Oxygen Uptake and Transport in Soils: Analysis of the Air-water Interfacial Area
1985
Skopp, J.
Aeration of soil influences root activity, microbial processes, and chemical reactions. Descriptions of this process have relied on macroscopic concepts which do not allow the incorporation of detailed theories of gas movement. The present study presents a microscopic approach to this problem. Equations are presented to describe the movement of gas. The following parameters are of importance in this theory: gas phase diffusion coefficient, air-water interfacial area, air-water transfer coefficient, volumetric water content, gas solubility in water, and gas concentration in solution. These parameters are indirectly dependent on total porosity, air-filled porosity, temperature, solute composition, or microbial activity. The solution to the governing equations suggests that air-water interfacial area is an important soil physical property which has a controlling influence on oxygen transport. The dependence upon soil moisture of air-water interfacial area and flux of gas through the soil surface is examined. The qualitative influence of soil texture on this dependence is also examined.
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