Study on Soil Hydrological Process, Mechanisms and Effects
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Water".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2024) | Viewed by 1923
Special Issue Editors
Interests: soil hydrology; hydrological process; model simulation; rock fragment; subsurface flow; land use; nitrogen cycle; biogeochemical process
Interests: water chemistry and catchment weathering; coupling cycles of sulfur and carbon; water quality evaluation; microbial cycling of heavy metals and nutrients; sulfur cycles in wetlands
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The soil hydrological process plays a crucial role in linking different spheres of the Earth’s critical zone, including the lithosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, and serves as a primary driving force for material and energy exchanges among these spheres. Understanding the spatio-temporal patterns of the soil hydrological process and their critical regulating mechanisms is therefore a pressing issue in fields such as hydropedology, biogeochemistry and critical zone science.
The soil hydrological process can be categorized into two aspects: the static aspect, represented by soil water content and potential; and the dynamic aspect, represented by soil water movement. Studies of the static aspect mostly focus on the spatio-temporal changes in soil water content at various geographical units or spatial scales (e.g., hillslope, watershed, region and continent) and those occurring during specific climate events (e.g., prolonged drought and extreme rainfall), examining the mechanisms that control these changes and the induced ecological and environmental effects, such as the influences on vegetation growth and grain yield. Studies of the dynamic aspect mostly concern the occurrence process (flow flux and rate) and mechanism of different water flow phenomena (e.g., infiltration, percolation, lateral subsurface flow, preferential flow), model simulations of these processes, and the environmental issues triggered by water movement, such as soil erosion and non-point nutrient loss.
Although the soil hydrological process, mechanisms and effects have been widely studied in previously published research, systematic and comprehensive investigations are still required. Further research is needed to better understand the mechanisms that control soil water content across different spatial scales, the occurrence thresholds and mechanisms of the lateral subsurface flow and preferential flow, and to develop improved methods and models for monitoring subsurface flow processes (especially lateral subsurface flow and preferential flow). Additionally, the effects of the soil hydrological process on vegetation growth, greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, nutrient loss, water pollution and other eco-environmental issues have become research hotspots.
This Special Issue aims to gather high-quality papers emphasizing different aspects and findings related to the soil hydrological process, mechanisms and effects, with a particular focus on the areas mentioned above.
We are pleased to invite you to submit your most recent research contributions, which will go through a peer-review process performed by independent reviewers. Original case studies and review papers are invited for publication in this Special Issue.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Xiaoming Lai
Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Wei Zhang
Dr. Zhuojun Zhang
Guest Editor Assistants
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- soil water content
- subsurface flow
- hydrological process
- model simulation
- spatio-temporal variability
- controlling mechanism
- watershed
- spatial scale
- nutrient loss
- nutrient cycling
- ecological effects
- greenhouse gas emission
