The evaporation of water from soil: III. A critical study of the Technique

Abstract

Some recent researches on the evaporation of water from soil are reviewed. Experiments on the evaporation of water from a soil paste spread in shallow pans showed that the drying proceeded very irregularly over the soil mass. Considerable portions became almost completely dry whilst other portions remained very wet. There was a rough relationship between the form of the dry patch and the shape of the corresponding evaporation rate curves. An improvement in technique was effected by exposing the soil in thin layers below glass plates. Under these conditions, reproducible results were obtained. Soil and kaolin, but not sand, gave considerable linear portions over the region of decreasing rate of evaporation. Tests on soil exposed as central discs, or peripheral rings, and on partially covered full plates, showed that, owing to the type of air currents set up, the drying was largely confined to the outer edges during the early stages.