CHAPTER I. Electrical properties of solutions and porous media. During our life ...... cation exchange capacity (CEC), base saturation (BS), phosphorous content (P2O5), and potassium content ...... Buchan, G.D., K.S. Grewal, and A.B. Robson.
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ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF SOILS Ph.D. dissertation (modified) of Larisa Pozdnyakova defended in December 1999 in the Department of Renewable Resources, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
1999 by Larisa A. Pozdnyakova © 2003-2005 by Landviser, Inc. http://www.landviser.com All rights reserved
Pozdnyakova, Larisa, Electrical Properties of Soils, Ph.D., Department of Renewable Resources, December, 1999. In this study, thorough analysis is conducted for soil electrical properties, i.e. electrical resistivity, conductivity, and potential. Soil electrical properties are the parameters of natural and artificially created electrical fields in soils and influenced by distribution of mobile electrical charges, mostly inorganic ions, in soils. Distributions of electrical charges and properties in various soil profiles were shown to be results of the soil- forming processes. Soil properties influencing the density of mobile electrical charges were found to be exponentially related with electrical resistivity and potential based on Boltzmann’s law of statistical thermodynamics. Relationships were developed between electrical properties and other soil physical and chemical properties, such as texture, stone content, bulk density, water content, cation exchange capacity, salinity, humus content, and base saturation measured in-situ and in soil samples. Geophysical methods of vertical electrical sounding, four-electrode probe, non-contact electromagnetic profiling, and self-potential were modified for measuring soil electrical properties and tested in different soil studies. The proposed methods are extremely efficient, reliable, and non-disturbing. Compared with conventional methods of soil analysis, the electrical geophysical methods allowed evaluating groundwater table, salt content, depth and thickness of soil horizons, polluted or disturbed layers in soil profiles, and stone content with an estimation error
