Vadose Zone Flow and Transport in Cracked Heavy Textured Soil

Abstract

Investigated were physical processes governing vadose zone water flow and solute transport in a heavy-textured crack-prone soil of the semiarid Canadian Prairies. Soil moisture, soil temperature, and relevant meteorological observations were recorded over a period of about two years. Environmental chloride and tritium concentrations in the soil water were determined. Analysis of the data indicates that during snow melt, water and solutes are flushed down rapidly via cracks and fissures in the root zone. The soil at these depths is still frozen during snow melt. In late spring after the entire soil profile thaws, water and solutes move downward by a diffusion dominant advective-diffusive flow mechanism. The chloride and tritium profiles obtained within the vadose zone support this argument. This conceptual model of the flow and transport processes is supported by calculations of advective and diffusive soil water flux from chloride profiles. Simulation of the tritium profile using a simple analytical model also gives very good agreement with measured data.