K. Garbesi et al., SCALE DEPENDENCE OF SOIL PERMEABILITY TO AIR - MEASUREMENT METHOD ANDFIELD INVESTIGATION, Water resources research, 32(3), 1996, pp. 547-560
This work investigates the dependence of soil permeability to air on s
ampling scale in near-surface unsaturated soils. A new dual-probe dyna
mic pressure technique was developed to measure permeability in situ o
ver different length scales and different spatial orientations in the
soil. Soils at three sites were studied using the new technique. Each
soil was found to have higher horizontal than vertical permeability. S
ignificant scale dependence of permeability was also observed at each
site. Permeability increased by a factor of 20 as sampling scale incre
ased from 0.1 to 2 m in a sand soil vegetated with dry grass, and by a
factor of 15 as sampling scale increased from 0.1 to 3.5 m in a Sandy
loam with mature Coast Live Oak trees (Quercus agrifolia). The result
s indicate that standard methods of permeability assessment can grossl
y underestimate advective transport of gas phase contaminants through
soils.