Preferential transport in structured soils - multiscale approach

The proposed research is focused on properties and processes affecting flow of water and solute transport in soils at multiple scales from the pore scale to the field scale. The research will combine a detailed analysis of soil properties, based on laboratory samples and field observations, with the numerical modeling of soil water flow and solute transport. Special attention will be paid to the properties related to preferential flow including properties affecting the mass transfer between preferential pathways and the soil matrix. Advanced geohydraulic methods, such as dual-continuum modeling of flow and transport processes, inverse modeling of transient field and laboratory experiments, and noninvasive visualization of soil structure, will be used to determine macroscopic soil hydraulic parameters and to predict the dynamics of soil water and dissolved chemicals.

To contribute to better understanding of principal mechanisms affecting flow of water and transport of chemicals in structured soils. Attention will be paid to the impact of the microscopic properties of the interface between preferential pathways and soil matrix on the macroscopic solute transport.

Beck-Broichsitter, S.; Gerriets, M.R.; Puppe, D.; Leue, M.; Sobotková, M.; Dušek, J.; Gerke, H.H.: Laser-based 3D microscopic gauging of soil aggregate coating thickness and volume. Soil & Tillage Research, 204, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2020.104715

Beck-Broichsitter, S.; Gerriets, M.R.; Gerke, H.H.; Sobotková, M.; Dušek, J.; Dohrmann, R.; Horn, R.: Brilliant Blue sorption characteristics of clay-organic aggregate coatings from Bt horizons. Soil & Tillage Research, 201, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2020.104635

Dušek, J.; Vogel, T.: Modeling travel time distributions of preferential subsurface runoff, deep percolation and transpiration at a montane forest hillslope site. Water, 11, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11112396

Dušek, J.; Dohnal, M.; Vogel, T.; Marx, A.; Barth, J.A.C.: Modelling multiseasonal preferential transport of dissolved organic carbon in a shallow forest soil: Equilibrium versus kinetic sorption. Hydrological Processes, 33, 2898-2917, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13536

Vogel, T.; Dohnal, M.; Votrubová, J.; Dušek, J.: Soil water freezing model with non-iterative energy balance accounting. Journal of Hydrology, 578, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124071

Dušek, J.; Vogel, T.: Hillslope hydrograph separation: The effects of variable isotopic signatures and hydrodynamic mixing in macroporous soil. Journal of Hydrology, 563, 446-459, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.05.054