Water in the soil
The relationship between water and soil is fundamental for the life of plants and many organisms that coexist in it, but without water many processes slow down or stop. Water is the means by which these processes occur, for example through it salts that enter through the roots and are distributed throughout the plant are mobilized.
I like to see when it rains and the smell that is given off when the soil gets wet and we say that it smells like rain.
When it rains we can observe how the water penetrates through the pores of the soil until it saturates it if the amount of water is abundant and then the water remains on the surface until it begins to drain to deeper layers or to move along the surface, this is what is called runoff.
In these photographs that I took initially in a dry soil you can see part of the process. In the soil there are particles forming aggregates.
I could see how when the soil gets wet some particles are suspended and the bubbles that are formed indicate that the air that was in the spaces between the particles is being displaced and escapes to the surface
And then as the water begins to occupy those spaces it begins to move downwards and if it is sufficient, the surface of the soil is wetted.
A wonderful and complex balance, because the soil is much more than what we observe daily and its interaction with water is vital and fascinating in this amazing nature.
Thank you very much for reading
The pictures were taken by me with a Samsung S6 edge phone.
