A comparison of morphological data and physical measurements of pore structures in milled peat stockpiles

Physical methods that examine water content and movement in soils are often based on assumptions that the soil is isotropic and homogeneous. For a non-cohesive, porous material such as milled peat, these assumptions are likely to be unrealistic. Soil morphology provides data that cannot be obtained...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inGeoderma Vol. 104; no. 1; pp. 61 - 73
Main Authors Mooney, S.J, Holden, N.M, Ward, S.M, Collins, J.F
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.11.2001
Elsevier
Subjects
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Image analysis
Milled peat
Pores
Soils
Structure
Surficial geology
Water movement
Ireland
Western Europe
Image analysis
Pores
Water movement
Structure
Milled peat
particulate matters
morphology
Europe
porosity
hydrodynamics
image analysis
hydraulic conductivity
physical methods
water content
spatial resolution
soils
peat
porous media
size distribution
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Physical methods that examine water content and movement in soils are often based on assumptions that the soil is isotropic and homogeneous. For a non-cohesive, porous material such as milled peat, these assumptions are likely to be unrealistic. Soil morphology provides data that cannot be obtained by physical methods, although such measurements are only relevant when applied to a soil in a physical context. Milled peat samples were collected for morphometric observations and physical measurements to determine if the two techniques were comparable with respect to selected characteristics. Porosity representations by both laboratory derivation and image analysis measurement illustrated that direct comparison was not straightforward. Problems with image analysis were generally associated with smaller sample sizes and the spatial resolution of the image. However, image analysis could be based on undisturbed sampling that was vital for a medium like milled peat where a significant hydrological discontinuity exists between the surface and sub-surface. The analysis presented enabled both the water characteristic and a surrogate for hydraulic conductivity to be determined from the collected images, and the evidence suggested that the values obtained were reliable.
ISSN:0016-7061
1872-6259
DOI:10.1016/S0016-7061(01)00056-8