. Tracer concentrations in a vertical two‐dimensional region down to a depth of 2.4 m were monitored with suction cups that, were installed horizontally from a tunnel. The uniformly applied tracer pulse split into a slowly moving main pulse and a series of fast pulses. The first of the fast pulses reached a depth of 2.2 m after an infiltration of just 31 mm of natural rainfall, whereas the peak of the main pulse was still at a depth of 0.84 m by the end of the experiment after an infiltration of 0.853 m. The movement of the main pulse can be described by a convection‐dispersion process in a homogeneous medium, provided that time is replaced by cumulative infiltration. However, the values of the parameters that produce a maximum agreement between the model and the observed main pulse have no physical basis, and consequently prediction of solute movement, based on measurements of soil properties, is not possible.

No abstract

No abstract