1.

Introduction

2.

Mechanical composition of mineral soil

2.1

Soil texture: Mechanical analysis ▪ Grain size distribution ▪ Textural classes

2.2

Soil structure

3.

Basic parameters of bulk soil

3.1

Macroscopic approach

3.2

Soil as a three-phase system

3.3

Standard values of bulk

4.

Soil water balance in the field

4.1

Water balance equation: Precipitation ▪ Surface runoff ▪ Evapostranspiration ▪ A first approximation to real evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge ▪ Simplified approach to drainage and capillary rise ▪ The soil water storage term

4.2

Measurement of soil water content in the field

4.3

Simulation of water storage in soil: Spreadsheet model of soil water storage (See appendix, files "Simulation.xls" or Simulation.sxc") ▪ Simple multi-layer soil water balance simulation Model (See appendix, files "Swb")

5.

Energy status of water in Soil

5.1

Total potential of soil

5.2

Gravitational potential

5.3

Solute potential

5.4

Tensiometer pressure potential: Air pressure potential ▪ Overburden potential ▪ Hydrostatic pressure potential - Wetness and matrix potential

5.5

Soil water potential related to flow phenomena

5.6

Soil water potential and vapor pressure

5.7

Measurement of soil water potential

6.

Water retention in soil

6.1

Capillary tubes

6.2

Soil water retention curve: Fundamentals ▪ Differential water capacity, air entry point and residual water content ▪ Pore size distribution ▪ Effect of temperature on pressure head ▪ Hysteresis

6.3

Mathematical functions representing the water retention curve: Introduction ▪ The Brooks & Corey model ▪ The Van Genuchten model ▪ Multi-porosity models

6.4

Obtaining soil water retention data: Field measurements ▪ Laboratory methods ▪ Estimation of soil water retention from non-hydraulic soil properties

7.

Flow of water through saturated soil

7.1

Flow through capillary tubes

7.2

Darcy´s Law

7.3

Steady-state flow of water in saturated soil

7.4

Saturated soil hydraulic conductivity: Specific permeability ▪ Estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity

8.

Groundwater flow

8.1

Preface

8.2

Some basic terms of groundwater hydrology

8.3

Steady-state groundwater flow: One-dimensional flow ▪ Steady state groundwater flow toward wells

8.4

Groundwater flow: The general case

9.

Flow through unsaturated rigid soil

9.1

Fundamentals

9.2

Steady-state flow

9.3

Transient flow

9.4

Solutions to flow equations

10.

Unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity^

10.1

Introduction

10.2

Models for unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity: Gardner´s equations ▪ The Burdine and Brooks & Corey theory ▪ The Mualem and van Genuchten theory

10.3

Measurement of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity: Overall view ▪ Steady-state evaporation or seepage ▪ Steady-state infiltration field methods: The disc infiltrometer ▪ Non-steady laboratory methods ▪ Non-steady field methods

10.4

Prediction of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity: Predictions based on soil water retention ▪ Pedotransfer functions ▪ Data bases

11.

Elementary soil hydrologic processes

11.1

Introduction

11.2

Steady-state vertical flow: Capillary rise and constant flux infiltration

11.3

Infiltration: Introduction ▪ Vertical infiltration under pressure head boundary condition ▪ Vertical infiltration under flux boundary condition ▪ Complicating phenomena occurring in field situations ▪ Redistribution ▪ Infiltration-based methods to estimate soil hydraulic properties ▪ Two-dimensional, flux boundary conditions infiltration from line and point sources

11.4

Internal drainage: Introduction ▪ Internal drainage of groundwater-affected soils ▪ Unit gradient drainage ▪ The concept of field capacity

11.5

Drying of bare soil by evaporation

11.6

Soil hydrology processes and Burger´s equation

12.

Coupled heat and water flow in soil

12.1

Thermal properties of soil

12.2

Heat transport in soil

12.3

Non-isothermal flow of water through soil

12.4

Soil temperature changes in the field

13.

Solute transport in soil

13.1

Introduction

13.2

Basic processes: Convection ▪ Hydrodynamic dispersion ▪ Diffusion ▪ Total solute flux

13.3

Chemical reactions: Classification ▪ Fast reactions (Classes I through III) ▪ Slow reactions (Classes IV through VI)

13.4

Simplified approach to solute transport prediction

13.5

Convection-Dispersion Equation (CDE): The general problem ▪ The simplified CDE and its solutions ▪ Breakthrough curves and solutions to the CDE ▪ Solute transport by groundwater flow ▪ Non-equilibrium and the mobile-immobile concept

13.6

Parameter estimation

13.7

Stochastic descriptions of solute transport

14.

Solute management in salinization

14.1

Overview

14.2

Leaching requirement

14.3

Salt distribution in soil: Irrigation balances root water uptake ▪ Irrigation on slowly permeable soils

14.4

The ultimate sink for soil salinity - The ocean

15.

Soil water and crops

15.1

Irrigation for optimal levels of plant available soil water - Deficit irrigation

15.2

Aeration

15.3

Soil mechanical properties

16.

Closing remarks