AI Article Synopsis
- - The study examines how water moves and redistributes in different soils using NMR relaxometry, highlighting that water enters micropores more slowly than macro- and mesopores.
- - It suggests that when soils dry, the collapse or reorientation of gel phases can close these micropores, meaning that re-wetting involves a swelling process that reopens them.
- - The research also notes that the process of opening micropores is temperature-dependent and could affect the slow absorption of contaminants into the soil, resembling a chemical reaction's activation energy.
Article Abstract
The kinetics of water uptake and redistribution in several soils and their components are studied using NMR relaxometry. Unlike the normal behavior observed in stable porous media, entry into micropores in the soil is a slow process as compared to entry into macro- and mesopores. This indicates that soils air-dried at ambient temperature include gel phases that have collapsed or reoriented, closing micropores, during drying. Wetting must then include the swelling processes that re-open micropores. This can even exhibit temperature dependence giving an "apparent activation energy" comparable to that of a chemical reaction, for example, ester hydrolysis. The processes of micropore opening may play a role in slow uptake of contaminants into soils.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es025967c | DOI Listing |
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