How water moves in a water repellent sandy soil

Abstract

The dynamics of fingered flow in a water repellent sandy soil was studied in the field by sampling 10 vertical trenches in a 1-year cycle. In dry soil, fingers were formed in those places in the top layer which have the lowest degree of potential water repellent. The finger diameters varied roughly between 10 and 50 cm depending on the sequence of weather conditions. The fingers were wet in the topsoil and increasingly drier with depth. In none of the trenches sampled were there any serious indications of finger merger. The actual water repellent soil volumes between fingers were excluded from the transport of water and solutes for at least several hours. The temporal and spatial variability of these actual water repellent soil volumes is illustrated and evaluated with respect to simulation model development.