Earth’s Cryosphere, 2023, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, p. 21-29.
PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES IN FROZEN GROUND AND ICE
DIELECTRIC METHOD FOR MEASURING THE CONTENT OF UNFROZEN WATER IN MINERAL SOIL
A.Yu. Karavayskiy1,*, Yu.I. Lukin1, E.I. Pogoreltsev1,2
1 Kirensky Institute of Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Akademgorodok 50/38, Krasnoyarsk, 660036 Russia
2 Institute of Engineering Physics and Radio Electronics, Siberian Federal University, Kirenskogo St. 28, Krasnoyarsk, 660074 Russia
*Corresponding author; e-mail: rsdak@ksc.krasn.ru
The possibility of using the dielectric method to determine the unfrozen water content in the frozen natural mineral soil was proved by establishing the relationship between the contents of soil water forms measured by the dielectric, calorimetric, and contact methods. The unfrozen water content in the sample was measured by the calorimetric and contact methods. In the dielectric method, it was estimated by measuring the maximum content of bound water. The unfrozen water content measured by the calorimetric method in the soil samples with different initial water contents varied within 17%. The unfrozen water content measured by the contact method and the bound water content determined by the dielectric method were within the ranges of values determined by the calorimetric method. The values of the bound water content obtained by the dielectric method and the unfrozen water content obtained by the contact method differed by no more than 17%.
Keywords: mineral soils, calorimetric method, permittivity, unfrozen water, bound water, unbound water
Recommended citation: Karavayskiy A.Yu., Lukin Yu.I., Pogoreltsev E.I., 2023. Dielectric method for measuring the content of unfrozen water in mineral soil. Earth’s Cryosphere XXVII (1), 21–29.