Fundamentals of Soil Physics

This book is not, in any case, in total defiance of the Wise Old Man's admonition, for it is not an entirely new book. Rather, it is an outgrowth of a previous treatise, written a decade ago, entitled "Soil and Water: Physical Principles and Processes." Though that book was well enough received at the time, the passage of the years has inevitably made it necessary to either revise and update the same book, or to supplant it with a fresh approach in the form of a new book which might incorporate still-pertient aspects of its predecessor without necessarily being limited to the older book's format or point of view.

Preface. Acknowledgments. The Task of Soil Physics. General Physical Characteristics of Soils. Properties of Water in Relation to Porous Media. Texture, Particle Size Distribution, and Specific Surface. Nature and Behaviour of Clay. Soil Structure and Aggregation. Soil Water: Content and Potential. Flow of Water in Saturated Soil. Flow of Water in Unsaturated Soil. Movement of Solutes and Soil Salinity. Soil Air and Aeration. Soil Temperature and Heat Flow. Stree-Strain Relations an Soil Strength. Soil Compaction and Consolidation. Bibliography. Index.