CONCERNING A MECHANISM FOR SOIL MOISTURE TRANSLOCATION IN THE FILM PHASE UPON FREEZING

THE ELECTRIC DOUBLE-LAYER THEORY WHICH SERVES AS A BASIS FOR UNDERSTANDING SOIL MOISTURE TRANSLOCATION IN THE FILM PHASE UPON FREEZING IS REVIEWED. BASED ON THIS THEORY, HINTS ARE GIVEN AS TO A POSSIBLE MECHANISM FOR THE UPWARD MIGRATION OF SOIL MOISTURE IN THE FILM PHASE UNDER FREEZING CONDITIONS AND SOME ASSUMPTIONS AS A WORKING HYPOTHESIS ARE OUTLINED. SOME OF THESE ASSUMPTIONS ARE SUPPORTED BY OBSERVATIONS FROM SOIL FREEZING EXPERIMENTS. UPON FREEZING A SOIL SYSTEM, INDUCED ELECTRICAL POTENTIALS BETWEEN 40 AND 120 MILLIVOLTS WERE MEASURED, AND SUBPRESSURES OF THE SOIL MOISTURE FILMS AS HIGH AS 32 CM MERCURY WERE MEASURED. ALL PROCESSES OCCURRING IN THE FREEZING SOIL SYSTEM ARE IN SOME WAY CONNECTED WITH THE SURFACE PHENOMENA OF COLLOIDAL PARTICLES. WATER IN THE FORM OF SOIL MOISTURE FILMS IS THE MEDIUM WHERE MANY CHANGES IN SOIL TAKE PLACE WHEN SUBJECTED TO TEMPERATURE CHANGES. THE PROPERTY OF A COLLOIDAL SOIL PARTICLE OF CARRYING ON ITS SURFACES AN ELECTRICAL CHARGE AND THE FUNCTIONING OF THE SOIL MOISTURE AS AN ELECTROLYTE ARE OF FUNDAMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE IN THE PROCESS OF THE TRANSLOCATION OF SOIL MOISTURE IN THE FILM PHASE WHEN THE SOIL SYSTEM IS SUBJECTED TO AN EXTERNAL, PRIMARY, FREEZING THERMAL GRADIENT. /AUTHOR/