Sand tension table: procedures for construction and validation

Abstract

This paper presents and tests a practical and easy method for setting up a tension table using sand layers obtained as quartz powder in the determination of the soil moisture retention curve up to 100 hPa. Twenty-eight undisturbed cores with varying clay (105 to 316 g kg-1) and organic matter contents (1.98 to 3.90 dag kg-1) along with a mini tensiometer were used to test the sand table efficiency. The results showed that the sand tension table was very reliable when measuring soil water retention curve up to 100 hPa, regardless of the clay and organic matter contents.

soil water retention; laboratory method