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Deuterium and the Self-Diffusion Coefficient of Soil Moisture¹

ABSTRACT

An experimental technique for studying soil water movement using heavy water (DOH) as a tracer is described. The heavy water is analyzed with a mass spectrometer. By means of techniques described, it is possible to measure differences in D concentration of ± 0.0005 mole percent for the range of heavy water concentrations used. Two experiments in self-diffusion are described in detail. They consisted of following the movement of water, in a soil core and in a glass beads core, by means of water molecules tagged with the heavy hydrogen. After arbitrary selected times the cores were sectioned and D analyses made of the moisture in each section. The experimental data were used in a theoretical diffusion equation to obtain self-diffusion coefficients. For the soil core the self-diffusion coefficient was found to be about one-fourth that of pure water; for the glass beads, about one-half that of pure water.

¹ Joint Publication: Journal Paper No. J-3830 of the Iowa Agr. and Home Economics Exp. Sta., Ames, Project No. 998, Department of Agronomy; and contribution No. 875 of the Institute for Atomic Research, Ames, Iowa, Presented before Div. I, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 19, 1959, at Cincinnati, Ohio.

² Research Associate in Agronomy (Soils), Professor of Soils and Physics and Research Associate in the Institute of Atomic Research, respectively.

Received for publication April 4, 1960. Accepted for publication May 20, 1960.