Quantimet image analysis of soil pore geometry: Comparison with tracer breakthrough curves |
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| Authors: | P J C Walker S T Trudgill |
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| Abstract: | The relationships between two-dimensional image analysis of soil thin-sections and tracer breakthrough curves has been studied for a silty clay loam brown earth soil under saturated conditions. Initial tracer breakthrough is well in advance of one pore volume. Discrepancies between Quantimet image analysis and breakthrough curve characterization were related by inference to the role of infrequently occurring macropores not necessarily sampled on the two-dimensional images. A fundamental difficulty found in the use of image analysis is the uncertain nature of the relationship between the two-dimensional image and the three-dimensional pore system. Caution is needed in using Quantimet image analysis to describe gross properties of the three-dimensional pore system. |
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| Keywords: | Quantimet Pore size Macropores Dye-tracing Image analysis |
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