Simulation of solute leaching in soils of differing permeabilities

Abstract. The model described divides the soil into layers and considers two categories of water, mobile and immobile, in each layer. It has two main parameters, one a measure of the soil's capacity to hold water and thence to retain solutes against leaching, and the other a measure of the ease with which water can pass through the soil and carry solutes with it. These are, in effect, capacity and rate parameters, and the model is unusual in having both. They can be estimated from the percentages of clay and other soil components. The rate parameter varied appreciably between plots in the field but in a consistent manner. The model has been validated against field experiments following the vertical movement of solute applied to the soil surface and allowed to leach, and the paper includes one such test.