CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Barrett, G.E.
Date : 1988
Title : Infiltration in water repellent soil
Publication : Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
In this thesis, the role played by the physicochemical properties of soils in the infiltration process is considered. The focus is upon water repellent soils, but less extreme departures from perfect wettability are also discussed. Field studies of the distribution of water repellent soils in the alpine-sub-alpine ecotone of southern British Columbia demonstrated that the water repellency was widespread in this environment: this result served to motivate and direct the subsequent laboratory investigations and theoretical work which constitute the core of this thesis. Experiments with synthetic water repellent media demonstrated that the wetting front may become unstable during the infiltration process, leading to the formation of saturated fingers. In order to investigate the process further, a new model of the infiltration process was developed which preserves pore to pore variations of both the physicochemical properties and the basic geometric characteristics of pores. Although it was not developed as such, the model follows the approach of cellular automata, in which local relations govern the macroscopic behaviour of a system. The onset of instability during infiltration and the development of fingers was modelled successfully.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology