Potential Impacts Of Soil Aging On TDR Calibrations Of Biochar Amended Urban And Coastal Soils
Date
2022-05
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Biochar, biomass pyrolyzed at high temperatures in low oxygen environments,
is added to soils to improve physiochemical properties including stormwater runoff
reduction, saturated hydraulic conductivity , and plant growth. The measure of these
physiochemical properties is related to the amended soil’s volumetric water content.
Time domain reflectometry is a quick and cost-effective method of measuring
volumetric water content of soils. However, this method requires calibration for use in
biochar-amended soils.
This study determined calibration curves for soil samples from six field sites
from Maryland and Delaware. The actual biochar content within these samples was
also measured. These results were then analyzed to investigate the potential impacts of
the aging of biochar on the resulting TDR calibration curve.
TDR calibration curves were found to definitively vary with measured biochar
content. Higher mass percentages of biochar generally resulted in higher measured
TDR periods. Biochar contents of field samples were also found to vary significantly
from the assumed biochar contents by mass. It is suggested by the results from two
field sites that aging of biochar samples in the field may impact the TDR calibration
results.
Description
Keywords
Biochar, Time domain reflectometry, Coastal soil