Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2021

Presentation information

[E] Poster

A (Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences ) » A-GE Geological & Soil Environment

[A-GE27] Subsurface Mass Transport and Environmental Assessment

Thu. Jun 3, 2021 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM Ch.05

convener:Hirotaka Saito(Department of Ecoregion Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology), Chihiro Kato(Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University), Yuki Kojima(Department of Civil Engineering, Gifu University), Shoichiro Hamamoto(Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, The University of Tokyo)

5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

[AGE27-P04] Evaluating effects of plant roots on soil thermal properties with a thermo-TDR sensor

*Nanae Oda1, Yuki Kojima1, Kohji Kamiya1 (1.Gifu University)


Keywords:plant root, thermal properties, thermo-TDR

Plant roots have many effects on the surface soil properties. An interaction between soil thermal properties and plant root weight density has not been well understood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of plant roots on the soil thermal properties.

We hypothesized that the effect of plant roots on the soil thermal properties would differ depending on the soil and plant type, thus, we have performed an experiment with three types of plants (soybean, western grass, and guinea grass) and two soils (Gifu university experimental field soil and Andisol soil). The three plants were cultivated in the two soils, and thermal properties were measured with thermo-TDR periodically.

It was found that the plant root growth caused decrease in bulk density in Andisol soil while that of the field soil was relatively constant. Thermo-TDR sensor measurement showed that the soil thermal properties were affected by not only the root weight density but also various factors such as the soil bulk density and the root shape. In order to elucidate the phenomena in more detail, it is necessary to analyze the images of the rhizosphere soil by CT and to improve the model.