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Soil-Water Hysteresis Measured in a Sandy Loam and Compared with the Hysteretic Domain Model¹

ABSTRACT

A uniformly packed column of sandy loam soil was subjected to a controlled series of wetting and drying changes. Soil water contents were obtained from gamma ray attenuation information while simultaneous tensiometer pressures at five locations along the column were measured by a pressure transducer. In addition, the flows of the water solution to and from the column were read in burettes. The data from the tensiometers demonstrated a high degree of uniformity throughout the soil. Analysis of the primary scanning curves of the water content versus pressure head showed that the independent domain theory of hysteresis is an inadequate model for both wetting and drying curves. A refinement to the theory could not be tested with these data. Following consolidation during the initial drying phase there was no measurable hysteresis in the water content-hydraulic conductivity relationship.

¹ Contribution no. 297. Soil Research Institute, Canada Deaprtment of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ontario. Presented before Div. S-1, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 11, 1968, New Orleans, La.

² Soil Physicist, Soil Research Institute, CDA, Ottawa.

Received for publication February 13, 1969. Accepted for publication May 9, 1969.