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Steady Gravitational Convection Induced by a Line Source of Salt in a Soil¹

ABSTRACT

A theoretical analysis of steady gravitational convection from a line source of salt in a saturated or in a uniformly partially saturated soil is presented. The flow pattern of the water-solute mixture and the distribution of the salt are shown to depend upon the source strength of the line source, the effective mass diffusion coefficient of the salt in the soil, the hydraulic conductivity of the soil, and a parameter describing the increase in density due to the added solute. Qualitatively, the analysis agrees with experimental observations. Theory and experiment both indicate that gravitational convection can be significant only if the hydraulic conductivity is large, which may be the case if the soil is coarse textured and the water content is not too small.

Contribution from the Corn Belt Branch, Soil & Water Conservation Research Division, ARS, USDA, Madison, Wis., in cooperation with the Wisconsin Agr. Exp. Sta., Madison. Presented before Div. S-1, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 14, 1968, at New Orleans, La.

² Research Soil Scientist (Physics), USDA, Madison, Wis.

Received for publication November 19, 1968. Accepted for publication April 4, 1969.