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For example, in geology, percolation refers to filtration of water through soil and permeable rocks. The water flows to recharge the groundwater in the water table and aquifers. In places where infiltration basins or septic drain fields are planned to dispose of substantial amounts of water, a percolation test is needed beforehand to determine ...
As a water molecule evaporates from the leaf's surface it pulls on the adjacent water molecule, creating a continuous water flow through the plant. [6] Two major factors influence the rate of water flow from the soil to the roots: the hydraulic conductivity of the soil and the magnitude of the pressure gradient through the soil.
In hydrology, throughflow, a subtype of interflow (percolation), is the lateral unsaturated flow of water in the soil zone, typically through a highly permeable geologic unit overlying a less permeable one. Water thus returns to the surface, as return flow, before or on entering a stream or groundwater.
Water moves in soil under the influence of gravity, osmosis and capillarity. [7] When water enters the soil, it displaces air from interconnected macropores by buoyancy, and breaks aggregates into which air is entrapped, a process called slaking. [8] The rate at which a soil can absorb water depends on the soil and its other conditions.
Once infiltrated, the water becomes soil moisture or groundwater. [12] A recent global study using water stable isotopes, however, shows that not all soil moisture is equally available for groundwater recharge or for plant transpiration. [13] Percolation: Water flows vertically through the soil and rocks under the influence of gravity.
Pores (the spaces that exist between soil particles) provide for the passage and/or retention of gasses and moisture within the soil profile.The soil's ability to retain water is strongly related to particle size; water molecules hold more tightly to the fine particles of a clay soil than to coarser particles of a sandy soil, so clays generally retain more water. [2]
Soil respiration without any additions of nutrients and substrates is called the basal soil respiration (BR). With the addition of nutrients (often nitrogen and phosphorus) and substrates (e.g. sugars), it is called the substrate-induced soil respiration (SIR). In both BR and SIR measurements, the moisture content can be adjusted with water.
Water balance. Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the vadose zone below plant roots and is often expressed as a flux to the water table ...