environment with special attention to water quality and the greenhouse effect. Sustainable
use of natural resources is the basic, underlying theme throughout the book.
This book is divided into 20 chapters and 5 parts. Part I is an introduction to soil
physics and contains two chapters describing the importance of soil physics, defining
basic terms and principal concepts. Part II contains six chapters dealing with soil
mechanics. Chapter 3 describes soil solids and textural properties, including particle size
distribution, surface area, and packing arrangements. Chapter 4 addresses theoretical and
practical aspects of soil structure and its measurement. There being a close relationship
between structure and porosity, Chapter 5 deals with pore size distribution, including
factors affecting it and assessment methods. Manifestations of soil structure (e.g.,
crusting and cracking) and soil strength and compaction are described in Chapters 6 and
7, respectively. Management of soil compaction is a topic of special emphasis in these
chapters. Atterberg’s limits and plasticity characteristics in terms of their impact on soil
tilth are discussed in Chapter 8.
Part III, comprising eight chapters, deals with an important topic of soil hydrology.
Global water resources, principal water bodies, and components of the hydrologic cycle
are discussed in Chapter 9. Soil’s moisture content and methods of its measurement,
including merits and demerits of different methods along with their application to specific
soil situations, are discussed in Chapter 10. The concept of soil-moisture potential and the
energy status of soil water and its measurement are discussed in Chapter 11. Principles of
soil-water movement under saturated and unsaturated conditions are described in
Chapters 12 and 13, respectively. Water infiltration, measurement, and modeling are
presented in Chapter 14. Soil evaporation, factors affecting it, and its management are
discussed in Chapter 15. Solute transport principles and processes including Fick’s laws
of diffusion, physical, and chemical nonequilibruim, its measurement, and modeling are
presented in Chapter 16.
Part IV comprises two chapters. Chapter 17 addresses the important topic of soil
temperature, including heat flow in soil, impact of soil temperature on crop growth, and
methods of managing soil temperature. Soil air and aeration, the topic of Chapter 18, is
discussed with emphasis on plant growth and emission of greenhouse gases from soil into
the atmosphere. Part V, the last part, contains two chapters dealing with miscellaneous
but important topics. Chapter 19 deals with physical properties of gravelly soils. Water
movement in frozen, saline, and water-repellent soils and scale issues in hydrology are
the themes of Chapter 20. In addition, there are several appendices dealing with units and
conversions and properties of water.
This book is of interest to students of soil physics with majors in soil science,
agricultural hydrology, agricultural engineering, civil engineering, climatology, and
topics of environmental sciences. There are several unique features of this book, which
are important in helping students understand the basic concepts. Important among these
are the following: (i) each chapter is amply illustrated by graphs, data tables, and easy to
follow equations or mathematical functions, (ii) use of mathematical functions is
illustrated by practical examples, (iii) some processes and practical techniques are
explained by illustrations, (iv) each chapter contains a problem set for students to
practice, and (v) the data examples are drawn from world ecoregions, including soils of
tropical and temperate climates. This textbook incorporates comments and suggestions of
students from around the world.