Course Description
Physical properties and processes of soils. Water, heat, and solute movement in soils.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to do more in-depth analysis
of the lab results than undergraduate students. For example, in
the lab where students measure soil-water content from different
horizons in a soil (there are multiple measurements within each
horizon), the undergraduates will be asked to compute the mean
for each horizon and the graduate students will be asked to
report the mean and test for statistical difference using the
ANOVA procedure in Excel.
Athena Title
SOIL PHYSICS LAB
Corequisite
CRSS 4600/6600
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
To learn how to analyze the physical properties of a soil related to water, heat, and solute transport.
Topical Outline
Collect soil samples (Lab exercise 1) Water characteristic lab (Lab exercise 2) Particle size distribution analysis (Lab exercise 3) TDR calibration, automation, and field measurements (Lab exercise 4) Tensiometer measurements (Lab exercise 5) Laboratory saturated hydraulic conductivity analysis (Lab exercise 6) Field saturated hydraulic conductivity (Lab exercise 7) Thermocouple and data logger lab (Lab exercise 8) Adsorption isotherm lab (Lab exercise 9) Column breakthrough curves (Lab exercise 10)
Syllabus