these advantages will not be fully recognized unless the spatial and temporal predictability of process-based Spatially averaged soil erosion data provide little information on models are validated. Thus, spatially distributed erosion soil erosion dynamics. Dynamically varied, spatially distributed erosion data are needed to better understand erosion processes and data are of great importance i...

The Mars Icebreaker Life mission will search for subsurface life on Mars. It consists of three payload elements: a drill to retrieve soil samples from approximately 1 m below the surface, a robotic sample handling system to deliver the sample from the drill to the instruments, and the instruments themselves. This paper will discuss the robotic sample handling system. Collecting samples from ice...

The Bouwer-Rice correction method to account for large particles excluded during laboratory testing to measure the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) was evaluated on samples of well-graded alluvium. A large-scale hanging column apparatus was used so that tests could be conducted on specimens containing all particle sizes. The analyses show that SWCCs measured on the fraction of alluvium fi...

SOIL pore space and its intrinsic characteristics such as surface area, roughness, tortuosity, and connectivity are probably the most important factors controlling water and solute movement in soils. Interaggregate porosity is the result of the arrangement of the soil aggregates. These aggregates are composed of subunits, of which clay minerals and other colloids are the main components. The wa...

A method with the combined advantages of soil particle washing, selective inhibitors, and an indicator substrate was developed to isolate saprophytic basidiomycetes from soil. Organic particles were washed from soil and plated on a medium containing lignin, guaiacol, and benomyl, which reduced mold growth and allowed detection of basidiomycetes producing laccase or peroxidase. The 64 soil sampl...

Standard procedure for dispersing natural soils for particle size fractionation can be too aggressive for soil containing coal and other organic particles from coal industries. We have investigated ultrasonic dispersion for the latter in four soils differing in pedogenesis (Phaeozem, Podzol, reclaimed mine soils), carbon content (27.5±138.6 g kg), clay content (80±153 g kg) and sources of parti...

One challenge associated with the simulation of buried detonations involves the treatment of the multiphase flow phenomena related to the soil. At the moment when the soil “shatters” into a dense particulate cloud with detonation products escaping through the soil particles, the continuum model that assumes a single velocity shared by the blast gas and the soil at any given point no longer hold...

Physical changes that occur on the surface of fired shots due to firing and impact with soil may increase the dissolution of muniton metals. Increased metal dissolution could potentially increase metal transport and leaching, affecting metal concentrations in surface and groundwater. This research describes the relationship between the surface changes on fired tungsten-nickel-iron (94% W:2% Ni:...

Exposure to the soil-borne pathogens Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia cenocepacia can lead to severe infections and even mortality. These pathogens exhibit a high resistance to antibiotic treatments. In addition, no licensed vaccine is currently available. A nanoscale platinum-containing titania photocatalyst (TiO(2)-Pt) has been shown to have a superior visible light-responsive photo...

Phosphorus is thus naturally available in the soil. However, there isn't usually enough available for plants to grow well. Phosphorus levels are reduced by animals eating the plants then dying elsewhere so that the phosphorus is removed, and also by phosphorus being adsorbed into soil particles or washed away by excess rain. For this reason phosphate fertilisers are widely used. The ways in whi...