Soils coefficients

Recently, Hodges and Johnson (1987) used five different kinetic equations to describe sulfur sorption and desorption on soils. Coefficients of determination showed that shell progressive particle diffusion, Elovich,... 

Indirect methods of estimating sorption have been used when actual measurement of sorption isotherm is impossible (44). For instance, sorption coefficients have been estimated from soil organic carbon and a specific surface of soil, and from semiempidcal equations using pesticide properties. 

It appears that pesticides with solubiHties greater than 10 mg/L are mainly transported in the aqueous phase (48) as a result of the interaction of solution/sediment ratio in the mnoff and the pesticide sorption coefficient. For instance, on a silt loam soil with a steep slope (>12%), >80% of atra2ine transport occurs in the aqueous phase (49). In contrast, it has been found that total metolachlor losses in mnoff from plots with medium ground slopes (2—9%) were <1% of appHed chemical (50). Of the metolachlor in the mnoff, sediment carried 20 to 46% of the total transported pesticide over the monitoring period. 

Available Chlorine Test. The chlorine germicidal equivalent concentration test is a practical-type test. It is called a capacity test. Under practical conditions of use, a container of disinfectant might receive many soiled, contaminated instniments or other items to be disinfected. Eventually, the capacity of the disinfectant to serve its function would be overloaded due to reaction with the accumulated organic matter and organisms. The chlorine germicidal equivalent concentration test compares the load of a culture of bacteria that a concentration of a disinfectant will absorb and still kill bacteria, as compared to standard concentrations of sodium hypochlorite tested similarly. In the test, 10 successive additions of the test culture are added to each of 3 concentrations of the hypochlorite. One min after each addition a sample is transferred to the subculture medium and the next addition is made 1.5 min after the previous one. The disinfectant is then evaluated in a manner similar to the phenol coefficient test. For equivalence, the disinfectant must yield the same number of negative tubes as one of the chlorine standards. 

Settling and rainout are important mechanisms of contaminant transfer from the atmospheric media to both surface soils and surface waters. Rates of contaminant transfer caused by these mechanisms are difficult to assess qualitatively however, they increase with increasing soil adsorption coefficients, solubility (for particulate contaminants or those adsorbed to particles), particle size, and precipitation frequency. 

Soil Type Approximate Coefficient of Permeebility k, cm per aec Dreinege Characteristic... 

Atterberg-limit tests determine the water content influence in defining liquid, plastic, semisolid and solid states of fine-grained soils. Permeability tests may be carried out in the laboratory or in the field. Such tests are used to determine the hydraulic conductivity coefficient k. ... 

From Fig. 10.40 it will be seen that contact between the electrolyte (soil or water) and the copper-rod electrode is by porous plug. The crystals of CUSO4 maintain the copper ion activity at a constant value should the halfcell become polarised during measurements. The temperature coefficient of such a cell is extremely low, being of the order of 1 x 10" V/°C and can thus be ignored for all practical purposes. To avoid errors due to polarisation effects, it is necessary to restrict the current density on the copper rod to a... 

The salt attack is also an important factor determining the SAH efficiency in the soil medium. In terms of Eq. (4.3), it is manifested by a sharp decrease of the coefficients y and B. The hydrogel structure prediction for specific application conditions requires to take into account universal (ionic strength) and specific (collapse) suppression phenomena and, therefore, a rather delicate balancing in search for a compromise between swelling gains due to the network density (n ) and the ionicity ((3). 

Table I summarizes some typical distribution coefficients. Sediments become enriched in plutonium with respect to water, usually with a factor of vlO5. Also living organisms enrich plutonium from natural waters, but usually less than sediments a factor of 103 - 101 is common. This indicates that the Kd-value for sediment (and soil) is probably governed by surface sorption phenomena. From the simplest organisms (plankton and plants) to man there is clear evidence of metabolic discrimination against transfer of plutonium. In general, the higher the species is on the trophic level, the smaller is the Kd-value. One may deduce from the Table that the concentration of plutonium accumulated in man in equilibrium with the environment, will not exceed the concentration of plutonium in the ground water, independent of the mode of ingestion.

B = rainfall coefficient K = soil erodibility coefficient L = slope-length coefficient S = slope-steepness coefficient and... 

Thermal expansion induced by insolation may be important in desert areas where rocky outcrops and soil surfaces are barren. In a desert, daily temperature excursions are wide and rocks are heated and cooled rapidly. Each type of mineral in a rock has a different coefficient of thermal expansion. Consequently, when a rock is heated or cooled, its minerals differentially expand and contract, thereby inducing stresses and strains in the rock and causing fractures. Ollier (1969) discussed examples of rock weathering due to insolation. Fire can develop temperatures far in excess of insolation and be quite effective in fracturing rocks (Black-welder, 1927). 

The BUSES model provides an estimate of the organic carbon/water partition coefficient (Koc) based on the octanol/water partition coefficient (Kow)- From these data, it is evident that the methyltins are less likely to partition onto organic carbon (in sediments, soils, biota) than are the butyl- and octyltin compormds due to then-lower partition coefficients and higher water solubilities. The 7/oc value can then be used to derive sohds/water partition coefficients in suspended matter, in sediment, and in soil using values of 10%, 5%, and 2% for organie carbon, representing typical organic carbon contents of suspended matter, sediment, and soil, respeetively. 

K(,(., calculated from the octanol-water coefficient (K w) solubility, and melting point data ranged from 2.93 to 3.47, and compared favorably with literature values (Karickhoff 1981). McLean et al. (1988) estimated a lower Kq . of 39, equal to a log of 1.59. More recently, a of 5,100, equal to log 3.7, has been reported (HSDB 1999). These values indicate that methyl parathion is moderately mobile to immobile in soil (Swann et al. 1983). 

Kenaga EE. 1980. Predicted bioconcentration factors and soil sorption coefficients of pesticides and other chemicals. Ecotoxicol Environ Safety 4 26-38. 

Swann R, Laskowski D, McCAll P, et al. 1983. A rapid method for the estimation of the environmental parameters octanol/water partition coefficient, soil sorption constant, water to air ratio, and water solubility. Residue Rev 85 18-28. 

Adsorption Coefficient (K c)—The ratio of the amount of a chemical adsorbed per unit weight of organic carbon in the soil or sediment to the concentration of the chemical in solution at equilibrium. 

LymanWJ. 1990. Adsorption coefficient for soils and sediment. In Handbook of chemical property estimation methods. Environmental behavior of organic compounds. Lyman WJ, Reehl WE, Rosenblatt DH, eds. Washington, DC American Chemical Society. ... 

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