Abstract
A new method was presented for the purpose of volumetric water content determination in any soil sample by gamma-ray transmission. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation technique was used to determine the functional behavior of the linear attenuation coefficient of soil samples having different water contents for three soil samples. Using this functional behavior, the linear attenuation coefficients of dry soil and water were obtained from the intercept and the slope, respectively. It was experimentally shown that the mass attenuation coefficients of soil samples were not sensitive to the chemical composition but only to the physical density. This independence was exploited in this study to obtain the linear attenuation coefficient of a completely dry soil which was found to be 0.1409, 0.1274, and 0.1657 cm−1 for Gumushane, Ardahan, and Trabzon soil, respectively. The linear attenuation coefficient of water was determined to be 0.09 cm−1. Then, the volumetric water contents were obtained by measuring the gamma-ray intensities passed through three wet soil samples. The results were found to be 0.186, 0.182, and 0.214 cm3 cm−3 for Gumushane, Ardahan, and Trabzon soil, respectively. The results obtained by the method introduced were compared with the results obtained using gravimetric method. A very good agreement was observed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appoloni, C. R., & Pottker, W. E. (2004). Non-destructive porosity profile measurement of amorphous materials by gamma-ray transmission. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 61, 1133–1138.
Baytaş, A. F., & Akbal, S. (2002). Determination of soil parameters by gamma-ray transmission. Radiation Measurements, 35, 17–21.
Berger, M.J., Hubble, J.H., Seltzer, S.M., Chang, J., Coursey, J.S., Sukumar, R., Zucker, D.S., Olsen, K. (2010). XCOM: Photon cross section database. NIST Standard Reference Database 8 (XGAM).
Bogena, H. R., Huisman, J. A., Baatz, R., Franssen, H. J., & Vereecken, H. (2013). Accuracy of the cosmic-ray soil water content probe in humid forest ecosystems: the worst scenario. Water Resources Research, 49, 5778–5791.
Celik, N., & Cevik, U. (2010). Monte Carlo determination of water concentration effect on gamma-ray detection efficiency in soil samples. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 68, 1150–1153.
Çelik, N., Çevik, U., & Çelik, A. (2012). Effect of detector collimation on measured mass attenuation coefficient of some elements for 59.5–662 gamma-rays. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B, 281, 8–14.
Cesareo, R., Teixeira, J., & Crestana, S. (1994). Attenuation coefficients and tomographic measurements for soil in the energy range 10–300 keV. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 45(5), 613–620.
Cho, C., Sung, K., Coapcioglu, M., & Drew, M. (2005). Influence of water content and plants on the dissipation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds in soil. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 167, 259–271.
Demir, D., Ün, A., Özgül, M., & Şahin, Y. (2008). Determination of photon attenuation coefficient, porosity and field capacity of soil by gamma-ray transmission for 60, 365 and 662 keV. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 66, 1834–1837.
Gasparro, J., Hult, M., Jonston, P. N., & Tagziria, H. (2008). Monte Carlo modelling of germanium detectors that are tilted and have rounded front edges. Nuclear Instruments and Methods A, 594, 196.
Hawdon, A., McJannet, D., & Wallace, J. (2013). Calibration and correction for cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture probes located across Australia. Water Resources Research. doi:10.1002/2013WR015138.
Hedman, A., Gogani, J. B., Granström, M., Johansson, L., Andersson, J. S., & Rameback, H. (2015). Characterization of HPGe detectors using computed tomography. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 785, 21–25.
Knoll, G. F. (2000). Radiation detection and measurements (3rd ed., p. 49). New York: Wiley.
Koo, J., Ahn, D., Yoon, S., & Kim, D. (1990). Effect of water content and temperature on equilibrium distribution of organic pollutants in unsaturated soil. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 53, 267–277.
Nelson, R., & Hirayama, H.R. (1985) SLAC Report 265.
Passeport, E., Benoit, P., Bergheaud, V., Coquet, Y., & Tournebize, J. (2011). Selected pesticides adsorption and desorption in substrates from artificial wetland and forest buffer. Environmental Toxicology, 30, 1669–1676.
Pires, F. L., Macedo, J. R., Souza, M. D., Bacchi, O. S. O., & Reichardt, K. (2003). Gamma-ray computed tomography to investigate compaction on sewage-sludge-treated soil. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 59, 17–25.
Schmugge, T.J., Jackson, T.J., McKim, H.L. (1979). Survey of methods for soil moisture determination. NASA Technical Memorandum.
Ün, A., Demir, D., & Şahin, Y. (2011). Determination of density and volumetric water content of soil at multiple photon energies. Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 80, 863–868.
Vallee, R., Dousset, S., & Billet, D. (2016). Influence of substrate water saturation on pesticide dissipation in constructed wetlands. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23, 109–119.
Zhou, X., Zhou, J., Kinzelbach, W., & Stauffer, F. (2014). Simultaneous measurement of unfrozen water content and ice content in frozen soil using gamma ray attenuation and TDR. Water Resources Research, 50, 9630–9655. doi:10.1002/2014WR015640.
Acknowledgments
The elemental chemical compositions were measured at the laboratory of Recep Tayyip Erdogan University in Rize, Turkey. Other experimental measurements were performed at the Central Laboratory of Gumushane University, Turkey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Celik, N., Altin, D. & Cevik, U. A New Approach for Determination of Volumetric Water Content in Soil Samples by Gamma-Ray Transmission. Water Air Soil Pollut 227, 207 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-016-2912-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-016-2912-1