Water movement in unsaturated soils as influenced by gypsum

Abstract

Three soils varying in texture and exchangeable sodium were treated either with distilled water or with a gypsum solution of 10 or 30 m-equiv./l. concentration and their water-flow properties, diffusivity (D), capillary conductivity (K), and weighted mean diffusivity (D) determined. Invariably the treatment of soils with gypsum resulted in increased D and K, the increases being more pronounced near saturation and declining with desaturation. The soil with the highest clay content and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) responded most. For the three soils, at the end of the third wetting and draining cycle the highest increase in D and K varied from about 3 to 15 times while D increased by a factor of 2 to 7.5. Wetting and draining cycles resulted in decreased D for all soils when distilled water was used, but only for two soils when 10 or 30 m-equiv. solutions were used. In the soil most responding to gypsum D was slightly increased with increasing number of wetting and draining cycles when gypsum solutions were used. This was due probably to rebuilding of structure by cation exchange, which was lost by slaking and dispersion during the first wetting and draining cycle. The electrolyte concentration of flowing solution did not significantly affect the water flow properties provided that the slaking and dispersion were reduced by a solution of high concentration during the process of cation exchange. At the end of the third wetting and draining cycle, 30 m-equiv. solution gave about 1.7 times higher D compared to 10 m-equiv. for the high clay, high exchangeable sodium soil. This was probably because initial structural loss caused by the first wetting and draining with 10 m-equiv. was not fully regained during subsequent wetting and draining.