Hydrostructural Pedology

<p>Preface ix</p>
<p>Part 1. Theory of Systemic Modeling of the Pedostructure within the Hierarchal Hydrofunctional Organization of the Natural Environment 1</p>
<p>Chapter 1. Introduction to Part 1 5</p>
<p>Chapter 2. Inherent Problems of Soil Science 9</p>
<p>2.1. History of pedology 9</p>
<p>2.2. Modeling of water transfers in the soil: supremacy of pedotransfer functions 11</p>
<p>2.3. Absence of a unitary theory of the description of soil 12</p>
<p>Chapter 3. The Systemic Approach Applied to Pedology 17</p>
<p>3.1. The Bertalanffy project and Le Moigne s general system model 17</p>
<p>3.1.1. The general system theory and Cartesian precepts 17</p>
<p>3.1.2. Systemic representation: Le Moigne s two great ideas 22</p>
<p>3.2. The systemic description of the soil organization 25</p>
<p>3.2.1. Physical definition of a system 25</p>
<p>3.2.2. Graduation of spatial axes: the systemic description of soil 28</p>
<p>3.2.3. Systemic modeling of the operating system (OS) on axis III 32</p>
<p>3.2.4. The Structural Representative Elementary Volume (SREV) concept required for the systemic description of the pedon 35</p>
<p>3.3. Systemic physics of the organized soil medium defined on axis III 39</p>
<p>3.3.1. The thermodynamic system of the pedostructure 39</p>
<p>3.3.2. Equations of the hydrostructural equilibrium of the pedostructure 41</p>
<p>3.3.3. Determining hydrostructural soil parameters 44</p>
<p>3.3.4. Equations of the hydrodynamic functioning of the pedostructure 45</p>
<p>3.3.5. The Kamel&reg; model of the hydrostructural functioning of a pedon 50</p>
<p>3.4. Systemic mapping of soil in the landscape 54</p>
<p>3.4.1. Hierarchical hydrofunctional mapping units of the landscape 54</p>
<p>3.4.2. The SIRS–Soils 57</p>
<p>Chapter 4. The General System (GS): General Model of Scientific Disciplines Related to the Study and Management of Natural Areas 59</p>
<p>4.1. The human system, system of study or management of a natural area, isomorphic to the general system 59</p>
<p>4.2. Natural systems, OSs of the GS 61</p>
<p>4.3. Information systems of human systems implemented for the study or management of natural systems 62</p>
<p>4.4. Hydrostructural pedology and its own spatial reference information system: the SIRS–Soils 64</p>
<p>Chapter 5. Emergence of a New Scientific Discipline: Hydrostructural Pedology 67</p>
<p>5.1. Where hydrostructural pedology fits into the natural sciences 67</p>
<p>5.2. Specificity of the hydrostructural pedology laboratory 70</p>
<p>5.2.1. Hydrostructural characterization of the pedostructure 70</p>
<p>5.2.2. Experimental analysis of the bio–soil association in the soil column 72</p>
<p>5.2.3. Simulation of processes at the scale of the pedon using a lysimeter 72</p>
<p>Chapter 6. Implications for Agro–environmental Sciences 75</p>
<p>6.1. A unitary theory on the systemic and thermodynamic approaches within the natural environment 75</p>
<p>6.1.1. Modeling in the natural environment and Cartesian precepts 75</p>
<p>6.1.2. Systematization, theoretical basis of the systemic approach 79</p>
<p>6.1.3. Theoretical and applied systemology 81</p>
<p>6.1.4. General Systems theory of the agro–environmental disciplines 86</p>
<p>6.1.5. Systemic thermodynamics 88</p>
<p>6.2. The new challenge to agro–environmental modeling 92</p>
<p>Part 2. Hydrostructural Characterization of Soil Pedostructure 95</p>
<p>Chapter 7. Introduction to Part 2 99</p>
<p>Chapter 8. Theoretical Recall 103</p>
<p>8.1. Pinpointing the problem 103</p>
<p>8.2. Modeling micro– and macro–water types by the shrinkage curve 104</p>
<p>8.3. New principle for determining the micro–and macro–water types using the retention curve 107</p>
<p>8.3.1. Micro/macro thermodynamic and hydrostructural equilibrium 107</p>
<p>8.3.2. Equations for the retention curve 108</p>
<p>8.3.3. Equations for the pF curve 112</p>
<p>8.3.4. Equations for the shrinkage curve 114</p>
<p>8.3.5. Equations for hydric conductivity 117</p>
<p>Chapter 9. Methods for Determining the Characteristic Parameters 123</p>
<p>9.1. Soil water retention curve WRC 123</p>
<p>9.1.1. Measured using the tensiometer (suction–based method) 123</p>
<p>9.1.2. Measured under air pressure on the porous plate press (pressure–based method), extending the WRC measurement beyond the 1,000 hPa tensiometric limit 131</p>
<p>9.2. The shrinkage curve 135</p>
<p>9.2.1. Case of non–sigmoidal shrinkage curves 135</p>
<p>9.2.2. Case of the sigmoidal shrinkage curves 144</p>
<p>9.3. The hydric conductivity curve of the pedostructure 149</p>
<p>9.3.1. Description of the Excel sheets 149</p>
<p>9.3.2. Procedure. 152</p>
<p>9.3.3. Results 153</p>
<p>Conclusion 157</p>
<p>Bibliography 159</p>
<p>Index 165</p>