Quantifying the Pore Size Spectrum of Macropore‐Type Preferential Pathways under Transient Flow

Abstract

It is well known that there is a spectrum of pores in a soil profile. The conventional use of a single lumped value of soil hydraulic conductivity to describe a spectrum of hydraulically active pores may have unintentionally impeded the development of field‐scale chemical transport theory and perhaps indirectly hindered the development of management protocols for chemical application and waste disposal. In this study, three sets of four field‐scale tracer mass flux breakthrough patterns measured under transient unsaturated flow conditions were used to evaluate the validity of an indirect method to quantify equivalent pore spectra of macropore‐type preferential flow pathways. Results indicated that there were distinct trends in how pore spectra of macropore‐type preferential flow pathways changed when a soil profile became wetter during a precipitation event. This suggests that the indirect method has predictive value and is perhaps a better alternative to the lumped soil hydraulic conductivity approach in accurately determining the impact of macropore‐type preferential flow pathways on water movement and solute transport under transient unsaturated flow conditions.