Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The minutes of the annual meeting and a complete copy of the annual report, including all 2002 publications, may be found on the W-188 website at: http://www.soilsci.ndsu.nodak.edu/w188

Objective 1: To study relationships between flow and transport properties or processes and the spatial and temporal scales at which these are observed. Accomplishments: UC-Davis studied flow or transport processes across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Various numerical studies demonstrated that scaling theory and inverse modeling can be applied in concert, whereby scale-appropriate and effective soil hydraulic functions were optimized. Field trials by UC-Riverside researchers included development of best management practices for nitrogen fertilization of turfgrass (a major source of urban contamination of ground water) to minimize leaching losses under irrigated conditions. . Other field research included 17 field trials over a range of soil series and textures investigated stability theory for predicting three dimensional flow distribution. Concerns for environmental contamination and public health led USDA-USSL scientists to study processes and mechanisms that affect pesticide emissions from fields via volatilization. A model was developed for methyl bromide that included chemical transport in the vapor phase. Outcomes show that combinations of plastic vapor barriers and soil amendments can be effective in reducing pesticide vapor emissions. USDA-USSL scientists studied release behavior of pathogens (oo cyst) from animal waste. Their conception model predicts pathogen numbers based on dissolved manure concentration, initial pathogen concentration, and release efficiency of pathogens. These models benefit the public and agricultural agencies by predicting potential pollution for farming operations. This research is needed to develop management criteria to control soil and water contamination. Other significant research under this objective included: USDA-USSL scientists demonstrated that fluid flow and chemical transport occurs regularly in the capillary fringe (CF) including both vertical and horizontal flow velocities. This work suggests that CF may be much more significant in influencing the natural geochemical and microbial conditions in the transition zone between unsaturated and saturated groundwater flow. USDA-ARS CO scientists investigated the relationship between spatial soil water and crop yields and within-field variability related to landscape attributes, finding that predictions of spatial patterns of crop yield in semi-arid regions from topographic information are a prerequisite for ongoing research to aid site-specific land management decisions. Delaware researchers studied soil characteristics such as organic matter (OM) and layered double hydroxides (LDH) effects on virus retention and transport. The collective results indicated that OM-virus interactions were dependent on the nature of the OM (i.e. electrostatic vs hydrophobic) and LDHs were effective sorbents under most environmental conditions. DE , WSU, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) studied Cs transport as affected by soil colloids. Results indicated that under otherwise identical conditions, the efficiency of colloid-facilitated Cs transport was greater in contaminated than uncontaminated transport media. University of MN studies investigated unstable flow in water repellent soils. Research at the NV Desert Research Institute centered on groundwater contamination from large gold ore heap leach facilities. Large and small gravity-pan lysimeters were used to measure infiltration collection efficiency and found no difference due to pan size despite evidence that large fractions of macropore flow had occurred. Results indicated that leaching efficiency of gold production spoils was significantly below that desired. North Dakota State University continued an 11-year study, which monitors NO3 N concentrations in subsurface water in a center-pivot irrigated field. They found as soil moisture increased through irrigation, the availability and mobility of N increased resulting in a flush of nitrate through the soil profile and the peak nitrate concentration decreased as the observation went deeper into the profile. NDSU investigated fate and transport of bioactive hormones and antibiotics from livestock waste. Hormones such as testosterone have potential to move through organic-rich portions of soil and contaminate groundwater. PNNL have developed several new approaches for quantifying spatial and temporal heterogeneities affecting water and solute transport in field soils. Investigating simulated tank leaks, researchers obtained data sets elucidating new theories and models of vadose zone transport. These approaches were successfully applied to a variety of infiltration experiments.
OBJECTIVE 2: To develop and evaluate instrumentation and methods of analysis for characterization of flow and transport at different scales
University of Arizona continued ongoing flow and transport studies at the Maricopa research center using bromide tracers. Various methodologies were used to postulate, compare, and rank conceptual models of unsaturated flow and transport under three different textural layering. Other significant accomplishments under this objective included:
UC-Davis used a combined TDR-tensiometer probe that could be used to determine soil water retention curves in both laboratory and field conditions by including a coiled TDR probe around the porous cup of a standard tensiometer. The advantages was the simultaneous measurement of soil water matric potential at the same spatial location within the same soil volume. A new method to study substrate Ployacrylamide (PAM) was devised by UC Riverside scientists using a modified method of N-bromination of amide groups. This technique will serve as a tool to improve PAM applications to soil and facilitate PAM-related research. Colorado State University is applying a continuous flow method for rapid measurement of soil hydraulic conductivity and moisture retention functions including hysteresis. This new method allows estimation of wetting/draining hydraulic conductivity and moisture retention functions over the entire range of plant available soil water. University of Idaho and University of Connecticut collaborated on analytical solutions for prediction of sample scale unsaturated hydraulic conductivity derived from pore-scale processes in matrix and structural pore domains. withgreat potential for prediction of permeability of clay sand mixtures. Work is continuing. Kansas State University working with CSRIO Land and Water characterized the effective measurement scale for thermal sensors. They developed a method that allows application of spatial weighting functions used to quantify thermal properties including functions for volumetric heat capacity as measured by dual-probe heat-pulse (DPHP). Montana State University and Sweden evaluated a new shaft-mounted TDR probe. The new design may be used to measure both dielectric constant and bulk electrical conductivity of soils and is extremely useful in monitoring fertilizer status, solute distribution and transport, and other processes important to agricultural activity. Montana State and University of Connecticut scientists continued research evaluating variation in soil water characteristics of uniform, homogenized soil samples within and among laboratories. . DRI Nevada research focused on approaches to analyze site conditions and characterize hydraulic properties in both saturated and unsaturated media using natural soil water tracers (i.e. chlorides and nitrates). USDA-CPRL (Bushland, TX) are estimating hydraulic properties in soils using a disc infiltrometer for in situ measurements of infiltration used conjointly with TDR soil water measurements. Measurement with diagonally placed probes (30 degrees from horizontal) minimized errors associated with assuming a uniform weighting of water content within the sampling volume. USDA-CPRL has an ongoing comparison of soil moisture sensors at Bushland. In particular, they are evaluating alternatives to the neutron probe by testing the Sentek EnviroSCAN, Sentek Diviner 2000, Trime T3 tube probe, Delta-T Profiler, and a sheathed TDR probe with the neutron probe. Utah State University, University of Connecticut and the Space Dynamic Laboratory worked on the development of a gas diffusion system for the International Space Station for potential use in a bioregenerative life support system. Washington State University is developing a freezing technique that will be able to determine soil moisture characteristics in porous media. PNNL WA developed a vadose zone water flux meter consisting of a buried wick-lysimeter that passively controls the tension at the base of the lysimeter. The resolution of the fluxmeter is 0.1 mm of water and will be commercially available in 2003.
OBJECTIVE 3: To apply scale-appropriate methodologies for the management of soil and water resources.
UC-Riverside conducted studies to identify mitigation practices to improve water quality of surface runoff from commercial nurseries. Vegetative filter strips consisting of Canna lilies in concrete lined channels proved very effective in reducing N content of waters leaving the nursery. Other research included:
UC Davis inversely applied models to obtain effective soil hydraulic properties at widely different spatial scales. They utilized scaling factors to estimate hydraulic properties in water district scales of square mile size. Iowa State and USDA Tilth Lab have collaborated on a study of three methods for determining corn yield potential zones from 6 years of data. The methods included: cluster analysis of multiple year yield data, cluster analysis of easily measured field attributes, and multiple regression analysis of the field attributes. All three methods were effective and highlighted the importance of landscape position and in delineating areas of similar yield potential. They are also evaluating the use of the cluster analysis to identify effective N management zones within fields. Montana State University researchers used four 25 to 60 ha farm fields to evaluate the relationship between topography (digital elevation models) and soil water content (neutron probe). They regressed compound topographic index (CTI) against soil water content and could find no consistent pattern for regions across sites for a given soil depth. They concluded that more location-specific soil, climate, and terrain information will be required to reliably predict spatial soil water status within farmers fields. MT, MN, SD, and ND collaborated on a study of the effectiveness of nutrient management zone determination methods for the Northern Plain agriculture. An on-farm replicated study evaluated three different methods of nutrient management (uniform application, variable rate application based on bare soil imaging, and variable rate based on cluster analysis). Cluster analysis showed spatial patterns that could then be used to develop nutrient management zones within fields. This approach will allow farmers to more precisely apply nutrients for optimum yields avoiding over application. PNNL studied interactions between microbial dynamics and transport processes in soils that have applied applications such as wastewater treatment, bioremediation, and oilfield recovery operations. University of Wyoming studied surfactant enhances remediation of denser-than water nonaquaous phase liquids (DNAPL) using stochastic analysis of soil spatial variability and heterogeneity. Randomly generated permeability fields were incorporated into the UTCHEM model to simulate DNAPL transport in heterogeneous media and stochastic analysis conducted based on the results. The study would provide useful information to design strategies for the characterization and remediation of nonaquaous phase liquid contaminated soils with spatial variability and herterogeneity.

Abbasi, F., J.
imůnek, M. Th. van Genuchten, J. Feyen, F. J. Adamsen, D. Hunsaker, T. S. Strelkoff and P. Shouse, 2002. Overland water flow and solute transport: Model development and field data analysis. J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, (In press).


Abriola, L. M., D. M. OCarroll, S. A. Bradford, and T. J. Phelan. 2002. Compositional effects on interfacial properties in contaminated systems: Implications for organic liquid migration and recovery. XIV International Conference on Computational Methods in Water Resources, Delft, The Netherlands.


Ahuja, L.R., and Ma, L. 2002. Parameterization of agricultural system models: Current issues and techniques. In: Ahuja, L.R., Ma, L. and Howell, T.A. (eds.) Agricultural System Models in Field Research and Technology Transfer. CRC Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. p. 273-316.


Ahuja, L.R., Ma, L. and Howell, T.A. 2002. Whole system integration and modeling: Essential to agricultural science and technology in the 21st century. In: Ahuja, L.R., Ma, L. and Howell, T.A. (eds.) Agricultural System Models in Field Research and Technology Transfer. CRC Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. p. 1-8.


Ahuja, L.R., T.R. Green, R.H. Erskine1, L. Ma, J.C. Ascough II, G.H. Dunn, M.J. Shaffer, and A. Martinez. 2002. Topographic analysis, scaling and models to evaluate spatial/temporal variability of landscape processes and management. In: Ahuja, L.R., Ma, L., and Howell, T.A. (Eds), Agricultural System Models in Field Research and Technology Transfer. CRC Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. p. 265-272.


Al-Jabri, S. A., R. Horton, D. B. Jaynes, and A. Gaur. 2002. Field determination of soil hydraulic and chemical transport properties. Soil Sci. 167:353-368.


Al-Jabri, S.A., R. Horton, and D.B. Jaynes. 2002. A point source method for rapid estimation of soil hydraulic and chemical transport properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66:12-18.


Allaire, S.E., Yates, S.R., Ernst, F.F. and Gan, J. 2002. Dynamic 2-D system for measuring VOC volatilization and movement in soils. J. Environ. Qual., 31:1079-1087.


Bachmann, J., R. Horton, S.A. Grant, and R.R. van der Ploeg. 2002. Temperature dependence of water retention curves for wettable and water repellent soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66:44-52.


Bittelli, M., Flury, M. and Campbell, G. S., 2003. A thermo-dielectric analyzer to measure the freezing and moisture characteristic of porous media. Water Resour. Res. (In press).


Blicker, P.B., B.E. Olson, and J.M. Wraith. 2003. Water use and water use efficiency of the invasive Centaurea maculosa and three native grasses. Plant Soil (In press)


Bradford, S. A., and J. Schijven. 2002. Release of Cryptosporidium and Giardia from dairy calf manure: Impact of solution salinity. Environ. Sci. & Technol. 36:3916-3923.


Bradford, S. A., M. Bettahar, J.
imůnek, and M. Th. van Genuchten. 2002a. Transport and fate of colloids in physically heterogeneous porous media. International Workshop on "Colloids and colloid-facilitated transport of contaminants in soils and sediments" Tjele, Denmark.


Bradford, S. A., J.
imůnek, M. Bettahar, M. Th. van Genuchten, and S. R. Yates. 2002b. Experimental and modeling studies of colloid attachment, straining, and exclusion in saturated porous media. International Workshop on "Colloids and colloid-facilitated transport of contaminants in soils and sediments", Tjele, Denmark.


Bradford, S. A., S. R. Yates, M. Bettahar, and J.
imůnek. 2002c. Physical factors affecting the transport and fate of colloids in saturated porous media. Water Resour. Res. (In press).


Butters, G.L., and DuChateau, P., 2002. Continuous flow method for rapid measurement of soil hydraulic properties. I. Experimental considerations. Vadose Zone J. 1:239-251.


Casey, F.X.M., G. L. Larsen, H. Hakk, and J
imůnek. 2002. Fate and transport of 17b-Estradiol in soil-water systems, Environ. Sci. & Technol. (Accepted).
Casey, F.X.M., and N.E. Derby. 2002. Improved design for automated tension infiltrometer. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66: 64-67.


Casey, F.X.M., N.E. Derby, R.E. Knighton, D.D. Steele, and E.C. Stegman. 2002. Initiation of irrigation effects on temporal nitrate leaching. Vadose Zone J. 1:300-309.


Cassel Sharmasarkar, F., S. Sharmasarkar, L.J. Held, S.D. Miller, G.F. Vance, and R. Zhang. 2001. Agroeconomic analysis of drip irrigation for sugarbeet production. Agronomy J. 93:517-523.


Cassel Sharmasarkar, F., S. Sharmasarkar, S.D. Miller, G.F. Vance, and R. Zhang. 2001. Assessment of drip and flood irrigation on water and fertilizer use efficiencies for sugarbeets. Agricultural Water Management 46:241-251.


Cassel, D.K., O. Wendroth and D.R. Nielsen. 2000. Assessing spatial variability in an agricultural experiment station field: Opportunities arising from spatial dependence. Agron. J. 92:706-714.


Castiglione, P., and P.J. Shouse. 2003. The effect of the ohmic losses on TDR measurements of electrical conductivity. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.(In press).


Corwin D.L., S. R. Kaffka, J. D. Oster, J.W. Hopmans, Y. Mori, J. W. van Groenigen, C. van Kessel, and S. M. Lesch. 2003.Assessment and Field-scale Mapping of Soil Quality Properties of a Saline-sodic Soils. Geoderma. (In press).


Corwin, D.L., S.M. Lesch, P.J. Shouse, R. Soppe, and J.E. Ayars. 2002. Identifying soil properties that influence cotton yield using ECa-directed soil sampling. Agron. J. (In press).


Dane, J.H., and J.W. Hopmans. 2002. Chapter 2.9.4.2. Saturation-capillary pressure relationships. Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS). (In press).


Dane, J.H., and J.W. Hopmans. 2002. Soil Water Retention and Storage - Introduction. IN: Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 4. Physical Methods. (J.H. Dane and G.C. Topp, Eds.). Soil Science Society of America Book Series No. 5. Pages 671-674.


Dane, J.H., J.W. Hopmans, and M. Jalbert. 2002. Hydraulic conductivity. Encyclopedia of Soils. Rattan Lal (Ed.). Pg. 667-670..Marcel Dekker Inc.


Dane, J.H., J.W. Hopmans, N. Romano, J. Nimmo and K.A. Winfield. 2002. Soil Water Retention and Storage - Laboratory Methods. IN: Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 4. Physical Methods. (J.H. Dane and G.C. Topp, Eds.). Soil Science Society of America Book Series No. 5. Pages 675-720.


Das, B. S., R. S. Govindaraju, G. J. Kluitenberg, A. J. Valocchi, and J. M. Wraith. 2002. Theory and applications of time moment analysis to study the fate of reactive solutes in soil. p. 239-279. In R. S. Govindaraju (ed.) Stochastic methods in subsurface contaminant hydrology. ASCE Press. American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA.


David, O., Markstrom, S.L., Rojas, K.W., Ahuja, L.R., and Schneider, I.W. 2002. The object modeling system. In: Ahuja, L.R., Ma, L., and Howell, T.A. (eds.) Agricultural System Models in Field Research and Technology Transfer. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. p. 317-330.


Dinnes, D.L., D.L. Karlen, D.B. Jaynes, T.C. Kaspar, J.L. Hatfield, T.S. Colvin, and C.A. Cambardella. 2002. Nitrogen management strategies to reduce nitrate leaching in tile-drained Midwestern soils. Agron. J. 94:153-171.


Dinnes, D.L., Jaynes, D.B., Hatfield, J.L., Burkart, M.R., Parkin, T.B., Cambardella, C.A., Karlen, D.L., Colvin, T.S., Kaspar, T.C., and James, D.E. 2001. N management and hypoxia: A research focus of the USDA-ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory. Farm Bureau Members National Convention. p. 6-6.


Dinnes, D.L., Jaynes, D.B., Karlen, D.L., Meek, D.W., Cambardella, C.A., Colvin, T.S., and Hatfield, J.L. 2002. Surface water quality response to a nitrogen fertilizer BMP at the watershed scale. Soil and Water Conservation Society 2002 Conf. Indianapolis, IN July 13-17.


Dinnes, D.L., Jaynes, D.B., Kaspar, T.C., Colvin, T.S., Cambardella, C.A., and Karlen, D.L. 2001. Plant-soil-microbe N relationships in high residue management systems. p. 44-49. South Dakota No-Till Association Annual Conference, Aberdeen, SD, January 24-25.


Dungan, R., Gan, J. and Yates, S.R. 2002. Accelerated degradation of methyl isothiocyanate in soil. Water Air Soil Poll. (Accepted)


Dungan, R.S., Ibekwe, A.K. and Yates, S.R. Effect of propargyl bromide and 1,3-dichloropropene on microbial communities in an organically amended soil. FEMS Microb. Ecol. (Accepted)


Dungan, R.S., Yates, S.R. and Frankenberger, W.T. Volatilization and degradation of soil-applied dimethylselenide. J. Environ. Qual. (Accepted)


Ella, V. B., S. W. Melvin, R. S. Kanwar, L. C. Jones, R. Horton. 2002. Inverse three-dimensional groundwater modeling using the finite-difference method for recharge estimation in a glacial till aquitard. Trans. ASAE. Vol. 45:703715.


Ewing, R. P. and R. Horton. 2002. Diffusion in sparsely connected pore spaces: Temporal and spatial scaling. Water Resour. Res. 38:10.1029/2002WR001412.


Ewing, R. P. and R. Horton. 2003. Diffusion scaling in low connectivity porous media, CRC monograph Bridging Scales in Soil Physics (Ya. Pachepsky, ed.), pp 49-60.


Farahbakhshazad, N., Mclaughlin, D., Dinnes, D.L., Jaynes, D.B., and Li, C. 2002. A site-specific evaluation of a crop-denitrification/decomposition model based upon a US Midwestern row-crop field. 6th Int. Conf. on Precision Agriculture. Minneapolis, MN July 14-17.


Fares, A., L. R. Parsons, J.
imůnek, and M. Th. van Genuchten. 2001. Effects of emitter distribution patterns and soil type on water and solute distribution, Proceedings of the Florida Soil and Crop Sci. Soc.


Fares, A., L. R. Parsons, J.
imůnek, T. A. Wheaton, and K. T. Morgan. 2001 Simulated drip irrigation with different soil types, Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc.
Feng, G.L., J. Letey, L. Wu. 2002. The influence of two surfactants on infiltration into a water-repellent soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66:361-367.


Feng, G.L., L. Wu, and J. Letey. 2002. Evaluating aeration criteria by simultaneous measurement of oxygen diffusion rate and soil-water regime. Soil Sci. 167:495-503.

This is a partial list. A complete list can be found at:
http://www.soilsci.ndsu.nodak.edu/w188