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Participant: part of or influencing processes

Soil surface

Appears in 12 processs and 27 steps. Everything below is linked: open a process to see it in context.

Top processes

Soil evaporation stages and vapour transport

9 steps

Soil evaporation stages and capillary rise from shallow groundwater

5 steps

Start: Soil evaporation stages and capillary rise from shallow groundwater
End: Soil evaporation stages and capillary rise from shallow groundwater
Stage I: evaporation runs near the potential rate while capillary flow keeps the surface wet; readily evaporable water is about 2-7 mm in sand, 8-10 mm in loam, 8-12 mm in clay
and 2 more in this process

Water infiltration, retention and movement

3 steps

Soil thermal regime and heat flow

2 steps

Slaking, crust formation and runoff

1 step

Fine particles seal surface pores into a crust

Soil nitrification, nitrate reduction and nitrogen gas losses

1 step

Ammonia volatilizes from high-pH soil surfaces

Show 6 more processes

Soil disturbance (fire, tillage, drought) and recovery

1 step

Infiltration falls, runoff and erosion rise after fire

Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and Richards flow

1 step

Surface seals, compaction or water repellency throttle the top boundary, so rain exceeding the seal conductivity runs off

Capillary rise from shallow groundwater and salt accumulation

1 step

Evaporation leaves salts behind so they accumulate at the surface when upward flux exceeds leaching; soil with ECe above 4 dS/m is called saline

Gas diffusion and air-filled porosity control of soil aeration

1 step

Compaction and surface seals cut air-filled porosity and connectivity, lowering Ds and raising N2O emissions and lowering methane uptake

Soil compaction: stress, density, root limitation and recovery

1 step

Reduced infiltration raises runoff, ponding and erosion

Biological soil crusts: cyanobacteria, lichens and mosses on dryland surfaces

1 step

Crust loss lets wind erosion bury and abrade remaining crust, increasing dust and lowering soil fertility

Often found with

Water 15 Sun 11 Wind 9 Water vapour 7 Solar energy 6 Pore space 5 Soil water 4 Heat 4 Soil 3 Groundwater 3 Salt 2 Soluble salts 2

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