Soil Thermal Conductivity: Effects of Density, Moisture,

Salt Concentration, and Organic Matter

Nidal H. Abu-Hamdeh,* and Randall C. Reeder
ABSTRACT

(Wierenga et al., 1969). Factors influencing a soils thermal conductivity that can be managed externally include
water content and soil management (Yadav and Saxena,
1973). Water content plays a major role in a soils thermal conductivity. Water content is also the most difficult
to manage. The way a soil is managed will play an
important part in determining its thermal conductivity.
Any practice or process which tends to cause soil compaction will increase bulk density and decrease porosity
of a soil. This in turn will have a significant effect on
thermal conductivity.
The effect of water content on soil thermal conductivity has received more attention than the effects of other
physical characteristics (Kunii and Smith, 1960; Al Nakshabandi and Kohnke, 1965; Fritton et al., 1974; Parikh
et al., 1979; Riha et al., 1980). The effects of salts on
thermal conductivity of soil have also received little
attention, and studies to date have left much uncertain.
Noborio and McInnes (1993) found that the apparent
thermal conductivity of soils decreased with increased
CaCl2, MgCl2, NaCl, or Na2SO4 salt concentration in
solution from 0.1 mol kg1 to solubility limits. On the
other hand, Van Rooyen and Winterkorn (1959) found
no noticeable effect of salt on the thermal conductivity
of quartz sand at high solution contents with concentrations of CaCl2 up to 0.18 mol kg1, or with NaCl up to
0.34 mol kg1. Globus and Rozenshtok (1989) concluded
that the thermal conductivity of quartz sand moistened
with 0.25 mol kg1 solution of the base KOH was lower
than that of quartz sand moistened with water.
Thermal properties can be determined indirectly by
measuring the rise or fall of temperature in response to
heat input to a line source at the point of interest (Jackson and Taylor, 1965). De Vries (1952, 1963) developed
models that allow estimation of thermal conductivity
and volumetric heat capacity of soils from the volume
fractions of their constituents and the shape of the soil
particles. The dual-probe heat-pulse technique (Campbell et al., 1991; Bristow et al., 1993; Kluitenberg et al.,
1993; Bristow et al., 1994a) has also been used to make
measurements of soil thermal properties. It consists of
two parallel needle probes separated by a distance (r).
One probe contains a heater and the other a temperature sensor. With the dual-probe device inserted in the
soil, a heat pulse is applied to the heater and the temperature at the sensor probe is recorded as a function of
time. All three soil thermal properties, including thermal conductivity, can be determined from these data.
For Jordanian soils, however, information on thermal
properties has been lacking. These data are needed for
constructing models to predict the thermal regime of
soils. Such information assumes greater importance with
increasing attention being paid to developing the agricultural industry in Jordan. Since the early growth and

The thermal conductivity of soil under a given set of conditions is

most important as it relates to a soils microclimate. The early growth
and development of a crop may be determined to a large extent
by microclimate. The effect of bulk density, moisture content, salt
concentration, and organic matter on the thermal conductivity of
some sieved and repacked Jordanian soils was investigated through
laboratory studies. These laboratory experiments used the single
probe method to determine thermal conductivity. The soils used were
classified as sand, sandy loam, loam, and clay loam. The two salts
used were NaCl and CaCl2, while addition of peat moss was used to
increase the organic matter content. For the soils studied, thermal
conductivity increased with increasing soil density and moisture content. Thermal conductivity ranged from 0.58 to 1.94 for sand, from
0.19 to 1.12 for sandy loam, from 0.29 to 0.76 for loam, and from 0.36
to 0.69 W/m K for clay loam at densities from 1.23 to 1.59 g cm3
and water contents from 1.4 to 21.2%. The results also show that
an increase in the amount of added salts at given moisture content
(volumetric solution contents ranged from 0.030.12 m3 m3 for the
sand and from 0.090.30 m3 m3 for the clay loam) decreased thermal
conductivity. Increasing the percentage of soil organic matter decreased thermal conductivity. Finally, it was found that the sand had
higher values of thermal conductivity than the clay loam for the same
salt type and concentrations.

oil thermal properties are required in many areas

of engineering, agronomy, and soil science, and in
recent years considerable effort has gone into developing techniques to determine these properties. Seed
germination, seedling emergence, and subsequent stand
establishment are influenced by the microclimate. Thermal properties of soils play an important role in influencing microclimate (Ghuman and Lal, 1985).
Modeling water and energy movement in soils requires knowledge of heat, salt, and water interaction.
Heat flow in soil may be determined from knowledge
of the thermal conductivity and temperature gradient.
Fundamental information on how salts and water affect
thermal conductivity of soil is also needed in modeling
water and energy movement in systems containing saltaffected soils (Noborio and McInnes, 1993)
The thermal conductivity of a soil depends on several
factors. These factors can be arranged into two broad
groups: those which are inherent to the soil itself, and
those which can be managed or controlled, at least to
a certain extent, by human management. Those factors
or properties that are inherent to the soil itself include
the texture and mineralogical composition of the soil

Nidal H. Abu-Hamdeh, Agric. Engineering and Technol. Dep., Jordan

Univ. of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid, Jordan; and
Randall C. Reeder, The Ohio State Univ., Agric. Engineering Bldg.,
RM 228C, 590 Woody Hayes Dr., Columbus, Ohio 43210-1057. Received 15 July 1999. Corresponding author (nidal@just.edu.jo).
Published in Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64:12851290 (2000).

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SOIL SCI. SOC. AM. J., VOL. 64, JULYAUGUST 2000

Fig. 2. Wire temperature as a function of lnt during heating for sandy

loam at moisture content of 6.1% and different soil densities.

between the heat source and the medium outside the source,
and d is a constant.
Nonlinear least-squares regression is used to solve for .
An alternative approach is to assume t0 t so that ln(t
t0) ln(t). With this assumption, linear regression can be used
to calculate from heating data with Eq. [1] and ln(t) as the
independent variable. Furthermore, if the relation between T
and ln(t) is linear, then can be simply estimated from the
change in sensor temperature between two times, t1 and t2, by

(q/4) [ln(t2) ln(t1)]/[T(t2) T(t1)]

[2]

The corresponding equation for sensor temperature during

cooling after th s of heating is (Reece, 1996)
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus.

development of a crop may be determined to a large

extent by microclimate, the practical significance of
knowing the thermal conductivity of a soil under a given
set of conditions is most important. Our first objective
was to determine the effects of soil density and water
content on the apparent thermal conductivity of four
soils with different textures: a sand, a sandy loam, a
loam, and a clay loam. Because of the general lack of
information about the effects of salt and organic matter
on thermal conductivity, our second objective was to
determine the effects of two common salts and organic
matter on the apparent thermal conductivity of clay
loam soil.

[3]

Equation [2] and [3] can be approximated by substituting I 2

R for q as

0.0796 I 2 R/S

[4]

where is the thermal conductivity (W/m K), I is the current

in the line source (A), R is the specific resistance of the wire
(W/m), and S is the slope of the straight-line portion of the
temperature rise or fall vs. the logarithm of time (C). We
assumed that energy transported in soil by radiation and convection of heat was negligible (De Vries and Peck, 1958; Jury
et al., 1991). The experiments were carried out at room temperature.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

THEORY
The single probe methodology is based on a solution of the
heat conduction equation for a line heat source in a homogenous and isotropic medium at a uniform initial temperature.
Because of the linear heat source and cylindrical geometry of
these heat dissipation sensors, sensor temperature (T) during
heating is related to time (t ) according to the theoretical solution for a line heat source (De Vries and Peck, 1952; Campbell
et al., 1991; Bristow et al., 1994b; Reece, 1996)

T T0 (q/4) ln(t t0) d

(q/4) ln[(t2/t1)(t1 th)/(t2 th)]

/[T(t2) T(t1)]

[1]

Where T0 is the initial temperature (C), q is the energy input

per unit length of heater per unit time (W m1), is the thermal
conductivity of the material surrounding the line source (W
m1 C1), t0 is a time correction used to account for the
finite dimensions of the heat source and the contact resistance

Thermal conductivity of soils was measured using the single

probe methodology. In this method, a line heat source, i.e., a
thin straight wire through which a constant electric current is
passed generating constant heat, is installed and a thermocouple is glued to it. The soil is then packed around the wire to
the desired density. When the sample and wire are at uniform
and constant temperature, constant power is supplied to the
heater element and the temperature rise of the heating wire
is measured by a thermocouple and recorded with respect to
time during a 200-s heating interval. Actual current through
the heater element was calculated with Ohms law by measuring the voltage drop across a 10-W reference resistor in series
with the heater wire. Heating power input to a sensor was
calculated by multiplying the resistance per unit length of
heating wire (300 W m1) by the square of the applied current.
Heating power inputs of 11 to 12 W m1 was used in this

ABU-HAMDEH & REEDER: EFFECTS OF SOIL PROPERTIES ON SOIL THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

1287

Fig. 3. Thermal conductivity as a function of soil density for sand at

three different moisture contents (1.4, 2.5, 3.3%).

Fig. 4. Thermal conductivity as a function of soil density for clay

loam at three different moisture contents ( 9.3, 14.2, 18.3%).

study. Thermal conductivity of the sample may be calculated

from the temperaturetime record and power input according
to Eq. [4]. In our experiments rectangular steel boxes of dimensions 17 cm length, 14 cm width, and 20 cm height were constructed in which the soil was packed (Fig. 1). A hole was
drilled in the center of each end through which an electrical
wire was inserted. This wire ran through the center of the box
lengthwise and was fastened at both ends. The wire leads from
the box were connected to a power supply that would heat the
wire running through the box. A thermocouple was inserted
through a small hole in a removable lid of the box and glued
to the electrical wire. The thermocouple leads were attached
to a data logger that was employed to record wire temperature
at the thermocouple terminal at specified time intervals.
Measurements of thermal conductivity were made on four
types of soils: sandy soil (95% sand, 4% silt, and 1% clay),
sandy loam soil (75% sand, 9% silt, and 16% clay), loam soil
(40% sand, 36% silt, and 24% clay), and clay loam soil (21%
sand, 39% silt, and 40% clay). Soils were air-dried and
screened through a 0.2-cm sieve. For the study of variation
of thermal conductivity with bulk density and moisture content, the soil sample was brought to a desired water content
by adding a known amount of distilled water and then mixing
thoroughly. Then the soil of known weight at the given moisture content was packed around the wire to different known
volumes that were marked on the box to bring the soil sample
to the desired bulk density. Various levels of bulk density and
moisture content were used. After that, the electrical wire
was connected to the power supply unit. Temperature was
measured and recorded every 5 s for the first minute and then
every 10 s until the end of the heating process (200 s in our
study). Then the power supply unit was disconnected and
cooling process started immediately. The thermocouple continued to record the temperature after the battery was disconnected. The temperature was recorded every 5 s for the first
30 s and then every 10 s till the end of the cooling process.
The temperature was plotted vs. the logarithm of time and
slopes of the straight-line portions of these curves were determined and used in the calculations of thermal conductivity.
Figure 2 shows an example of these plots. On average, these
curves became straight lines 20 s after heating began at the
wire. The same procedure was repeated for different soil bulk
densities at various levels of moisture content for each soil
type.
For the study of variation of thermal conductivity with salt
concentrations and percentage of organic matter in the soil,
only the sandy soil and the clay loam soil were used. Soil
samples were air-dried and mixed with amounts of either CaCl2

or NaCl solution to produce desired solution contents. These

salts were chosen because their ions are found in many saltaffected soils (Noborio and McInnes, 1993). The mixture was
screened through a 0.2-cm sieve and then mixed in plastic
bags. The samples were allowed to equilibrate overnight at
room temperature and were then placed in the rectangular
steel boxes. Volumetric solution contents ranged from 0.03
to 0.12 m3 m3 for the sand and from 0.09 to 0.30 m3 m3 for
the clay loam. The thermocouple temperature was recorded
as a function of time following the procedure described above
and slopes of temperature vs. logarithm of time were obtained.
Concentrations used were 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.09 kg
kg1 for NaCl and 0.010, 0.015, 0.020, 0.025, and 0.030 kg kg1
for CaCl2. The experiment was repeated (the box was emptied
and repacked with soil) four times for each treatment. Distilled
water was used in all experiments. Finally, six samples of clay
loam soil were air-dried and screened through a 0.2-cm sieve.
These soil samples were amended with peat moss, which was
used as organic matter. The amendment was done on a weight
basis such that the weight of peat moss was 5%, 10%, 15%,
20%, 25%, and 30% the total weight of the six samples, respectively. Then the mixture of known weight was packed to a
known volume to bring the soil sample to the desired 1.13 g
cm3 bulk density. Single probe thermal conductivity measurements were made using the same procedure described above.
The experiment was repeated two times for each peat moss
percentage and average values were reported.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A paired t-test was used to test the null hypothesis
that obtained from heating data was not different from
the obtained from cooling data. The P value was 0.29,
indicating that both the heating method and cooling
method yielded identical thermal conductivity values.
The average of the heating and cooling estimates of
are reported in this study.
Thermal conductivity of five sieved and repacked Jordanian soils as a function of bulk density, water content,
salt concentration in solution, or organic matter is shown
in Fig. 3 through 9. Figures 3 through 6 show thermal
conductivity of the different soils as a function of bulk
density and water content. The sandy soil had higher
thermal conductivity values than the other soils at all
bulk densities. Thermal conductivity increased with increasing bulk density for all soils as a result of particle-

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SOIL SCI. SOC. AM. J., VOL. 64, JULYAUGUST 2000

Fig. 5. Thermal conductivity as a function of soil density for sandy

loam at four moisture contents (6.1, 9.4, 12.1, and 16.0%).

Fig. 7. Soil thermal conductivity of sand as a function of concentrations of both NaCl and CaCl2 solutions.

contact enhancement as porosity was decreased. For the

clay loam and loam soils, thermal conductivity did not
continue to increase rapidly with increasing bulk density
at various water contents (Fig. 4 and 6). There was a
rapid increase in the thermal conductivity of the two
soils with the first increment in bulk density; however,
further increase in bulk density caused only a slight
increase in thermal conductivity. Such a phenomenon
was absent in the sandy and the sandy loam soils.
It appears that increase in bulk density of sandy and
sandy loam soils beyond 1.32 g cm3 did improve contact
between the relatively larger sand particles vs. between
the silt and clay. At a given bulk density, thermal conductivity increased with increasing soil water content.
It is observed that beyond a certain bulk density, higher
values of moisture content increased thermal conductivity less rapidly in the case of clay loam and loam soils,
and more rapidly in the case of sandy and sandy loam
soils. Increasing water content perhaps completed water
films around sand particles, which are relatively larger
than silt and clay, and thus increased the contact area
between sand particles that causes the thermal conductivity to increase rapidly.
The maximum thermal conductivity (1.94 W/m K)
was observed in sandy soil. Clay loam soil had a lower
thermal conductivity than sandy soil at all water con-

tents and bulk densities studied. Thermal conductivity

values reported here lie well within the range 0.3 to 2.25
W/m K for sandy soil, as given by Van Wijk (1963), and
within the range 0.15 to 0.79 W/m K for loam soil, as
given by Ghuman and Lal (1985). The values obtained
for thermal conductivity are higher than the 0.59 W/m
K obtained by Ghuman and Lal (1985) for sandy loam
soil at a 10% moisture content. The differences in mineralogy and sand, silt, and clay fractions in their sandy
loam soil may account for this variation. In the present
study, higher values of thermal conductivity were obtained for the sandy soil than for the clay loam soil.
The decrease of effective thermal conductivity with a
decrease in grain size may be explained by the fact that
as the grain size decreases, more particles are necessary
for the same porosity, which means more thermal resistance between particles (Tavman, 1996). This suggests
that clay loam soils with low thermal conductivities
would exhibit larger surface temperature changes, compared with sandy or sandy loam under equal heat flux
densities. If this were true, it could influence the successful raising of temperature-sensitive crops on the clayey
soils in Jordan.
The effect of salt concentration in solution on thermal
conductivity of the sandy and the clay loam soils are
depicted in Fig. 7 and 8. Thermal conductivities of the

Fig. 6. Thermal conductivity as a function of soil density for loam

at three moisture contents (7.7, 17.5, and 21.2%).

Fig. 8. Soil thermal conductivity of clay loam as a function of concentrations of both NaCl and CaCl2 solutions.

ABU-HAMDEH & REEDER: EFFECTS OF SOIL PROPERTIES ON SOIL THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

1289

CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 9. Soil thermal conductivity of clay loam as a function of organic

matter content.

soils decreased with increasing salt concentration in solution. These results are similar to those of Noborio and
McInnes (1993). Sodium chloride caused less reduction
in thermal conductivity than did CaCl2. On the basis of
their experimental observations, Noborio and McInnes
(1993) reported that NaCl caused less of a reduction,
but not significantly, in thermal conductivity than did
other salts. For our study, based on the individual data
points obtained from heating and cooling data at different repetitions, it is observed that the NaCl solution
caused a significantly greater reduction in the soil thermal conductivity than did the CaCl2 solution. This might
be due to the fact that most of the sodium compounds
have relatively higher solubility than calcium compounds. Shainberg and Otoh (1968) speculated that this
greater reduction might attributed to the reduction in
tactoids and the corresponding increase in platelets with
an increased fraction of Na ions on the exchange sites.
Values of thermal conductivity at a given solution content for the sandy soil were higher than those for the
clay loam soil at all salt concentrations in solution. Noborio and McInnes (1993) stated that for soils with a
significant amount of clay, flocculation and aggregation
might be strongly influenced by the interactions of clay
particles with salt ions. The less ordered the structure
of clay (i.e., more flocculated), the lower the thermal
conductivity.
Thermal conductivity of the clay loam soil decreased
as the percentage (on weight basis) of organic matter
increased in the soil samples. These results are depicted
in Fig. 9, which shows that thermal conductivity was
0.17 W/m K at 30% organic matter content. Because of
the lack of studies on the effect of organic matter on
thermal conductivity of soils, we were unable to compare our results with others from previous studies. The
reason for the lack of research in this area might be due
to the fact that in a soils natural state, the organic
matter content is relatively fixed as it is in relative equilibrium with the climate and amount and type of biomass
produced, as well as with the level of biological activity
occurring in the soil. On the other hand, it can be argued
that the amount of organic matter in a soil can be altered
by cultural practices; e.g., conservation tillage.

Our results show that thermal conductivity varies with

soil texture, water content, salt concentration, and organic matter content. For all soils studied, an increase
in bulk density at a given moisture content increased
thermal conductivity, and increasing moisture content
at a given bulk density increased thermal conductivity.
Loam and clay loam soils exhibit slight increases in
thermal conductivity beyond a certain bulk density
threshold. Clayey soil generally had lower thermal conductivity than did sandy soil. Thermal conductivity of
sandy and clay loam soils decreased with increasing salt
contents at a given water content with higher for the
sandy soil at the same salt concentration. Our results
support the suggestion of Noborio and McInnes (1993)
that solutionclay interactions significantly affect the
thermal conductivity by altering the microstructure of
clayey soils. Thermal conductivity for clay loam soil
decreased with increasing organic matter (peat moss)
content.
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Noborio, K., and K.J. McInnes. 1993. Thermal conductivity of saltaffected soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am J. 57:329334.
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Impact of Preferential Flow on the Transport of Adsorbing and Non-Adsorbing Tracers

K.-J. S. Kung,* T. S. Steenhuis, E. J. Kladivko, T. J. Gish, G. Bubenzer, and C. S. Helling
ABSTRACT
Field experiments were conducted by using a tile drain monitoring
facility to determine the impact of preferential flow on the transport
of adsorbing and non-adsorbing tracers. Simulated rainfall with 7.5
mm h1 intensity and 7.5 h duration was applied to a 18- by 65-m notill plot. After 72 min of irrigation, a pulse of Br and rhodamine
WT (water tracer) was applied through irrigation, and 4 h later, a
second pulse of Cl and rhodamine WT was applied. The breakthrough curves (BTC) of these tracers were measured by sampling
the tile. The same experiments were repeated in an adjacent conventional-till plot, except the rainfall intensity was reduced to 5 mm h1.
The results showed that both the non-adsorbing and the adsorbing
tracers applied in the same pulse arrived at the tile line at the same
time and their BTC peaked at the same time. This suggested that
water dynamics of preferential flow paths dominated the initial phase
of the contaminant transport, regardless of the retardation properties
of contaminants. The tracers from the second pulse were detected at
only 13 min after application. Among the four tracer pulses in two
plots, the BTC from the second pulse in the no-till plot had the longest
period in which the non-adsorbing and adsorbing tracers had identical
patterns. This indicated that the wetter the soil profile, the longer the
water dynamics of preferential flow paths dominate the contaminant
transport. The BTC from the second pulse applied to the two plots
had identical arrival and peak times.

nsaturated soils have been thought to behave

like a living filter system to protect groundwater
quality; i.e., chemicals applied to the soil surface move
slowly in unsaturated soils, are either taken up or
strongly adsorbed, and are degraded to non-toxic compounds before leaching to groundwater. In laboratory
experiments where soils were homogenized and repacked into columns, results showed that unsaturated
soils could indeed filter out contaminants and purify
water. This is why many highly toxic chemicals have
been approved by regulatory agencies for agricultural
use. However, results from field experiments have dem-

K.-J.S. Kung, Dep. of Soil Science, and G. Bubenzer, Dep. of Biol.

System Eng., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706-1299; T.S.
Steenhuis, Dep. of Agric. and Biological Eng., Cornell Univ., Ithaca,
NY 14850; E.J. Kladivko, Dep. of Agronomy, Purdue Univ., West
Lafayette, IN; T.J. Gish, Hydrology Lab., and C.S. Helling, Weed
Science Lab., USDA-ARS, BARC-W, 10300 Baltimore Blvd., Beltsville, MD 20705-2350. Received 2 Feb. 1999. *Corresponding author
(kung@calshp.cals.wisc.edu).
Published in Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64:12901296 (2000).

onstrated that some agrichemicals could be rapidly

transported downward in an unsaturated soil profile
(Everts et al., 1989; Kladivko et al., 1991; Roth et al.,
1991). The rapid contaminant transport in these studies
was attributed to preferential flow. Helling and Gish
(1991), Luxmoore (1991), Flury (1996), and Kladivko
et al. (1999) summarized many research results from
field experiments indicating that chemicals can be rapidly transported through certain pathways into the
groundwater. Soil scientists have become increasingly
aware of the importance of preferential flow as one of
the most significant field-scale mechanisms to determine
the pollution potential of chemicals. In essence, preferential paths make an unsaturated field soil behave like
a perforated filter.
Among the three types of preferential flow paths, the
in-situ scales, scope, and formationdestruction mechanisms of macropore flow paths are not yet clearly comprehended. Therefore, there is no evidence that impact
of macropore flow on contaminant transport under field
conditions can be accurately replicated and examined
in laboratory studies. Consequently, the impact of macropore flow on contaminant leaching needs to be studied
in field-scale experiments. The conventional sampling
protocols (e.g., soil cores and solution lysimeters) used
in field experiments to examine contaminant leaching
were developed more than 50 years ago when the existence, mechanisms, and impacts of preferential flow
were not understood. These sampling protocols implicitly assume that water-borne contaminants move
through the entire soil profile. As a result, samples are
collected at random locations and measured results are
averaged. A sample collected near a preferential pathway will recover much more mass than those located
away from a pathway. This partly explains why there
was substantial scatter in sampling results that were
based on the conventional sampling protocols (Ghodrati
and Jury, 1992; Ju et al., 1997). When contaminants are
transported through certain complex yet fixed pathways,
sample locations rather than the number of samples
determine the representativeness of the samples (Kung,
1990). The random samples collected by the coring
method and the lysimeter method may significantly unAbbreviations: BTC, breakthrough curves; WT, water tracer.