Field experiments were conducted during 2002-2003 on clay loam, sandy loam and red loam soil at Sivapuri, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, to evaluate the efficacy of vermicompost on the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the soils and on the yield and nutrient content of blackgram Vigna mungo, in comparison to inorganic fertilizers nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium. Vermicompost had inc...

Numerous studies have investigated the direct retrieval of soil properties, including soil texture, using remotely sensed images. However, few have considered how soil properties influence dynamic changes in remote images or how soil processes affect the characteristics of the spectrum. This study investigated a new method for mapping regional soil texture based on the hypothesis that the rate ...

This study was conducted to analyze the properties of deposit soil dredged from a reservoir which was processed for efficient treatment and management. Before starting this study, the physicochemical properties and the heavy metal content of the deposit soil were investigated to collect the fundamental data. In a treatment experiment proposed to use the deposit soil, the deposit soli was separa...

Due to its low permeability, a clay liner is the main material used in solid waste disposal landfills. It is exposed there to various chemical, biological, and physical events, and the clay liner is affected by the resulting leachate. For this reason, when attempting to define the geotechnical characteristics of clay liners, the use of distilled water or tap water is far from being representati...

The design and tests of slow-release formulations of sulfometuron (SFM), an anionic sulfonylurea herbicide, are described. The formulations are based on incorporation of the herbicide in octadecyltrimethylammonium (ODTMA) micelles, which adsorb on a clay mineral, montmorillonite. An optimization of herbicide/micelle clay ratios yielded high adsorption of SFM (95%), and at a 1% (w/w) water suspe...

Naturally occurring clay colloidal particles are heavily involved in sediment processes in the subsurface soil. Due to the importance of these processes in the subsurface environment, the transport of clay colloidal particles has been studied in several disciplines, including soil sciences, petrology, hydrology, etc. Specifically, in environmental engineering, clay colloid release and transport...

The main purpose of the current research is comparing the results of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) with regard to determination of the importance of soil properties affecting clay dispersibility. After taking samples from two depths of 0-40 and 40-80 cm, the spontaneous and mechanical dispersions of clay were recorded using both weighing and ...

The mechanical behavior of compressible clay soils may be strongly influenced by physicochemical effects when concentrated pore fluids are introduced to the soil. Conceptual models have been used to explain the influence of pore fluid chemistry on the mechanical behavior of clays in a qualitative way. In this paper an alternate macroscopic description of the osmotic volume change behavior of a ...

Lining systems render a significant role in ensuring that waste materials are safely separated from the environment. Despite the advent of modern lining systems, compacted clay barriers or liners are regarded as one of the very significant components of lining system and are being used as a waste containment system in landfills which require insignificant infiltration. Compacted clay barriers m...

One of soil microbiology's most intriguing puzzles is how so many different bacterial species can coexist in small volumes of soil when competition theory predicts that less competitive species should decline and eventually disappear. We provide evidence supporting the theory that low pore connectivity caused by low water potential (and therefore low water content) increases the diversity of a ...