Modelling the effect of water distribution and hysteresis on air-filled pore space

Soil pore networks have a complex geometry, which is challenging to model in three dimensions. We use a Boolean model of pore space that has proved useful in modelling gas diffusion in dry structures to investigate the distribution of water in this pore space and to quantify the effects on pore connectivity to the soil surface. We first show how total porosity in dry soil influences connectivity via the percolation threshold. Then we show that our model simulation of the ‘ink-bottle effect’ can account for much of the hysteresis of the soil water. The differences in distribution of water between wetting and drying result in maintaining greater connectivity of the air-filled pore space during drying than during wetting. Hysteresis is large at small total porosities and slowly declines as porosity increases. During wetting much pore space is blocked when more than 40% of the pore space is filled with water, although during drying all non-isolated air-filled pores are connected to the surface. Even when soil is allowed to wet to near saturation, there are rapid increases in pore connectivity during drying, which may explain, for example, rapid increases in production and emission of nitrous oxide in soils near saturation.