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Energy and Environment Directorate

Facilities & Laboratories

Soil Physics Laboratory

The Soil Physics Laboratory has a suite of standard soil physics testing equipment that helps to measure:

  • Water retention (hanging water column, pressure plate and vapor adsorption)
  • Saturated conductivity (constant head and falling head)
  • Unsaturated conductivity (steady state columns and multistep outflow)
  • Particle size density and distribution (sieves and hydrometer method)
  • Bulk density
  • Porosity
  • Compaction.

In addition, the laboratory has unique equipment for automated measurements of soil water tensions and water contents using small tensiometers and time domain reflectometer probes.

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Energy and Environment

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