Introduction To Soil Physics

Audience: Undergraduate students in the agronomic, horticultural, silvicultural, environmental, and engineering sciences.

This book demonstrates applications of the basic principles of soil physics and illustrates how they can be used systematically to define—and eventually control—existing phenomena.
The first section of the book provides comprehensive treatment of the field water cycle and its management. Topics covered are: the sequential processes if infiltration and runoff; redistribution and storage of soil moisture; groundwater drainage; evaporation from bare soil and soil salinization; uptake of water by plants and transpiration as determined by climate, soil properties, and rooting habit; field water balance and energy balance; crop water requirements and water use efficiency; tillage mechanics and soild structure management.
The second section extends these principles further and introduces the reader to the contributions of several leading authorities on topics of vital contemporary interest. The topics discussed include; crop canopy effects on evapotranspiration; freezing phenomena in soils; similitude and scaling; spatial heterogeneity of soil physical properties; and the movement of solutes during infiltration.

Born in California and raised in Israel, Dr. Daniel Hillel acquired an early and lifelong love of the land and a commitment to understanding and protecting the natural environment. Through decades of work in some thirty countries, he has become an international authority on sustainable management of land and water resources. Dr. Hillel has served as professor of soil physics, hydrology and the environmental sciences at leading universities in the U.S. and abroad, and has been a consultant to the World Bank and the United Nations. Among the honors he has received are the Chancellor's Medal for Exemplary Service at the University of Massachusetts , a Guggenheim award, and Doctorates of Science honoris causa by Guelph University of Canada and Ohio State University . Dr. Hillel is an elected Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, the Soil Science Society of America, and the American Society of Agronomy and was granted the Distinguished Service Award by the latter societies. He has published well over 300 scientific papers and research reports, and authored or edited twenty two books. His definitive textbooks on environmental physics have been use by universities and research institutions throughout the world and have been translated into twelve languages.