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a Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011
b Hebei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 598 W. Heping Road, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050051, PRC
* Corresponding author (rhorton{at}iastate.edu)
The partitioning of the soil volume between water, solids, and air strongly influences many soil processes. In this paper we demonstrate a new approach to nondestructively measure this partitioning. A thermo-time domain reflectometry (thermo-TDR) probe was inserted into sandy loam soil and used to apply thermal and electromagnetic pulses and to monitor the transport of these pulses through the soil. We used the resulting data to determine the soil water content, air-filled porosity, and volume fraction of solids, as well as degree of saturation and bulk density. When calibrated for this soil, the standard errors between thermo-TDR measurements and gravimetric measurements were 0.02, 0.07, and 0.05 m3 m-3 for water content, volume fraction of solids, and air-filled porosity, respectively. The standard error for degree of saturation was 0.08 m3 m-3, and for bulk density was 0.18 Mg m-3. This technique has great potential for soil research and management, particularly if the accuracy of the bulk density measurement can be improved.
Abbreviations: 
, volume fraction of water in soil • C, soil volumetric heat capacity • K , soil dielectric constant • na, volume fraction of air in soil • S, soil degree of saturation • thermo-TDR, thermo-time domain reflectometry • vs, volume fraction of solids in soil
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  X. Liu, T. Ren, and R. Horton Determination of Soil Bulk Density with Thermo-Time Domain Reflectometry Sensors Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., June 18, 2008; 72(4): 1000 - 1005. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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O. K. Olmanson and T. E. Ochsner A Partial Cylindrical Thermo-Time Domain Reflectometry Sensor Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., May 1, 2008; 72(3): 571 - 577. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 T. Ren, Z. Ju, Y. Gong, and R. Horton Comparing Heat-Pulse and Time Domain Reflectometry Soil Water Contents from Thermo-Time Domain Reflectometry Probes Vadose Zone J., November 11, 2005; 4(4): 1080 - 1086. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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Y. Mori, J. W. Hopmans, A. P. Mortensen, and G. J. Kluitenberg Estimation of Vadose Zone Water Flux from Multi-Functional Heat Pulse Probe Measurements Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., April 11, 2005; 69(3): 599 - 606. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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D. A. Robinson, D. A. Robinson, S. B. Jones, J. M. Wraith, D. Or, and S. P. Friedman A Review of Advances in Dielectric and Electrical Conductivity Measurement in Soils Using Time Domain Reflectometry Vadose Zone J., November 1, 2003; 2(4): 444 - 475. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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Y. Mori, Y. Mori, J. W. Hopmans, A. P. Mortensen, and G. J. Kluitenberg Multi-Functional Heat Pulse Probe for the Simultaneous Measurement of Soil Water Content, Solute Concentration, and Heat Transport Parameters Vadose Zone J., November 1, 2003; 2(4): 561 - 571. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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