Logo image
Soil water repellency: A molecular-level perspective of a global environmental phenomenon
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Soil water repellency: A molecular-level perspective of a global environmental phenomenon

N.R.R. Daniel, S.M.Mijan Uddin, R.J. Harper and D.J. Henry
Geoderma, Vol.338, pp.56-66
2019
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

Soil water repellency affects vast regions of agricultural and native land across the globe. Sandy soils are most likely to develop non-wetting characteristics with susceptibility decreasing with clay content. This study uses molecular dynamics simulations combined with laboratory scale experiments to study the interactions and assembly of saturated C16 straight chain alcohol and carboxylic acid molecules on a range of soil surfaces. The development of severe water repellency on sand at low loading levels of palmitic acid (0.75 × 10−6 mol g−1) is explained in terms of favourable H-bonding with silica surfaces and the development of 2–3 layers of lateral aligned organic molecules on the mineral surface. The efficacy of kaolinite in lowering soil water repellency is attributed to the higher surface area of this mineral and favourable surface chemistry, which hinders formation of persistent organic multilayers.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#2 Zero Hunger
#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

Metrics

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.45 Soil Science
3.45.879 Soil Erosion
Web Of Science research areas
Soil Science
ESI research areas
Agricultural Sciences
Logo image