Gel-conditioned barriers for water management of sandy soils

Abstract

A laboratory study was conducted to investigate the effect of gel-forming conditioner (Jalma) at rates of 0.0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8% at four depths of gel-conditioned barriers: 0-0.05, 0.10-0.15, 0.15-0.20 and 0.20-0.25 m, on infiltration, intermittent evaporation, water conservation and soil moisture distribution for calcareous sandy soil (Typic Torripsamments) at two moisture regimes. Addition of 0.8% Jalma on surface significantly increased the time required for 50 mm to infiltrate (tso) into the soil. However, with deeper subsurface barriers the rate of Jalma application had no significant affect on tso for the first cycle. Time required for 50 mm to infiltrate for any Jalma rate increased with the number of irrigation cycles due to cumulative increase of moisture of soil columns. The times required for 100 mm to infiltrate (tloo) increased with increased rate of Jalma application and decreased with the depth of the treated barrier. Surface treatment significantly reduced cumulative evaporation and thus increased the amount of water conserved (PWC). Subsurface Jalma-treated barriers promoted evaporation and hence reduced the amount of water conserved. Soil moisture profile of the columns showed that Jalma-treated barriers may be used to establish zones of maximum water storage at various depths in a sand profile.

Effects of Biochar and Synthetic Polymer on the Hydro-Physical Properties of Sandy Soils

“…The application of polymers with rates from 0.2% to 0.8% significantly increased CI; this behavior may be attributed to the swelling effect of the higher application of polymer. The same finding was reported using super absorbent polymer by [39].…”

Impact of Nanoparticles from Ball-Milled Date Palm Biochar on the Hydro-Physical Characteristics of Sandy Soils

“…Accordingly, the maximal soil moisture content was noticed in both the nano and macro-biochar 10 cm and 20 cm layers, as presented in the 10-cm amended layer (Figure 5A,B). These obtained results disclosed that adding macro and nano-biochar to sandy soil restricted the flow of soil water into the deep layer and improved soil water conservation, like the results of additional studies conducted before and that agreed with [11,38,39].…”

Development of a new long-term drought resilient soil water retention technology

“…Spatially distributed clay layers with low permeability within some highly permeable soils increase the retention of both soil water and nutrients (Hillel 2004). Clay mixed into surface horizons of sand soils (Al-Omran et al 1991;Ismail and Ozowa 2007) and incorporations of thin layers of clay water barriers located 15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 in) beneath sand soil surfaces (Saunders 1941;Mortland et al 1957;Chen and Qian 1984) provide modest improvements in soil water retention crop yield. However, applications of clay and silt materials in sandy soils are costly and create heterogeneous soils (Ismail and Ozowa 2007).…”