Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Moffat et al. 1990

Moffat AJ, Johnston M, Wright JS. 1990. An improved probe for sampling soil atmospheres. Plant and Soil 121: 145-147.

These authors describe a new design of soil gas probe they produced to examine soil O2 levels, especially at landfills and other potentially polluted sites. The design is fairly complex, with moving parts. Essentially, the probe is driven into the soil to the desired depth, and then lifted slightly to create a void below the tip. The top of the probe is then rotated and tapped to open the tip, and a gas sample can be drawn from a tube on the side. These authors tested this probe by measuring O2 concentrations in a column of sand that had been flushed with pure N2; anoxic conditions were recorded in the deeper parts of this column.

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