Abstract
Analysis of the soil pore system represents an important way of characterizing soil structure. Properties such as the shape and number of pores can be determined through soil pore evaluations. This study presents a three-dimensional (3D) characterization of the shape and number of pores of a sub-tropical soil. To do so, a second generation X-ray microtomograph equipped with a plain type detector was employed. A voltage of 120 kV and current of 80 mA was applied to the X-ray tube. The soil samples analyzed were collected at three different depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm). The results obtained allowed qualitative (images) and quantitative (3D) analyses of the soil structure, revealing the potential of the microtomographic technique, as well as the study of differences in soil macroporosity at different depths. Macroporosity was 5.14 % in the 0-10 cm layer, 5.10 % in the 10-20 cm layer, and 6.64 % in the 20-30 cm layer. The macroporosity of unclassified pores (UN) was 0.30 % (0-10 and 10-20 cm) and 0.40 % (20-30 cm), while equant pores (EQ) had values of 0.01 % at the three depths under analysis.
Highlights
Soon after the development of the first computerized tomographic systems (CT) in the medical field in the early 70s of the last century, researchers in the area of soil physics started to employ this technique to study different soil properties (Petrovic et al, 1982; Crestana et al, 1992)
Analysis of the soil pore system represents an important way of characterizing soil structure
This study presents a three-dimensional (3D) characterization of the shape and number of pores of a sub-tropical soil
Summary
Soon after the development of the first computerized tomographic systems (CT) in the medical field in the early 70s of the last century, researchers in the area of soil physics started to employ this technique to study different soil properties (Petrovic et al, 1982; Crestana et al, 1992). Research employing this technique for the study of soils have allowed researchers all over the world to investigate the physical properties of this heterogeneous medium (Pires et al, 2004, 2005; Papadopoulos et al, 2009; Tippkötter et al, 2009; Borges et al, 2012; Rab et al, 2014), and to develop and evaluate the method applied to it (Oh and Lindquist, 1999; van Geet et al, 2003; Elliot and Heck, 2007a,b; Tarquis et al, 2009; Moreira et al, 2012; Tarquis et al, 2012) In this context, the technique has proven to be efficient for characterization of the soil pore system. Toxic substances can infiltrate very quickly and deeply through the macropores, impairing groundwater quality (Marshall et al, 1999)
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