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Improved Tension Infiltrometer for Measuring Low Fluid Flow Rates in Unsaturated Fractured Rock

^a Land Resources and Environmental Science Dep., Montana State Univ., 334 Leon Johnson Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717
^b USDA-ARS, George E. Brown, Jr. Salinity Lab., 450 W. Big Springs Road, Riverside, CA 92507
^c Dep. of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, 301 Scoates Hall, Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX 77843-2117
^d U.S. Geological Survey, MS 423, 1180 Town Center Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89134

View larger version (123K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. View of improved tension infiltrometer disk setup on large fractured rock sample used in this study.

View larger version (43K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Schematic of improved infiltrometer disk showing major components.

View larger version (16K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Schematic of Mariotte and reservoir towers used for the improved low-flux, high-tension infiltrometer.

View larger version (25K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Plots vs. time of (a) observed cumulative infiltration, (b) the applied pressure head at the rock surface, and (c) ambient temperature using an early high-tension infiltrometer prototype. Notice how the observed surface pressure heads are affected by the ambient temperature fluctuations.

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Plots vs. time of (a) observed cumulative infiltration, (b) applied pressure head at rock surface, and (c) ambient temperature of the improved high-tension infiltrometer prototype. Notice that temperature effects on the pressure head at the rock surface are now minimized relative to the results in Fig. 4.

View larger version (13K): [in a new window]   Fig. 6. Steady-state infiltration rates measured with a traditional soil tension infiltrometer (solid circles) and the improved low-flux, high-tension infiltrometer (solid triangles).