Landmark Papers: No. 2. Quirk, J. P. & Schofield, R. K. 1955. The effect of electrolyte concentration on soil permeability. Journal of Soil Science, 6, 163-178. Commentary on the impact of Quirk & Schofield (1955)

摘要

During the first half of the twentieth century, soil scientists were tackling the problem of maintaining the permeability of soil in arid and semi-arid regions as affected by exchangeable sodium on clay particle surfaces during irrigation. The focus was on the soil and particularly on the exchangeable sodium percentage. The solution was to replace the sodium with calcium. While this was effective, it involved the use of large quantities of gypsum. However, the loss of permeability resulted from an interaction between soil and water. Remedying the poor quality soil was one way forward, but equally it might be solved by understanding the influence of the water quality. This is what Quirk and Schofield did in the first detailed study of the effect of electrolyte concentration on permeability. Their work, published in 1955, showed that permeability could be maintained by using irrigation water with an electrolyte concentration above the 'critical threshold' identified by them for various soils. Achieving a sufficiently large electrolyte concentration was often possible with relatively modest additions of gypsum to the irrigation water.