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701-0535-00L 3 Credits BSC , MSC , NDS D-USYS , D-ERDW , D-BAUG
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Environmental Soil Physics/Vadose Zone Hydrology

Lecturers & Examiners: Dr. Peter Ulrich Lehmann Grunder, Prof. Dr. Andrea Carminati
VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:16:21

Abstract

The course provides theoretical and practical foundations for understanding and characterizing physical and transport properties of soils/ near-surface earth materials, and quantifying hydrological processes and fluxes of mass and energy at multiple scales.

Objective

Students are able to: -Characterize the different soils based on their key textural and structural properties. -Simulate and predict soil water retention and flow under varying environmental conditions and understand the key driving forces (capillarity, gravity, friction) and related water properties (surface tension and viscosity). -Predict soil hydraulic properties for varying soil textural classes. -Predict solute transport in soils for varying environmental conditions. -Predict energy balance and temperature dynamics in soils. -Predict conditions for plant water stress

Content

Week 1 (September 20): Introduction, content, structure of the course, objectives, bibliography, grading and evaluation; soil texture, particle size distribution, soil structure, soil surface area, porosity and bulk density Week 2 (September 27): Pore scale consideration (water in a single pore), pore sizes and shapes; surface tension; Young-Laplace equation; capillary rise; contact angle Week 3 (October 04): Friction and laminar flow; Hagen-Poiseuille’s law; Washburn equation; numerical lab (including report; report 1) Week 4 (October 11): Soil water content; soil water potential - The energy state of soil water; total water potential and its components; volumetric and gravimetric water contents; field capacity and wilting point Week 5 (October 18): Soil water characteristics - definitions and measurements; parametric models, fitting and interpretation, hysteresis; parameters) Week 6 (October 25): Saturated water flow in soils - Laminar flow in tubes (Poiseuille's Law); Darcy's Law, conditions and states of flow; permeability and hydraulic conductivity, measurement and theoretical concepts (Kozeny-Carman); effective conductivity; unsaturated hydraulic conductivity; Buckingham law. Unsaturated water flow in soils - Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity models and applications; Richards equation, Week 7 (November 01): Lab tour -demonstration of soil physical methods; lecture on HYPROP method; report on Hyprop data (report 2) Week 8 (November 08): Analytical description of unsaturated flow - steady state solutions for evaporation and infiltration; approximate solutions to infiltration (Green-Ampt, Philip); outlook on unstable and preferential flow Week 9 (November 15): Numerical solution of Richards equation – Using Hydrus1D for simulation of unsaturated flow; simulating HYPROP measurements (report 3) Week 10 (November 22): Energy balance and land atmosphere interactions - energy balance and heat flow; evapotranspiration, potential and actual evaporation, evaporation stages; thermal properties of soils Week 11 (November 29): Root water uptake and transpiration – Theory and mechanisms controlling root water uptake; hydraulic properties of rhizosphere; plant and stomatal conductance. Week 12 (November 06): Modeling root water uptake and transpiration; analytical approaches and modeling using Hydrus (report 4) Week 13 (December 13): Solute and gas transport in soils - Transport mechanisms of solutes in porous media; breakthrough curves; convection-dispersion equation; solutions for pulse and step solute application; parameter estimation. Week 14 (December 20): Summary, course synthesis, connections between the different topics, questions, old exam

Resources

Literature

Supplemental textbook (not mandatory) -Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics, by: D. Hillel

General Information

Language
English
Levels
BSC , MSC , NDS
Frequency
Yearly recurring

Examination

Type
end-of-semester examination
Mode
oral 30 minutes

Course Components

Type Title Time & Place Hours
lecture Environmental Soil Physics/Vadose Zone Hydrology
  • Wed 16:15-18:00 (CHN E 46)
2 h weekly
exercise Environmental Soil Physics/Vadose Zone Hydrology
  • Wed 18:15-19:00 (CHN E 46)
1 h weekly

Offered In