The Rankine Lecture

The 37th Rankine Lecture of the British Geotech-

nical Society was given by Professor G. E. Blight
MScEng, DScEng(Witwatersrand), PhD, DScEng
(Lond), DScEng(Cape Town) at Imperial College
of Science, Technology and Medicine on 19th
March, 1997. The following introduction was given
by J. B. Burland.

I have known Professor Blight since 1961 and it

is for me a special pleasure to introduce him on
the occasion of his Rankine Lecture. Geoffry Eu-
stace Blight was born at Pietersberg, Transvaal,
South Africa, on 30 July 1934 and he was educated
at Benoni High School. He read Civil Engineering
at the University of the Witwatersrand and was
awarded the BSc(Eng) degree in 1955. On graduat-
ing from `Wits' he joined the well-known ®rm of
consulting engineers, Kanthack and Partners, but
soon returned to the University to study for a
Master's degree under Professor Jennings. He was
awarded the MSc(Eng) degree in 1958 and ob-
tained a Witwatersrand University Council Scholar-
ship to study overseas. Professor Jennings urged
Geoff to go to MIT, but the fees alone were more
than the value of the scholarship. In contrast, the Professor G. E. Blight
fees for overseas research students at Imperial
College were, at that time, nominal. Geoff opted to
come here to work under Professor Bishop. We
like to think that there were sound academic rea- Research Institute (NBRI) in Pretoria, where he
sons for this decision, as well as economic ones. became a Senior Chief Research Of®cer. Though
For his PhD, Geoff chose to work on partly well equipped and having good facilities, the NBRI
saturated soils at a most exciting time when the was in the doldrums at that time. Geoff's arrival
experimental foundations of the subject were being gave rise to a most productive, some might say a
laid and to which he has made very signi®cant halcyon, period when he tackled a wide range of
contributions. His thesis is still used as a model for fundamental and practical soil-mechanics problems
experimental work and his reputation for thorough relevant to South Africa.
and meticulous testing is remembered through a In 1969, Geoff was appointed to the Kanthack
story involving Alan Bishop ± one of many! In Chair of Civil Engineering Construction Materials
1960, during the period leading up to the Shear at `Wits'. There was one condition to his appoint-
Strength Conference at Boulder, Colorado, Profes- ment ± he was not permitted to work on soil
sor Bishop spent some time in the USA. He mechanics! This, fortunately temporary, infringe-
frequently sent instructions back to Imperial Col- ment of academic liberty proved to be a blessing
lege for key tests to be carried out. Geoff may not as it compelled him to apply his outstanding prac-
know this, but his reputation for meticulous work tical and scienti®c talents to other construction
was such that, on one occasion when the need for materials. As a consequence, among his 200 or so
data was particularly urgent, Bishop requested that publications are important contributions to, for ex-
someone else should carry out the tests. This may ample, pavement engineering, the properties of
seem a somewhat backhanded compliment, but I epoxy resin mortars, the repair of reinforced-con-
suspect that ultimately it was Geoff who did the crete structures affected by alkali-aggregate attack,
work, as Bishop never cut corners. pollution from sanitary land®lls (a topic of particu-
On returning to South Africa, Geoff joined the lar importance in developing countries) and some
staff of the University of the Witwatersrand, but truly seminal papers on pressures in silos. Later,
after two years he moved to the National Building Geoff was appointed to the Andrew Roberts Chair

713
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 714
of Civil Engineering at `Wits' when he was per-
mitted to work in soil mechanics. Since then his
proli®c output of research work has retained its
diversity.
For many years Professor Blight has used the
®eld as his laboratory. Three areas where this is
particularly evident are the loading exerted by the
contents of silos and bins, the deterioration of
concrete structures as a result of environmental
in¯uences, and the performance and stability of
land®lls and tailings dams. Anyone who has ex-
perienced the dif®culties and time-consuming na-
ture of ®eld research will appreciate what a
formidable achievement it is to have carried out so
many successful ®eld projects ± particularly in a
setting where research funds are limited and lecture
loads are high.
Throughout his career Geoff has maintained a
high international pro®le. He has participated in
the work of the UK Institution of Structural Engi-
neers, the International Federation of Chemical
Engineers, the International Commission on Large
Dams, the International Solid Waste Association
and, last but not least, the International Society of
Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. He
has delivered numerous state of the art papers and
keynote lectures at international conferences all
over the world.
Geoff has been awarded the DSc(Eng) degree,
not once, not twice, but three times ± from the
University of London in 1975 for his work on soil
mechanics, the University of the Witwatersrand in
1985 for his work on construction materials and
the University of Cape Town in 1993 for his work
on environmental geotechnics. He has received
many awards for his publications, including the
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RANKINE LECTURE
Telford Premium from the Institution of Civil Engi-
neers and the James J. Croes Gold Medal of the
American Society of Civil Engineers. He is a
Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil
Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Society of South
Africa and a Fellow of the Academy of Engineers
of South Africa.
Geoff has a delightfully direct approach by
which, in the nicest possible way, one is left in no
doubt about his views. Not long ago I shared a
platform with him for the ®nal session of an inter-
national conference where a number of us were
asked to re¯ect on the proceedings. Whereas most
of us made polite remarks about this and that,
Geoff had no hesitation in remarking that there
were papers in that conference which had attemp-
ted to rediscover the wheel but had failed ± he
was absolutely right. His remarks were reminiscent
of, but less forthright than, another South African,
the well-known poet Roy Campbell, who wrote the
following verse about some fellow South African
novelists:
You praise the ®rm restraint with which they write ±
I'm with you there, of course:
They use the snaf¯e and the curb all right,
But where's the bloody horse?
In South Africa the word would be pronounced
`bledy'!
While not anticipating such strong language, I
know that Professor Blight's lecture will be direct,
to the point and of great practical relevance. It is
with the utmost pleasure and anticipation that I
invite him, on behalf of the British Geotechnical
Society, to deliver the 37th Rankine Lecture.
 Blight, G. E. (1997). GeÂotechnique 47, No. 4, 715±767
Interactions between the atmosphere and the Earth
G. E. BLIGHT
Interactions between the atmosphere and the
Earth have always been important to civil engi-
neers, and particularly to geotechnical engineers.
Certain of these interactions can be rapid and
catastrophic, resulting in the failure of structures
such as dams and bridges, in loss of life and
in widespread environmental devastation. Other
interactions can be slow and insidious, but still
destructive and costly in the long term, e.g. the
effects that swelling or shrinking clays have on
buildings on shallow foundations.
After giving two examples of catastrophic
interactions between the atmosphere and Earth
structures, the paper will concentrate on examin-
ing the interaction between the atmosphere and
the unsaturated soil zone above the water table.
The behaviour and properties of the soils that
comprise the unsaturated zone between the soil
surface and the water table are greatly dependent
on the transfer of water and energy between the
atmosphere and the soil, through the soil surface.
While agronomists, soil scientists and hydrologists
have paid a great deal of attention to this inter-
action between the atmosphere and the Earth,
geotechnical engineers have tended to ignore it.
The geotechnical engineer has tended to accept
the water table depth, water content pro®le,
strength pro®le, etc., as he has found them, and
has not concerned himself with how these
conditions arose, or how they could advanta-
geously be modi®ed, except by short-term con-
struction measures, e.g. dewatering or preloading.
Many aspects of the behaviour of soils in the
unsaturated zone are closely linked to the water
balance between the atmosphere and the Earth,
which determines such things as the water table
depth, the average and seasonal water content
pro®le, and seasonal swelling or shrinking.
This paper will examine the water balance in
detail and show how its various components can
be measured. The water balance depends on the
energy balance at the soil surface, and this will
also be examined, its components analysed and
information given on how to measure them.
Examples will then be given of how the water
balance principle and deliberate adjustments to
the water balance can be used to solve practical
problems in the geotechnical engineering of the
unsaturated soil zone between the ground surface
and the water table.
715
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Les interactions entre l'atmospheÁre et la terre ont
toujours eÂte importantes pour les ingeÂnieurs du
geÂnie civil et en particulier pour les geÂotechni-
ciens. Certaines de ces interactions peuvent eÃtre
rapides et catastrophiques, amenant la deÂfaillance
de structures comme les barrages et les ponts,
causant des accident mortels et des deÂsastres
eÂcologiques de grande envergure. D'autres inter-
actions peuvent eÃtre lentes et insidieuses mais, aÁ
long terme, tout aussi destructives et couÃteuses,
comme les effets que des argiles qui gon¯ent ou
qui se reÂtractent peuvent avoir sur des baÃtiments
aux fondations peu profondes.
ApreÁs avoir donne deux exemples d'inter-
actions catastrophiques entre l'atmospheÁre et les
structures terrestres, cet expose examinera l'in-
teraction entre l'atmospheÁre et la zone de sol non
sature au-dessus de la nappe phreÂatique.
Le comportement et les proprieÂteÂs des sols qui
constituent la zone non satureÂe entre la surface
du sol et la nappe phreÂatique deÂpendent dans une
large mesure du transfert de l'eau et de l'eÂnergie
entre l'atmospheÁre et le sol, aÁ travers la surface
du sol. Alors que les agronomes, les speÂcialistes
du sol et les hydrologues accordent beaucoup
d'attention aÁ cette interaction entre l'atmospheÁre
et la terre, les geÂotechniciens ont plutoÃt tendance
aÁ la neÂgliger. Le geÂotechnicien tend aÁ accepter la
profondeur de la nappe phreÂatique, le pro®l de la
teneur en eu, le pro®l de reÂsistance etc., tels qu'ils
les trouve et ne s'occupe pas de savoir comment
ces conditions se sont produites ou comment elles
pourraient eÃtre modi®eÂes avantageusement; il se
borne aÁ prendre des mesures de construction aÁ
court terme, comme l'asseÁchement, la preÂcharge
etc.
De nombreux aspects du comportement des
sols dans la zone non satureÂe sont eÂtroitement lieÂs
aÁ l'eÂquilibre aqueux entre l'atmospheÁre et la
terre, eÂquilibre qui deÂtermine la profondeur de la
nappe phreÂatique, le pro®l de la teneur en eau
moyenne et saisonnieÁre, le gon¯ement ou le retrait
saisonnier etc.
Cet expose examine en deÂtail l'eÂquilibre aqueux
et montre comment ses divers composants peu-
vent eÃtre mesureÂs. L'eÁquilibre aqueux deÂpend de
l'eÂquilibre eÂnergeÂtique aÁ la surface du sol,
eÂquilibre qui fera eÂgalement l'object d'un exa-
men; nous en analyserons les composants et nous
indiquerons comment les mesurer.
 716
KEYWORDS: evapotranspiration; in®ltration; water
balance; partial saturation; suction.
PREFACE
William John Macquorn Rankine (Fig. 1) lived
from 1820 to 1872 and was a Professor of Engi-
neering at the University of Glasgow for 17 years
from 1855 until his untimely death at the young
age of 52 years. A true Victorian engineer, Ran-
kine is remembered for his many and varied con-
tributions to engineering science, which are all the
more remarkable considering the brief span of his
creative life. In a list of famous scientists in mech-
anics (Applied Mechanics Reviews, 1973), Rankine
is cited for his contributions to thermodynamics, in
the company of Carnot, Gibbs and Clausius. He
originated the Rankine steam engine cycle, the
Rankine temperature scale and a set of gas shock
equations, the Rankine±Hugoniot equations (Cot-
trel, 1963). He is also remembered for a plastic
Fig. 1. W. J. M. Rankine

Professor of Civil Engineering, Witwatersrand Univer-
sity, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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BLIGHT
Nous donnerons des exemples de la facËon dont
on peut utiliser le principle de l'eÂquilibre aqueux
et nous indiquerons les ajustements aÁ faire
deÂlibeÂreÂment aÁ cet eÂquilibre pour reÂsoudre les
probleÁmes pratiques dans les calculs geÂotechni-
ques de la zone de sol non sature entre la surface
du sol et la nappe phreÂatique.
yield criterion ± the maximum principal stress
criterion (Jaeger, 1956) ± an arch design theory,
contributions to the design of gravity dams and an
early strut formula (Pippard & Baker, 1948). In
geotechnical engineering, his major contribution
was, of course, to Earth pressure theory, with his
formulation of the Rankine active and passive
states of plastic equilibrium. It is interesting to
note, in relation to gravity dams, that Rankine was
the ®rst to realize that tensile stresses must be
eliminated from any horizontal cross-section, while
Terzaghi was one of the ®rst to realize and analyse
the effects of seepage uplift pressures in gravity
dam sections (Terzaghi, 1934). This paper records
the 37th Rankine Memorial Lecture and marks the
125th anniversary of Rankine's death.
INTRODUCTION
The atmosphere is the engine that drives most
of the processes affecting the surface of the Earth.
Drawing its fuel from the Sun, the atmosphere
produces the winds, rain, hail and dust-storms that
have shaped the surface of the Earth and trans-
ported soils over it throughout its geological his-
tory. It is the Sun's radiant energy, converted to
mechanical energy by the atmospheric engine, that
produces `the great forces of nature' referred to by
Telford (Rolt, 1958) in his well-known de®nition
of civil engineering.
Many of the interactions between the atmo-
sphere and the Earth are cataclysmic and can, and
do have, devastating consequences in terms of loss
of life, damage to property and environmental
damage or change. The following are two exam-
ples of cataclysmic interactions, one from the life-
time of Rankine, the other from more recent times.
In both cases the failures occurred either from lack
of technical knowledge, or from lack of due engi-
neering diligence, or both. In both cases, the real
reasons for the cataclysm will never be known with
certainty. In both cases, tragic loss of life, damage
to property and environmental damage ensued.
Both cases demonstrate the continuing need for
engineers to exercise un¯agging diligence, both in
their day-to-day duties and in a continual search
for improved engineering knowledge, and better
engineering solutions.
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
The Dale Dyke dam failure. The Dale Dyke dam
failed on 11 March 1864, when it had reached its
full height and was almost complete. According to
eye witnesses (Amey, 1974), during a day of heavy
rain and gale-force winds sweeping down the
reservoir valley, the reservoir was ®lling rapidly,
but was still about 380 mm (15 in.) below the
spillway crest. The crest of the embankment was
1´5 m (5 ft) above the spillway crest. Late in the day
a workman noticed a crack running horizontally
along the downstream slope of the embankment and
about 3 m (10 ft) from the top. The distance was
probably estimated along the surface of the
embankment and corresponds to a vertical distance
of 1´2 m (4 ft) below the crest. The crack must thus
have been almost at, or slightly above the reservoir
water level. Gunson, the resident engineer for the
owner of the dam, was summoned, and while
examining the crack `was appalled to see at the top
of the dam ``water running like a white sheet in the
darkness'' and it went ``right under my feet and
dropped down the crack'''. As he watched, a breach
appeared in the crest of the dam and rapidly
enlarged. At this stage, the spillway crest level had
not been reached by the water in the reservoir. Fig.
2 is an 1864 photograph of the breached embank-
ment, while Fig. 3, taken at the same time, shows
some of the devastation left by the ¯ood.
The ¯ood swept through the City of Shef®eld,
killing 250 people and causing extensive damage
to property. It sounds from Gunson's account that
the crest of the embankment must have subsided
to cause overtopping and then breaching. Binnie
(1981) concludes that `The evidence points to the
water having escaped though a breach at the base
Fig. 2. The rupture of the embankment in the Dale Dyke dam failure, 1864
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717
of the core wall as a consequence of the clay in
the cut-off trench having been ruptured'. In other
words, the failure and crest subsidence were ini-
tiated by the formation of an erosion pipe through
the ruptured puddle clay core. Failures of this kind
are often accompanied by the formation of a whirl-
pool in the water upstream of the pipe, but in the
darkness, and with all attention focused on the
crack in the downstream slope, no whirlpool was
seen to form. Very recently, Dounias et al. (1996)
have re-examined the possible causes of the Dale
Dyke failure. They concluded that, if the reservoir
level had risen rapidly towards spillway level, hy-
draulic fracture of the puddle clay core would have
occurred in the cut-off trench, thus con®rming
Binnie's conclusion.
The atmosphere±Earth interaction, in this case
the storm that caused the reservoir level to rise
rapidly, was thus not the prime cause of the disas-
ter, but only the last link in the chain of circum-
stances and events that led to the failure.
The tailings dam failure at Bafokeng Platinum
Mine. On the morning of 11 November 1974, 110
years after the Dale Dyke dam disaster, the south
western wall of the No. 1 tailings dam at Bafokeng
Platinum Mine, near the town of Rustenburg, South
Africa, failed. Before the failure, the dam (85 ha in
area and 20 m high) contained about 17 3 106 m3 of
tailings. About 3 3 106 m3 of lique®eld tailings
slurry ¯owed through the breach in the wall, engulfed
a vertical shaft of the mine, and ¯owed into and on
down the valley of the Kwa-Leragane River, and
thence into the Elands River (Blight et al., 1981).
The slurry demolished or damaged many surface
 718 BLIGHT

Fig. 3. Devastation caused by the ¯ood from the failed Dale Dyke dam

structures at the shaft, and carried away with it
vehicles and items of equipment waiting to be taken
underground. A large quantity of slurry ¯owed
down the shaft, trapping some workers underground
and tearing loose certain of the shaft equipment.
Twelve died underground in the disaster.
At a distance of 4 km from the breach in the
dam, the ¯ood of slurry had spread to a width of
0´8 km and was 10 m deep. The ¯ood continued
down the Kwa-Leragane River into the Elands
River, and an estimated 2 3 106 m3 of tailings even-
tually ¯owed into the reservoir of the Vaalkop water
storage dam, 45 km downstream of Bafokeng.
Figure 5 shows a plan of the Bafokeng dams 1
and 2, the position of the breach and the course
taken by the escaped tailings, and Fig. 4 is an

Fig. 4. Aerial view of breached Bafokeng tailings dam

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
Water course
leading to
Kwa-Leragane
N
river
Tailings dam
No. 2
85 m
m
15 . 38
11 16 .
Breach
RL 11
B: : RL
C
Tailings dam
RL 1117.62 m
No. 1
RL 1117.60 m
Pools as on Shaft
10 Nov. 1974 (12 miners killed)
Area covered
by tailings flood
Fig. 5. Plan of Bafokeng tailings dams 1 and 2
showing the position of the breach and the course of
the escaped tailings
aerial view of the breached tailings dam. The
events leading to the failure have been very well
described by Midgley (1979). His description is
paraphrased below.
During the early morning of Monday, 11 Nov-
ember 1974, heavy rain fell in the Rustenburg area.
Readings from rain gauges in the vicinity differed
widely, but it was estimated that at the Bafokeng
mine 75 mm of rain fell between 02.00 and
04.00 h on that day. At the time of the accident
(as may be seen from Fig. 5), tailings dam 1 was
divided into two portions by a diagonal wall ex-
tending from the south-eastern to the north-eastern
side. The area of the top of the dam behind the
dividing wall was about 73 ha and that of the
triangular downstream portion about 11 ha. An
amateur photographer happened to ¯y over Bafo-
keng on the afternoon of 10 November and took
three oblique photographs showing tailings dam 1
from three different angles. From these photo-
graphs the peripheries of the ponds on top of the
tailings dam, as on that Sunday afternoon, were
transposed to the survey plan of the dam, and are
indicated in Fig. 5. The approximate water surface
areas in the upper and lower compartments were
20 and 45 ha, respectively.
The tailings-dam contractor's workmen came on
duty at about 07.00 h on Monday. Finding consid-
erable excess water quantities on the top of dam 1,
they immediately set about lowering the water level
as quickly as possible by lowering the crests of the
outlet penstock towers.
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719
Adjacent to dam 1 was dam 2, its top at a
substantially lower elevation. Workmen had cut a
track (at B in Fig. 5) through the rim between dams
1 and 2, near the eastern corner, to bring in a front-
end loader for the purpose of pushing up barriers of
dry tailings to drive the water back from the rim of
the dam. There was another low place in the rim
slightly to the north-west (C in Fig. 5).
At about 08.45 h workmen noticed water over-
topping the diagonal wall which soon breached,
releasing water from the upper pool to the smaller
lower one in which the water was judged to have
been standing about 2 m lower. There was a sudden
rise of level in the lower pool, and water started to
¯ow through the cutting B from dam 1 into dam 2.
Flow was not so strong, however, as to cause
substantial down-cutting. There was no evidence of
over¯ow at the other low place (C). Elevations of
the crests of the over¯ow (B) and non-over¯ow
(C) sections were subsequently measured at re-
duced level (RL) 1115´85 m for B and RL
1116´38 m for C compared with RL 1117´60 m at
point A (the estimated elevation of the lowest part
of the outer rim of the tailings dam. From these
elevations it can be concluded that at no stage
could the water have risen in the lower pool to
within less than about 1´2 m of the crest of the
dam, namely the difference between the levels of
the rim of the dam and the non-over¯ow section C.
The start of the failure was witnessed by a
number of persons, including those working on the
top of the dam in the vicinity of the breach.
Versions depended largely upon the position from
which the dam was in view and upon the moment
at which the observer happened to grasp that some-
thing serious was amiss. Piecing together of the
evidence revealed the following:
(a) At about 10.15 h a leak appeared in the south-
eastern slope of the dam, appearing as a jet of
water emerging about two-thirds of the way up
the slope and falling on the downstream slope.
(b) The hole from which water was emerging
quickly grew and the jet became a large stream
pouring down the slope.
(c) Above the stream of water two or more cracks
developed in the slope, extending upwards at
fairly steep angles towards the crest, to form a
wedge with its apex down.
(d) Blocks of material collapsed out of this wedge
and fell as solid masses into the now rapidly
increasing ¯ood of water and tailings.
(e) The resulting gulley widened rapidly to about
130 m as several million cubic metres of lique-
®ed tailings poured out. After spreading over the
fairly level ground surface adjacent to the breach
(and destroying the shaft) the escaping slurry
found its way into a normally dry water course
and thence into the Kwa-Leragane River.
 720 BLIGHT

There appears to be suf®cient evidence to conclude the foreman's desperate attempt to save the
that the dam did not fail by conventional over- dam may have triggered its destruction.
topping. The eye-witness accounts of the failure all
It is interesting that only one of the papers that
point to a failure by erosion. However, no satisfac-
describes the failure even mentions the outlet pen-
tory and credible explanation of how the initial
stocks. Midgley (1979) refers to attempts to lower
hole formed was ever reached.
the water level on the dam by lowering the crests of
Platinum tailings have a wide range of particle
the penstocks, but gives no further details, and
sizes, from medium sand to clay. The tailings sep-
Jennings does not refer to the penstocks at all. Only
arate readily into their component size ranges as
one of the available aerial photos of the failure scar
they gravitate from the spigots through which they
shows any signs of penstock shafts or towers. This
are deposited at the wall, down the hydraulic beach
prompted the author to discuss the matter with the
to the pool (see e.g. Blight, 1994). Examination of
late Professor D. C. Midgley (personal communica-
the wall material after the failure by Jennings
tion, 1997). The result of the discussion was Fig. 6
(1979) showed it to consist of layers of sandy
(taken from one of the original reports on the
tailings 200±500 mm thick separated by discontin-
failure). The ®gure shows that the dam was
uous layers of clayey tailings 1±20 mm thick. This
equipped with four penstock towers and two outfall
could have resulted in an effective permeability for
pipes, all of which disappeared during the course of
horizontal ¯ow of water of many times (possibly
the failure. The two penstocks in the triangular
500±1000) that for vertical ¯ow. Hence the phrea-
portion of the dam are particularly interesting,
tic surface in the dam could have been raised,
especially the temporary penstock which was less
either locally or generally, and parts of the outer
than 40 m from the crest of the wall at the breach.
wall could have been saturated. Jennings (1979)
It is not known if this penstock was operational at
denies this in the discussion in his paper, but of
the time of the failure. However, if it was, and if, in
course he did not see the area of the breach prior
their zeal to lower the water level, too high a water
to the failure, and this could well have been a wet
head was allowed over the penstock crest, the pen-
area.
stock shaft could have started to ¯ow full. This is a
The following quotes from Jennings' paper are
very dangerous operating condition for the type of
believed to be very signi®cant:
penstock shaft used at Bafokeng. The shaft or tower
1. The slimes dam foreman reported that he was is built of stacked, precast concrete rings. It has
on the dam when the dividing wall between long been known (e.g. US Bureau of Reclamation,
the upper and lower ponds failed but that 1960) that if the head of water over the crest of a
nevertheless he continued for some time shaft spillway exceeds 0´25 times the shaft diameter,
thereafter to work with his front end loader
in the area of the crest of the dam where the
breach subsequently occurred . . ..
3. The foreman on the dam was not in a
position to see water jetting from the wall. To
him the failure would have appeared to be
due to a deepening of a gulley which ap- Temporary Permanent
Outfall pipe
peared in a place where he had been try- penstock penstock
ing to push the water back with his front end Dam No. 1
loader. (upper)

The signi®cance of these statements is as follows: Dam No. 1

(lower)
(a) If the foreman was `trying to push the water
back', it would appear that the wall of the dam 35–40 m Permanent
penstock N
must have been in imminent danger of over- Outfall pipe
120–140 m

topping, even though the quoted crest levels

breach

Temporary
indicate a freeboard of 1´75 m or so. penstock Approximate
(b) A vibrating machine, even a light, wheeled lines of breach
front-end loader, working on a hydraulically
deposited loose saturated sand could cause the A C
sand to liquefy, at least locally. The hole that 1117.62 m B 1116.38 m
appeared in the wall could very well have 1115.85 m

resulted from this liquefaction. Loss of mater-

ial through the hole could then have resulted in Fig. 6. Plan of the breach area in the Bafokeng
a depression forming in the crest, followed by tailings dam, showing the positions of the outlet
overtopping and breaching of the wall. Hence penstocks (or decant towers)

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
the ¯ow may surge, and the resulting pressure
¯uctuations have been known to dislodge rings and
even to destroy the penstock shaft. As the usual
diameter of penstock rings used in South Africa is
600 mm, this limits the safe head over the penstock
crest to less than 150 mm, or the height of one and
a half penstock rings.
If the temporary penstock was operational, and
was subjected to full ¯ow, the vibrations from the
surging could have been the primary cause of
liquidation of the saturated sand that resulted in
the breach. Alternatively, if the penstock rings were
dislodged, a cavity would have been eroded around
the penstock shaft, which could have rapidly en-
larged until it emerged through the downstream
slope.
In summary, the dam failed by overtopping that
resulted from a form of erosion failure. The origin
of the erosion will never be known, but could have
been caused or exacerbated by
(a) localized liquefaction caused by the front-end
loader working on the wall at the breach, or
(b) dislodgement of rings from the temporary
penstock shaft as a result of surging ¯ow and
pressure ¯uctuations in the shaft.
Unfortunately, both of these possible causes may
have resulted from overzealous and ignorant action
by the contractor's staff in their attempts to save
the dam.
Even though the Dale Dyke and Bafokeng dis-
asters occurred 110 years apart in time, it is in-
teresting that the causes of the failures had certain
things in common, including similar human fail-
ings:
(a) There appears to have been a complacency
about the state of safety of both structures.
(b) There was no well-considered contingency plan
or plan of action in the event of an accident.
Incoming solar
radiation less
reflected radiation
equals net
radiation (Rn)
ou
Gr xtrac
e In
(ET
o n
rati
spi
p o tran
Eva rag
Sto
Evaporation t e r
wa
und
Gro flow
Fig. 7. Components of the soil water balance
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721
(c) Both failures resulted from a concatenation of
events of which the atmosphere±Earth inter-
action, a rainstorm in each case, played a
triggering, rather than a prime role.
In the case of Dale Dyke dam there was a lack
of knowledge, on the part of the designer, of the
complex interactions between the plastic and com-
pressible puddle clay core and relatively rigid sup-
porting shells, or cut-off trench walls. In the case
of the Bafokeng dam there was ignorance of the
dangers of storing large quantities of water on a
tailings dam and of surcharging a shaft spillway.
It is possible to continue listing examples of
such devastating (though fortunately relatively in-
frequent) interactions between the atmosphere and
the Earth ± some natural, some at least partly
induced by man. However, the main purpose of
this paper is to examine the consequences of a
less traumatic interaction; an interaction that
everywhere occurs seasonally within the layer of
soil between the Earth's surface and the water
table; an interaction that directly or indirectly
affects the everyday lives of all of us, in a less
dramatic, but nevertheless important way. These
continuing, everyday interactions can affect our
food supply, our health, our ability to traval
safely and comfortably, the value of our invest-
ment in our homes and the cost of maintaining
our country's infrastructure. This everyday inter-
action is called the `soil water balance' and
affects the growth of crops, the stability of
slopes, the leaching of noxious constituents from
waste dumps, the deterioration of road, runway
and railway riding surfaces and the stability of
building foundations. The various components of
the soil water balance are illustrated in Fig. 7. A
study of the soil water balance necessitates bor-
rowing skills from a number of ®elds closely or
more distantly related to geotechnical engineering,
namely meteorology, surface and groundwater
(P )
tion Snow
ipita
Prec t
el
m
ow
Sn)
Snow strorage
e r ( R off )
t off I
wa n ( Phreatic
nd tion un tio
c er l tra surface
rf a f i
) Su )h
∆ S
il e(
R ec
So
i n h arg
e c
Re
Well
 722
hydrology, agricultural and forest hydrology, soil
physics and geo-morphology.
In this paper an attempt will be made to draw
together information from a number of the above
®elds and to show how it relates to the geotechni-
cal behaviour of the unsaturated zone, that zone in
which the interchange of water between the atmos-
phere and the Earth occurs, which constitutes the
soil water balance. Much of the information pre-
sented here is not new. Some of it goes back to
the early years of this century. In many cases,
however, it may be unfamiliar in the ®eld of geo-
technical engineering. Also, many of the concepts
and techniques of measurement were originally
derived for application in ®elds such as surface
water hydrology, agronomy and ground water hy-
drology. Their application to geotechnical engineer-
ing differs from those for which they were
originally developed. It is therefore necessary to
demonstrate their applicability to the circumstances
and problems of geotechnical engineering.
A start will be made by giving examples of
atmospheric water balances between precipitation
and evaporation from a free water surface. These
are some of the basic input data that in¯uence the
soil water balance. It will continue by considering
the processes of in®ltration and run-off, evapo-
transpiration and groundwater recharge and storage,
that constitute the components of the soil water
balance for the zone of unsaturated soil between
the ground surface and the water table. The con-
sideration of evapotranspiration, or evaporation
from a soil surface requires an evaluation of the
radiation balance at the ground surface. The eva-
luation of the components of this balance will
likewise be described. Finally, illustrations and ex-
amples will be given of how the soil water balance
affects, or can be applied to analysing the geotech-
nical problems of the unsaturated zone.
THE ATMOSPHERIC WATER BALANCE
The atmospheric water balance is the algebraic
sum, at a particular locality, of precipitation (rain or
snow), which is regarded as an input, and positive,
and potential evaporation (i.e. evaporation from a
free water, ice or snow surface), which is regarded
as a loss, and negative. It can be written as
Bˆ Pÿ E (1)
in which B is the balance between precipitation P
and evaporation E. In climates where freezing does
not occur, P will consist solely of rainfall, R.
Neither of the components, P or E, is simple to
measure, but there are accepted standard methods
of measurement for rainfall R using a standard rain
gauge and for potential evaporation using a stan-
dard evaporation pan. This is usually an A-pan,
although the Symons pan, or S-pan, is also widely
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BLIGHT
used. These pans differ in shape, size and condi-
tion of exposure. Evaporation measured by the A-
pan is about 20% in excess of that measured by
the S-pan, and neither ®gure is directly related to
evaporation from an extensive water surface, or a
land surface.
The atmospheric water balance is a means of
characterizing a local climate. In periods of water
surplus (B positive), soil moisture will be replen-
ished and, as a result, recharge of groundwater
may occur. In periods of water de®cit (B negative),
the soil will lose moisture to the atmosphere. An
atmospheric water balance may be classi®ed as:
(a) a perennial water surplus, or
(b) a perennial water de®cit, or
(c) a seasonal water surplus=de®cit.
Examples of atmospheric water balances for
four localities, Kuala Tahan (Malaysia), Melbourne
(Australia) and Johannesburg and Cape Town
(South Africa) are shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8(a) shows
the atmospheric water balance for a wet year at
Kuala Tahan in the tropical rain forest area of the
Malaysian peninsula. Annual rainfall here averages
2370 mm, and average annual A-pan evaporation is
1160 mm. Hence the average annual water surplus
is 1210 mm. Fig. 8(a) shows a detailed water bal-
ance for a wet year (1984, rainfall 3475 mm). In
this year the water surplus was almost perennial,
except for a brief period in August. In drier years
the water de®cit can last for 2±3 months of the
year.
Figure 8(b) shows the atmospheric water balance
(based on 30-year average ®gures) for Melbourne,
Australia. Here, there is a perennial water de®cit
(on average), even though rain occurs throughout
the year. Annual rainfall averages 644 mm and an-
nual A-pan evaporation 1265 mm. Hence the aver-
age annual water de®cit is 621 mm. Obviously, as
the average water de®cit is so small during May to
August, wet years will have a seasonal water
surplus.
Johannesburg has most of its rain in summer
(October to April). Annual rainfall averages 745
mm and annual A-pan evaporation is 1550 mm;
hence the average annual water de®cit is 805 mm.
Fig. 8(c) shows the water balance for a wet year
(1987, rainfall 800 mm). There was a water de®cit
throughout the year. However, in the third wettest
period on record (the 1966±1967 wet season), in
which unusually low evaporation was also recor-
ded, there was a wet-season surplus of 130 mm.
In contrast to Johannesburg, Cape Town has a
winter wet season. Its average annual rainfall is
510 mm and the annual A-pan evaporation is
1110 mm. It thus has an average annual water
de®cit of 600 mm. A detailed atmospheric water
balance is shown in Fig. 8(d), for a dry year
(1992, rainfall 420 mm). There was a water surplus
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 723
500
P
400

P and EA: mm
Water surplus
300
P
200

100
EA
Water deficit EA
0
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Month
(a)

500

400
P and EA: mm

Water deficit
300 Water deficit

200 EA EA

100 P P
0
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Month
(b)

500

400
P and EA: mm

300
EA Water deficit EA
200
P P
100

0
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Month
(c)

500

400 Water deficit

P and EA: mm

EA EA
300
Water surplus
200

100 P P
0
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Month
(d)

Fig. 8. Illustrations of different types of atmospheric water balance: (a)

Kuala Tahan, Malaysia, 1984; (b) Melbourne, Australia, 30-year
average; (c) Johannesburg, South Africa, 1987; (d) Cape Town, South
Africa, 1992. EA , A-pan evaporation; P, precipitation

in June and July. Perennial water de®cit years do
occur in Cape Town. For instance, in the ®fth
wettest year on record (1959) the wet-season de®cit
was 135 mm.
The atmospheric water balance can be regarded
as one of the two basic inputs to the soil water
balance. (The other being the surface radiation
balance.) Detailed water balances can obviously
take a number of other forms, but Fig. 8 illustrates
what are probably the main types.

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 724
THE SOIL WATER BALANCE
The soil water balance (see Fig. 7) controls the
state of moisture in the unsaturated zone of soil
between the ground surface and the water table. It
can described by:
water input to soil ˆ water output
‡ water stored in soil
(2a)
The terms in equation (2a) can be described in
more detail as follows:
water input ˆ infiltration ˆ precipitation
ÿ (interception ‡ runoff )
ˆ P ÿ (I ‡ Roff )
water output ˆ water lost by evapotranspiration
‡ water recharged to the water
table
ˆ ET ‡ Rech
water stored ˆ change in total water stored in soil
ˆ ÄS
Thus equation (2a) can be symbolized as:
P ÿ (I ‡ Roff ) ˆ ET ‡ Rech ‡ ÄS (2b)
In certain circumstances, extraction of groundwater
by isolated wells or by well-®elds may be impor-
tant, in which case a water extraction term would
be added to equation (2b).
In the ®eld of waste management, where lea-
chate management is important, the water balance
for the waste deposit may be of interest, rather
than that for the complete soil pro®le, plus the
overlying waste. In this case, equation (2b) would
be further modi®ed to
P ÿ (I ‡ Roff ) ‡ ÄW ˆ ET ‡ L ‡ ÄS (2c)
The recharge Rech has now been replaced by a
term L representing the leachate generated by and
recharged from the waste, and there is an addi-
tional input ÄW , the water content of the incoming
waste. (In the case of a land®ll that penetrates the
groundwater, lateral seepage may also be a net
input term.)
If the annual water balance for the soil is
perennially positive, as it is likely to be in a
climate like that of Kuala Tahan, the recharge will
be positive, the water table will usually be shallow
and the unsaturated zone will be of limited impor-
tance. If the water balance is usually perennially
negative, as in Melbourne or Johannesburg, re-
charge of the water table will take place infre-
quently, and hence the water table will usually be
deep and the zone of unsaturated soil will assume
a much greater signi®cance.
The following sections of this paper will de-
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BLIGHT
scribe, with examples, how the various components
of the soil water balance can be measured, so that
the soil water balance can be used to make geo-
technical predictions.
MEASURING INFILTRATION (I) AND RUNOFF (Roff )
The mechanics of in®ltration and run-off were
investigated comprehensively 30±40 years ago in
the ®eld of soil physics. The results of this re-
search are well summarized by Hillel (1980). The
work that will now be described was undertaken to
con®rm the transferability of the concepts to the
speci®c circumstances being considered here,
which differ somewhat from those for the earlier
applications.
Precipitation can be partitioned into in®ltration,
that portion of precipitation that enters through the
surface of the soil, and runoff, the remainder of
the precipitation. In more detail:
infiltration ˆ precipitation ÿ (interception
‡ surface evaporation ‡ runoff)
I ˆ P ÿ (I nt ‡ E ‡ Roff ) (3)
For a vegetated surface, interception is that part of
the rainfall that is intercepted by the plant cover
and evaporates without reaching the surface. If a
surface has a higher temperature than the rain,
some of the precipitation will evaporate either as it
reaches the surface, or just above it. Depending on
the amount of precipitation, the nature of the sur-
face and the type of vegetative cover, interception
and surface evaporation can vary from a small to a
major proportion of precipitation. For example, if a
small amount of rain falls on a hot paved surface,
or a densely forested area, the entire precipitation
can be either evaporated or intercepted, with no
in®ltration or runoff. On the other hand, a similar
amount of rain falling on a ploughed ®eld may all
in®ltrate.
It could be argued that to ®nd a limiting in®ltra-
tion rate it is only necessary to carry out a double-
ring in®ltrometer test or some other saturated in
situ permeability test on the soil surface and
measure the limiting rate of in®ltration. Any rain
falling at an intensity less than this rate will in®l-
trate, and if the rainfall intensity exceeds the limit-
ing in®ltration rate, the excess over this rate will
run off. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as this,
even though the principle is correct. Not only does
the limiting in®ltration rate depend on the slope
and state of compaction of the surface, but also on
the moisture content of the material underlying the
surface, i.e. on the degree to which suction in the
underlying unsaturated material draws water in.
This is illustrated in Fig. 9, which compares the
results of double-ring in®ltrometer tests on a soil
surface (a sandy silt) starting with a nominally dry
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 725
100
Sloped (43% slope) bunds and gutters to prevent run-on from adjacent
areas and to collect runoff from the test plot. Rain

Permeability
80 Near-horizontal (4% slope)

60
was then simulated using a sprinkler system having
a series of sprinklers with an overlapping deposi-
40
tion pattern. The precipitation on, and runoff from
Rate of Infiltration, i : mm/h

20 the test plot were measured for various rates and

0
0 100 200 300 400 500
sequences of precipitation.
Time: h Figure 10 shows the results of two tests starting
(a) with dry soil surfaces. The test was designed to
30 apply precipitation at a rate just large enough to

Permeability
Sloped
25 Near-horizontal produce runoff, and began with high rates of
20 precipitation (80 mm=h for the 4% slope and 55
15 mm=h for the 43% slope). The corresponding rates
10 of runoff were measured and the rates of precipita-
5 tion were adjusted progressively so that, while run-
0 off still occurred, its rate was minimized and thus
0 100 200 300 400 500
Time: h approximated a limiting in®ltration rate. As Fig. 10
(b) shows, a ®nal limiting rate of in®ltration of about
15 mm=h was measured for the 4% slope and that
Fig. 9. Double-ring in®ltrometer tests before and after for the 43% slope was about 20 mm=h. These rates
sprinkler irrigation of a soil surface: (a) dry soil; (b) were slightly less than the limiting double-ring
wet soil in®ltration rates for the dry sites shown in Fig. 9,
but the limiting rate was reached in much less time
surface, and after the soil had been thoroughly (2´5 h for the sprinkler tests, as compared with
wetted by sprinkler irrigation. It can be seen that 250 h for the double-ring in®ltrometer). The smal-
the limiting in®ltration rate into a near-horizontal ler time to equilibrium probably arises because, in
surface (4%, 2´38) was in this case less than that contrast with the double-ring in®ltrometer, the
into a sloped surface (43%, 238). The reason for sprinkler in®ltration tests affected a relatively large
this is that the surface of the soil on the slope was volume of soil and therefore reduced the suction in
less compact and therefore accepted water more the soil more rapidly.
readily than that on the near-horizontal surface.
Also, the limiting in®ltration rate into the initially 100
r
dry surface averaged about 30 mm=h for the two i
sites after 300 h, whereas that into the pre-wetted 80

Permeability
surface at exactly the same spots averaged about
Rates of precipitation, r, and infiltration, i : mm/h

60
10 mm=h. Fig. 9 also shows the saturated per-
meability for the soil as measured in the labora- 40

tory. This corresponds to the limiting in®ltration 20

rate for the wet, near-horizontal site.
The reason for the discrepancy between the ini- 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
tially dry and wet sites is that, because the double- Time: min
ring in®ltration test affects a relatively small vol- (a)
ume of soil, even after 300 h (nearly 2 weeks) of
in®ltration into the dry soil, there were still signi®- 70
r
cant suction gradients augmenting the in®ltration 60 i
Permeability

rate. It is also possible that the soil had not yet 50

fully swelled, closing up cracks and ®ssures, and 40 iL
that additional swelling would further reduce the 30
rate of in®ltration. In any case, a steady state had 20
not yet been reached, and nor had a truly limiting 10
in®ltration rate. 0
To explain some of the characteristics of in®ltra- 0 50 100 150 300
Time: min
tion and runoff, a programme of sprinkler in®ltro-
(b)
meter tests, simulating rain, has been carried out.
Earlier results from this programme have been
Fig. 10. Sprinkler in®ltration tests to determine limit-
reported by Blight & Blight (1993) and Blight & ing in®ltration rates for soil surfaces. Precipitation
Roussev (1995). The reader is referred to these and in®ltration versus time: (a) near-horizontal (4%
papers for details of the test procedures. Brie¯y, a slope), dry soil; (b) sloped (43%), dry soil. iL ,
test plot measuring 9 m 3 9 m was surrounded by Limiting rate of in®ltration

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 726 BLIGHT

Figure 11 shows the limiting rates of in®ltration
from Fig. 10 together with the results of four
similar tests, plotted against cumulative in®ltration
into the soil. Each of the three sets of measure-
ments corresponds to a different initial water con-
tent w0 , and the results illustrate the effect of
higher soil suctions at the lower water contents on
increasing the initial in®ltration rate. The results
for w0 ˆ 10% at the sloped site are anomalous, but
no explanation has been found. From Fig. 11 it
appears that for the soil surface considered, a fairly
steady rate of in®ltration was reached after a cum-
ulative in®ltration into a `dry' surface of 20±30
mm had occurred. Thus the rate of in®ltration is
affected by the permeability of the soil, its surface
gradient and its water content or suction.
If i is the rate of in®ltration (mm=h) and t hours
of precipitation at rate r (mm=h), i0 is the in®ltra-
tion rate at t ˆ 0 and iL is the limiting rate of
in®ltration after a long time, then the in®ltration
curves in Fig. 10 can be described by an expres-
sion due to Horton (1940):
i ˆ iL ‡ (i0 ÿ iL ) eÿ kt
where k is a characterizing constant. Thus, at
t ˆ 0, i ˆ i0 , and at t ˆ 1, i ˆ iL , and the value
of k decides on how rapidly i approaches iL . For
example, for the lower curve in Fig. 10(a), i0 ˆ 80
mm=h, iL ˆ 10 mm=h and k ˆ 1:76=h.
Equation (4) is an empirical expression that ®ts
the shape of the in®ltration curve. Alternative ex-
pressions have been proposed by Philip (1957) and
Holtan (1961). Similarly, the in®ltration rate i can
be related to the cumulative in®ltration I (see Fig.
11) by the expression
i ˆ iL ‡ (i0 ÿ iL ) eÿ KI (5)
For the w0 ˆ 5% curve in Fig. 11(a), K ˆ
0:078=mm.
The dif®culty with applying equations (4) and
(5) is that the four characteristic parameters i0 , iL ,
k and K have to be determined experimentally.
Philip's expression,
i ˆ iL ‡ 12 St ÿ1=2 (6)
has the advantage over Horton's expression that it
requires the evaluation of only two characteristic
(4) parameters, iL and S.
How do the in®ltration rates shown in Figs 10 and
11 relate to actual rainfall intensities? Fig. 12(a)

100
w0
5%
80 15%
20%
Permeability

60

40

20
Rate of infiltration, i : mm/h

0
0 20 40 60 80
Cumulative infiltration, I : mm
(a)

120
w0
2%
100
15%
10%
Permeability

80

60

40 iL

20

0
0 20 40 60 80
Cumulative infiltration, I : mm
(b)

Fig. 11. Sprinkler in®ltration tests to determine limiting in®ltration

rates for a soil surface. In®ltration rate versus cumulative
in®ltration: (a) near-horizontal (4% slope); (b) sloped (43%). iL ,
Limiting rate of in®ltration

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 727
50 50

40 40

% of 24 h rainfall events

% of annual rainfall
30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0–5

5–10

10–20

20–30

30–50

50–80

.80

0–5

5–10

10–20

20–30

30–50

50–80

. 80
Rainfall in 24 h: mm Rainfall in 24 h: mm
(a) (b)

Fig. 12. Distribution of rainfall events by rainfall in 24 h and percentage

of annual rainfall, for locality of sprinkler in®ltrometer tests (near
Johannesburg)

shows the distribution of rainfall events at the 100

meteorological station nearest to the site used for
Rate of precipitation: mm/h

the sprinkler in®ltrometer tests, ranked by the 80 100 mm/h for

amount of precipitation in 24 h. It will be noted 5 min 5 8 mm
that 67% of rainfall events were of less than 60

10 mm in 24 h and 83% were of less than 20 mm 40

in 24 h. Fig. 12(b) shows the contribution to the Potential
infiltration
annual rainfall as a percentage of each class of 20
rainfall event. The greatest contribution to annual
0
rainfall (48%) came from events in the 10±30 mm 0 1 2 3
class. The 0±10 mm class contributed 23% of Time: h
annual rainfall, while events of more than 30 mm (a)
in 24 h contributed 29%. Thus the relatively small
events of 0±30 mm contributed 71% of the annual
rainfall. 20
The actual intensity of rainfall in a natural storm
is very variable. Fig. 13(a) shows an intensity±time
Rate of precipitation: mm/h

relationship for a natural storm that was recorded 15

at the site for the sprinkler tests. In this storm of
26´5 mm total rainfall, the highest intensity reached
nearly 100 mm=h for 5 min (8 mm of precipita- 10

tion). A curve of potential in®ltration rate versus

time has been superimposed on Fig. 13(a). Any 5
(rainfall intensity 3 time) exceeding this curve
would have resulted in runoff, and any intensity
less than the curve would have in®ltrated. It is 0
obvious that, in this case, only the excess peak 0 2 4
Time: h
6 8 10

intensity (60 mm=h for 5 min, or 5 mm) resulted in (b)

runoff. The measured runoff for the whole storm
was 5´3 mm, or 20% of the total precipitation. Fig. 13. Rate of precipitation versus time for two
Figure 13(b) shows a second intensity±time storms observed at the site of the sprinkler in®ltro-
relationship for natural rainfall. In this case the meter tests: (a) total rainfall 26´5 mm, run-off 5´3 mm
rainfall intensity was lower, but the duration great- (20%); (b) total rainfall 19 mm, runoff 0 mm

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 728 BLIGHT

er. The entire storm fell below the potential in®l- of pressure (Pa or N=m2 ). These are equivalent to
tration curve, with the exception of the two short- units of energy per unit volume of soil (Nm=m3 or
duration peaks. Hence this event resulted in zero J=m3 ). Thus soil suction represents the energy
runoff. For this soil, and the distribution of rainfall necessary to extract a unit volume of water from
events shown in Fig. 12, it appears that runoff the soil. The energy demand is, however, not as
from the class of rainfall events that contributes important as is often supposed. A simple calcula-
most to annual rainfall (0±30 mm) must be very tion will show that, even at the wilting point,
low. Appreciable runoff would only occur from where the suction is of the order of 1500 kPa, the
rainfall events exceeding 30 mm in 24 h. The re- energy needed to extract unit mass of water from
sults of earlier sprinkler in®ltration tests at a separ- soil is about 1700 times smaller than that required
ate site (Blight & Blight, 1993) led to a similar to evaporate the same mass of water (1´5 kJ=kg as
conclusion. However, for both these sites, limiting compared with 2500 kJ=kg). Hence, if there is
in®ltration rates were moderate at 10±20 mm=h, enough energy to evaporate water from the soil
and a different conclusion might apply in a case surface, there will be enough energy to draw it up
where the limiting in®ltration rate is much lower. through the soil. However, as suction increases, soil
permeability declines and this may have a major
effect on inhibiting water loss from the soil.
ESTIMATING EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET ) The phenomena of evaporation, potential evapo-
The determination of evapotranspiration has transpiration and actual evapotranspiration is illus-
been of concern to agriculturalists and hydrologists trated by Fig. 14 (Blight, 1963). The diagram
for over a century (e.g. Penman, 1963). Many shows moisture losses with time from the surfaces
methods for assessing potential evapotranspiration of four identical plastic containers, three ®lled with
(the evapotranspiration when the availability of soil and one with water. Of the soil-®lled contain-
water is not a limiting factor) have been developed. ers, one was planted with grass that had been
Among these are methods by Blaney & Criddle, grown in the container from seed, one had a bare
(1950), Thornthwaite (1948, 1954), and Penman soil surface, and the soil surface in the third
(1948, 1952, 1956, 1963). container was covered by a 10-mm thick layer of
All these methods were evolved for irrigated clean, coarse sand to represent a mulch. At the
®elds, and for climates with a positive annual start of the experiment, all three soil-®lled contain-
water balance, where the actual evapotranspiration ers were saturated by standing them in a bath of
will usually be close to the potential evapotrans- water for 24 hours, after which time they were
piration. However, for arid, and semi-arid, non- removed and allowed to drain. Once drainage had
irigated areas, which are often those of interest to ceased and the soil was at ®eld capacity (see later),
the geotechnical engineer, the availability of water the drainage holes were sealed and the containers
may limit evapotranspiration, and actual evapo- were allowed by dry out, with the results shown in
transpiration may drop well below the potential Fig. 14.
®gure. As soil suction increases, increasing quanti- Cumulative losses from the free water surface
ties of energy are required to draw soil water into represent pan evaporation and were linear with
the atmosphere. Soil suction is expressed in units time. Initially, cumulative evaporation from the

Time: h
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220
0

0.05
Water loss: %/cm2 surface area

Field
capacity,
w 5 42.6%
0.10

0.15

Grass starts
0.20 to wilt,
w 5 22.5%
Permanent
0.25 wilting point,
w 5 14.0%
0.30

Fig. 14. Moisture losses with time from soil in containers with various
surface conditions: (u) sand-covered soil surface; (d) free water surface;
(j) bare soil surface; (s) grassed surface

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
bare soil surface and the evapotranspiration from
the grassed surface were also linear, and occurred
at a greater rate than losses from the water surface.
The enhanced loss rate occurred because the dark-
coloured soil surface re¯ected less radiation than
the water surface, and the grassed surface was
evapotranspiring from a much larger surface area
(the entire leaf area) than the nominal area of the
container. The initial linear portions of curves for
the bare soil and grassed surfaces, represent `non-
water-limiting' conditions. Once the grass started
to wilt, the rates of moisture loss from both the
grassed and bare soil surfaces declined and started
to equalize at a value less than the rate of loss
from the water surface. During this stage water
availability had declined and `water-limiting' con-
ditions prevailed. Once the grass started to die
there was a further decline in the rate of loss of
moisture, and rates of loss from the bare soil and
grassed surfaces became equal at about half the
rate from the water surface. The sand-mulched
surface lost moisture at a lower rate throughout,
this also being about half the rate of loss from the
water surface. Had the experiment been continued
for long enough, the evaporation rates from all four
containers would have declined to zero when all
the contained water had evaporated. The `water-
limiting' condition can thus have two stages. In the
®rst, the declining permeability (and increasing
suction) of the soil limits the rate of loss. In the
second, depletion of the water in the soil results in
water loss ceasing.
A number of attempts have been made to pre-
dict actual evaporation from climatological data.
Most researchers in this area have derived empiri-
cal or semi-empirical equations. For example,
Thornthwaite (1954) produced an empirical equa-
tion and tables relating actual evapotranspiration to
potential evapotranspiration and soil moisture de®-
cit. Much of Thornthwaite's work was carried out
in the humid north-east of North America and thus
may not be suitable for extrapolation to more arid
conditions. Thornthwaite's empirical equation is:
!a
10tm
Em ˆ 16:2 X
i results for arid and semi-arid areas, whereas
in which Em is the monthly evaporation (mm), tm
: Many attempts have also been made to ®nd
is the mean monthly temperature (8C), i is (T=5)1 5 ,
where T is the mean daily temperature, and
!3
X X
a ˆ 6:75 3 10ÿ9 i ÿ7:7 3 10ÿ7
! Europe. Others (quoted by Fenn et al. (1975))
X found values for Ep =EA varying in the range 0´5±
‡ 0:08 i ‡ 0:49
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729
where a has a limiting value of 0´5 for all practical
temperatures.
Turc (1954, 1955) produced one of the earliest
attempts to take a limiting water supply into
account. He did this by introducing a term for
precipitation into his empirical equation for evapo-
transpiration. The equation was, however, devel-
oped for wet climate conditions, and has the
limitation that evaporation is expressed as a frac-
tion of precipitation. Hence the equation predicts
zero evapotranspiration in periods of drought,
which is not correct. Turc's empirical equation is
as follows:
Pm
Em ˆ : (8)
0 9 ‡ (Pm =L)2
in which Em is the monthly evaporation (mm), Pm
is the monthly precipitation (mm), and
L ˆ 300 ‡ 25Tm ‡ 0:05T m 3
where Tm is the mean monthly temperature (8C).
The most rational approach to calculating poten-
tial evaporation is due to Penman (1948). He used
many of the concepts that follow, and produced a
semi-rational equation, based on the energy bal-
ance at the soil surface:
ÄRn =ë ‡ ãEa
Ep ˆ (9)
ćã
in which Ep is the potential evaporation, Ä is the
slope of the temperature versus saturated water
vapour pressure curve at the prevailing air temp-
erature, Rn is the net incoming solar radiation, ë is
the latent heat for vaporization of water, ã is
the psychrometric constant (66 Pa=8C), Ea ˆ 0:165
(esat ÿ ea ) (0:8 ‡ u2 =100) mm=day, esat is the satu-
rated vapour pressure in air (mbar), ea is the actual
vapour pressure of air (mbar) and u2 is the wind
speed at a height of 2 m (km=day).
As Ä and ë both have units of Pa=8C, if Rn has
units of J=m2 per day and ë has units of J=kg, the
units of Ep are kg=m2 or, taking the density of
water as 1000 kg=m3 , the equivalent of mm=day of
water. A recent comparison of the Penman and
Thornthwaite equations (Hulme et al., 1996) has
(7) shown that the Penman equation gives realistic
Thornthwaite's equation is completely unrealistic
for these conditions.
modi®cation factors that will convert A- or S-pan
evaporation to actual evaporation from cropped
!2 ®elds. For instance, Penman (1956) found ratios of
i Ep =EA varying from 0´8 for summer to 0´6 for
winter to 0´7 for equinoctial months for Western
0´9.
The best comparison of the results of various
 730 BLIGHT

evaporation equations appears to be one by Schulz surface energy balance (Bowen, 1926). Fig. 16
(1974), who compared the results of the equations (Tanner, 1960) shows the components of the en-
due to Blaney & Criddle (1950), Penman (1956), ergy balance which is expressed as
Thornthwaite (1954) and Turc (1955) with meas- Rn ˆ G ‡ H ‡ Le (10)
ured A-pan evaporation and evaporation measured
by means of a large lysimeter. The results of his where Rn is the net radiation ¯ux for the surface
comparison are shown in Fig. 15. This shows that (incoming solar and diffuse sky radiation, less
the Thornthwaite and Turc equations consistently re¯ected radiation and outgoing long-wave terres-
underpredict. The Penman equation underpredicts trial radiation, see Fig. 16(a), G is the soil heat
in the warm months and overpredicts for cold parts ¯ux (the heat causing changes in temperature of
of the year, while Blaney & Criddle's equation the soil), H is the sensible heat ¯ux for the air (the
overpredicts in warm weather and underpredicts for heat causing changes in temperature of the air) and
the cold months. Fig. 15 shows that the evapotrans- Le is the latent heat ¯ux of evaporation (heat
piration from the lysimeter was predicted more causing evaporation or condensation at the soil
closely by 0:7EA than by any of the more formal surface).
evaporation equations. Fig. 15 also shows the Figure 16(b) shows these energy components
variation through the year of the actual ratio of EL during the day, while there is a net in¯ow of
(the lysimeter evaporation) to EA and the overall energy, and Fig. 16(c) shows the balance at night,
value for the year of 0´66. when the net energy ¯ow is outwards. Although
the ®gure does not show this, the amounts of
energy involved during the day are much larger
Using the surface energy balance to estimate than during the night. Rn can be measured directly
evapotranspiration by the difference between incoming and outgoing
The evaporative process is primarily one of radiation. G can be estimated from temperature
energy consumption. Energy must be supplied to gradients in the soil, together with the speci®c heat
provide the latent heat of vaporization necessary capacity for the soil at its current water content.
for water to evaporate at the soil surface, and the All ¯uxes are measured in W=m2 (or J=m2 s), and
resultant water vapour must be swept away by air the sign convention is that incoming radiation and
movement or disperse by diffusion to maintain the absorbed heat ¯uxes are positive.
evaporation gradient and keep the evaporative pro- The sensible heat ¯ux can be written as
cess going. If the amount of energy consumed by @T
evaporation can be computed, the corresponding H ˆ rCp k H (11)
mass of water evaporated can be deduced. The @z
evaporative energy is calculated by considering the where r is the air density, Cp is the speci®c heat

0.7 EA 0.7 A-pan (EA)

BC
BC BLANEY & CRIDDLE
Th THORNTHWAITE
6 T TURC 0.7 EA
EL
P PENMAN
Potential evapotranspiration: mm/day

EL TEST LYSIMETER P
5
T
Th
4 1.0

EL/EA
3 0.8
EL/EA

ΣEL
5 0.66
ΣEA
2 0.6

1 0.4

0
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Month

Fig. 15. Comparison of measured average daily evapotranspiration with values using various equations

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 731

Solar radiation Net

Long-wave Net radiation, Rn
radiation, Rn Sensible
terrestrial heat (air), H
radiation Latent heat of Evaporation,
Reflected evaporation, Le Le
Sky (diffuse)
radiation radiation
Sensible
heat (air), H
SURFACE

SURFACE
SURFACE Soil heat,
G Soil heat, G

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 16. Components of the radiation balance at a soil surface: (a) incoming and outgoing radiation; (b) radiation
interchange during the day; (c) radiation interchange at night

of air, k H is the eddy diffusivity for heat through In practice, it is usually necessary to estimate
air, and @T=@z is the vertical temperature gradient the evaporation from the soil surface in mm=day
in the air. (kg=m2 per day) and it is preferable to integrate
The latent heat ¯ux can be written as the areas under the curves of Rn , G and Le versus
ërEk v @e time for the required period. This gives an inte-
Le ˆ (12) grated value of Le in J=m2 per day. Dividing this
P @z by the latent heat of vaporization of water in J=kg
where ë is the latent heat of vaporization for water, gives the potential evaporation loss Ep in kg=m2 of
E is the ratio of the molecular mass of water to the water per day, i.e. the equivalent of mm=day.
molecular mass of dry air, P is the atmospheric
pressure, k v is the diffusivity for water vapour
through air, and @e=@z is the vertical vapour pres- Near-surface temperature and humidity gradients
sure gradient in the air. It is tacitly assumed in the above analysis that
If the vertical temperature gradient is written as the gradients of temperature and vapour pressure
just above the soil surface are constant (equations
@T (T1 ÿ T2 )
ˆ (11) and (12)) or, alternatively, that the ratio of the
@z (z1 ÿ z2 ) gradients is constant with height above the surface
and the vertical vapour pressure gradient as (equation (13)). Fig. 17 shows pro®les of tempera-
ture and relative humidity measured above a gras-
@e (esat1 RH1 ÿ esat2 RH2 )
ˆ sed soil surface on a dry sunny day and on a partly
@z (z1 ÿ z2 ) cloudy day after a wet period. Above a height of
where z1 and z2 are the same in both cases, esat is 0´5 m, both the temperature and the relative humid-
the saturated vapour pressure at temperature T, and ity gradients are almost linear, but the gradients
RH is the relative humidity of the air at tempera- generally increase between the surface and a height
ture T, then by dividing equations (11) and (12) we of 0´5 m. Except for periods near dawn, the air
get close to the soil surface is usually both warmer
and more humid than it is higher up. However, all
H PCp k H (T1 ÿ T2 )
ˆ the pro®les shown in Fig. 17 were measured in
Le ëEk v (esat1 RH1 ÿ esat2 RH2 ) windless conditions. Gradients can be reversed and
Bowen (1926) suggested that the H=Le ratio can can ¯uctuate quite considerably if the air is stir-
be approximated by equating k H and k v, giving ring. Gradients are also reasonably stable in steady
what has become known as Bowen's ratio: winds.
It is obvious from Fig. 17 that temperature and
H PCp (T1 ÿ T2 ) relative humidity gradients are generally not con-
ˆâˆ (13)
Le ëE(esat1 RH1 ÿ esat2 RH2 ) stant with height above the soil surface. However,
Hence from the energy balance equation (10), they are approximately constant at heights of 0´5±
2 m above the surface. The relative humidity and
Rn ÿ G temperature gradients above 0´5 m are usually in
Le ˆ (14a)
1‡â the same direction as those between 0´5 m and the
and surface, but not always. (See the temperature data
for 17.00 h in Fig. 17(a) and for humidity at
H ˆ âLe (14b) 14.00 h in Fig. 17(b).) Hence the assumptions on

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 732 BLIGHT

2.0
Time:
06.00 h
11.00 h
1.5
15.00 h
17.00 h
Height: m
1.0

0.5
Rn (J/m2 s) 430 450
10 40
0 0

Depth: mm
40 60 80 100
RH: %

100
10 15 20 25 30
(a) Temperature: 8C

2.0

1.5
Height: m

Time:
1.0 08.00 h
11.00 h
14.00 h
0.5 17.00 h
150–
65 400 170–500
Rn (J/m2 s)
40
0 0
Depth: mm

40 60 80 100
RH: %

100
10 15 20 25 30
(b) Temperature: 8C

Fig. 17. Near-surface pro®les of relative humidity and temperature

(grassed surface, water non-limiting): (a) dry sunny day; (b) cloud=sun
after a wet period

which the theory is based are not always satis®ed
in practice.
Figure 17 also shows soil temperature pro®les
down to 60 mm below surface. It is obvious that
diurnal temperature changes extend deeper than
this. Fig. 18 shows soil temperature pro®les down
to 300 mm. This diagram shows that the soil tem-
perature changes diurnally down to about 300 mm,
but not much deeper than this. Hence the term G
in equation (10) arises essentially from the diurnal
interchange of heat between the soil surface and a
depth of 300 mm.
When considering evapotranspiration from the
surface of certain waste deposits (e.g. sanitary
land®lls and coal waste dumps) where the waste
generates heat as a result of decomposition pro-
cesses, it may be necessary to take account of this
extraneous heat input as part of G. Bendz &
Bengtsson (1996) found that heat of decomposition
is a factor to be considered in the evapotranspira-
tion of water from a land®ll in Sweden. However,
the writer has compared temperatures and tempera-
ture gradients in the cover layers of a land®ll in
South Africa and found no difference in diurnal
temperatures, or in the depth affected by diurnal
temperature changes, between cover layers to 10-
year-old waste and 2-month-old waste. It is likely
that only in cold climates will internal heat genera-
tion make a signi®cant contribution to evapotrans-
piration.
Instruments for evaluating radiation balances
For long-term measurements at a ®xed location,
weather stations are available that automatically
measure and record all the parameters necessary to
evaluate an energy balance. Fig. 19, for example,
shows the layout of a Campbell Scienti®c weather-
station. The instrumentation consists of a net radio-
meter and buried soil-temperature sensors that

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 733
Time: Time:
10.00 h 14.00 h 17.00 h
06.00 & 07.00 h 11.00 h 15.00 h 18.00 h
08.00 h 12.00 h 16.00 h
09.00 h 13.00 h
0 0
Depth below surface: mm

100 100

200 200

300 300
15 20 25 30 15 20 25 30
Soil temperature: 8C

Fig. 18. Examples of soil temperature pro®les

Wind speed and

direction

1. 5 m Arm heights adjustable

from 1 to 3 m
Housing for psychrometer
Net radiometer Temp./air intake and data logger
mounting arms Solar panel to charge battery

Deep cycle 12-V car battery

Soil-temperature/heat-flux
sensors buried in soil Grounding rod

Fig. 19. Apparatus for automatic measurement and logging of energy-

balance components

measure the soil temperature at two depths in two by a data logger and the system is powered by a
locations. The ®xed tripod supports a pair of arms 12-V car battery charged by a solar panel.
equipped with: Figure 20 shows a typical set of data recorded
on two successive days by means of a Campbell
· a pair of thermocouples to measure the air
Scienti®c apparatus. (The irregular variation in Rn
temperature
during the day was caused by clouds drifting
· a pair of air intakes.
across the sun.) The zero starting time in the
Air is drawn through each intake in turn and the diagram is midnight on the ®rst day, and hence
relative humidity is measured by means of a 30 h on the time-scale corresponds to 06.00 h on
cooled mirror dew-point psychrometer. Wind speed the following day. The diagram shows the compo-
can also be measured and recorded. (Wind speed nents of the radiation balance Rn , G, H and Le .
does not enter directly into the calculation of a For the 2-day period shown, the measured A-pan
radiation balance apportionment, but often enables evaporation (EA ) was 6 mm, while the potential
anomalous readings, e.g. reversals of temperature evapotranspiration calculated from the radiation
gradients, to be explained.) The data are recorded balance (Ep ) was 6´4 mm. As stated earlier, in

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 734 BLIGHT

Bowen ratio, β
1000 2
β
800 0

Energy flux: W/m2

600 Rn 22
Rn
400 Le Le

200 H H

2200
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42
Time: h
(a)

1000
Calculated evaporation, Ep: 6.4 mm
800 Measured, EA: 6 mm
Energy flux: W/m2

600 30

Temperature: 8C
Rn Rn
25
400 Temp. 20
15
200 10
G G 5
0 0

2200
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42
Time: h
(b)

Fig. 20. Typical measurements of the components of the energy balance (auto-
matic measurement)

reference to Fig. 16, there is relatively little inter- Calculated evaporation: 4.75 mm
change of energy during the night. Thus almost all Measured EA: 5 mm
evapotranspiration takes place during the day. 600 R

The ®xed apparatus has the advantage of being R R Rn

fluctuating
Radiation

able to make long-term measurements with a great 500 L

deal of detail. However, what is often needed is a L RL Le

series of monthly or quarterly evaluations of the
Radiation: W/m2 (J/m2 s)

400 L
rates of evaporation or evapotranspiration from R
R
various surfaces. To ful®l this requirement a series 300
of hand-held instruments (radiometer, thermometer, R
L L

wet and dry junction psychrometer, soil thermistors

L
L R L
and anemometer) have been assembled. This bat- 200 R
tery of instruments gives less detail than the auto- L
matically logged instruments, but very similar 100
results. H R
H
G
H
G
G
Figure 21 shows a radiation balance measured
H
G
G G
R G G R L
0 H G R
and apportioned by the hand-held instruments.
G
5 H H7
G 9 11 13 15 H17 G 19
H
(Fig. 18 shows the corresponding soil temperature H
Time: h H H

measurements.) In this example, the calculated 2100

potential evapotranspiration Ep from the soil sur-
face (grass over clayey loam) was 4´75 mm, where-
as the A-pan evaporation EA for the day was
5 mm.
Figure 22 gives the results of a direct compari-
son between the measurements made using the
automatic weather station and the set of hand-held
instruments. In this case, the potential evapotrans-
piration calculated from the automatic system was
Fig. 21. Typical hand measurements of the compo-
nents of the energy balance (each letter, G, H, L, R
represents a data point)
2´3 mm for the day. The manual system gave an
estimate of 2´4 mm and the A-pan evaporation was
2 mm. Hence the two systems give very similar
results.

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 735
1000

Bowen ratio, β
2
β (A)

800 0

Energy flux: W/m2

600 Rn (A) 22
β (M)

400
Rn (M)
200
Le (M) Le (A)
0

2200
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Time: h
(a)

1000
Calculated evaporation
800 (A): 2.3 mm
(M): 2.1 mm
Energy flux: W/m2

EA: 2 mm Temp. (A)

Temperature: 8C
600 30

400 Rn (A) 20

200 G (M) 10

0 0
G (A)
2200
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Time: h
(b)

Fig. 22. Comparison of the calculation of the energy components using

two different methods: A, automatic; M, manual

Note from Figs 20±22 that, for South African Table 1. Comparison of pan evaporation by calcula-
conditions, the major proportion of the net radia- tion (energy-balance method) and measurement
tion Rn is transformed into latent heat of evapora- Days Evaporation: mm
tion Le , with the components G and H being
relatively minor. Calculated Ep Measured EA
3 7´7 6
5 11´7 11
Comparison of the energy balance method and 7 15´6 14
measured A-pan evaporation
In order to check the accuracy of the energy
balance methods of calculating evaporation, the Energy balance measurements when the water
automatic apparatus was set up directly over an A- supply is limiting
pan, and observations were made for 1 week. The value of the potential evaporation Ep is
Additional readings to determine the heat ¯ux to calculated primarily from the temperature and re-
the water in the pan were taken, but this compo- lative humidity gradients above the surface. If
nent was found to be negligible. The results were these gradients, especially the relative humidity
as summarized in Table 1. gradient, are in¯uenced by outside conditions,
The estimated error in the energy balance meth- which are not representative of the surface, the
od was 0´9 mm over the whole week. The pan value of Ep will not be representative either. This
evaporation measurement can be made, at best, to is illustrated by the following set of measurements.
the nearest 1 mm. The discrepancy between calcu- Figure 23 shows a series of observations made
lated and measured evaporation could thus have near the centre of the area of a large waterproofed
ranged between 3´8 mm and zero. Overall, the cal- concrete roof. There had been no rain for 3
culated evaporation was 1´6 mm greater than the months, and there was obviously no water available
pan evaporation. Hence calculated and measured to evaporate. It can be seen from Fig. 23 that,
evaporations agree satisfactorily. shortly after sunrise, while the air was still and in

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 736
700
600
500
Energy flux: W/m2
400
300
200
100
0
2100
2200
6 7
Fig. 23. Energy-balance measurements for the `water-limiting' situation
equilibrium with the surface of the roof, almost the
entire net incoming radiation Rn was consumed in
heating the roof G. The sensible heat H and the
evaporative energy Le were close to zero. Later in
the day a breeze came up, sweeping the stagnant
dry air from the roof and replacing it with air from
the more humid surroundings of the building. At
about the same time, the front of rising tempera-
ture being conducted through the roof slab reached
the underside of the slab. Thus the consumption of
energy in heating of the slab stopped and G re-
duced drastically. Simultaneously, Le apparently
rose. However, Le now represented the potential
for evaporation from the surroundings of the build-
ing and not from the roof itself.
Global energy balances and energy components
Figure 24(a) shows the contours of the average
annual net radiation Rn for the Earth's continents
(after Budyko (1956)), while Fig. 24(b) shows
corresponding data for Le, the latent heat con-
sumed by evaporation and evapotranspiration. The
net radiation Rn reaches maximum values in the
tropics and declines considerably towards the poles,
as would be expected. The corresponding latent
heat ¯ux Le follows a similar pattern, but it is
worth noting the following points:
· Values of Le are relatively small in desert zones
(e.g. the Sahara) where (like the concrete roof
referred to in Fig. 23), there is little water
available to evaporate. Thus Rn is converted
mainly to G and H.
· Conversely, in moist equatorial zones (e.g. the
equatorial west coast of Africa and the Amazon
basin), where water is available, Rn is almost
entirely converted to Le .
Figure 25 compares the monthly average values
of Rn , Le and G for Johannesburg (latitude 268S)
and Lund, Sweden (latitude 578N) (data extracted
from Bendz & Bengtsson (1996)). For Johannes-
burg, Le is always close to Rn , with G having
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BLIGHT
Bowen ratio, β
2
0
Rn β
22
Le
G
H
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Time: h
small positive values. The data for Lund are not
typical, as they were recorded for a land®ll that is
generating heat of decomposition. However, Le is
again close to (a much smaller) Rn and G is
negative, consisting of an out¯ow contributed by
the heat of decomposition of the land®lled refuse.
It thus appears that evaporation and evapotrans-
piration always take priority in the energy balance.
Once the demand for Le has been satis®ed, the
balance of the available energy contributes to G
and H.
A comparison of A-pan evaporation and potential
evapotranspiration from a soil surface, as
calculated using the radiation balance over 1 year
Figure 26(a) shows the variation in the potential
evapotranspiration rates Ep calculated using the
energy balance method, and the evaporation rates
EA measured by means of an A-pan for the year
1996 in Johannesburg. This was an exceptionally
wet year, and for the ®rst few (summer) months
of the year the energy balance indicated that the
potential evapotranspiration rates exceeded the
A-pan evaporation by as much as 50% (Ep =EA ˆ
1:5). This is in line with the observations shown in
Fig. 14. The grass was growing vigorously and
transpiring at a high rate, and near-surface relative-
humidity gradients were large. Later in the year, as
the rainfall diminished and the weather cooled,
both Ep and EA had decreased and the Ep =EA
ratio decreased to about 0´5. During the cool, dry
months of May and June, Ep and EA both de-
creased to a minimum and Ep =EA also decreased
as the evaporation gradients reduced. The ratio
increased again as temperatures increased and the
wet season began. These values are very similar to
those reported earlier by other workers (e.g. see
Fig. 15).
Figure 26(b) shows the corresponding curves of
cumulative Ep and EA, as well as cumulative rain-
fall. It can be seen that the atmospheric water
balance for the year was in surplus from January
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 737

20
20 20
20 20
30 20
30 30
40 30 30
30
50 50 40 40
30
50 50
50 30
60 30
80 60 60
50 90
60
90 60

50 80
50 50

50 50 50 50

30

(a)

10
20 30 20

20 10

20
10
30 20
50 20
10 20
10 30
10
80 30
60 60
60
40
50 40
20 20
40
10 40
30
20 60
60
60

10

(b)

Fig. 24. Annual averages (W=m2 ) of (a) global net radiation Rn at the ground surface and (b) global latent heat
of evapotranspiration Le

to September (255 days), while over the whole
year the rainfall was just balanced by pan evapora-
tion. The Ep and EA curves follow each other
fairly closely, so that over the year the surplus of
EA over Ep was only 75 mm. Ep =EA had an over-
all annual value of 0´92.
Figure 26(b) also shows changes in the suction
and water content of the soil at a depth of 20 mm.
These were measured via nylon mesh electrical
resistance gauges buried in the soil, which had
been calibrated in the laboratory. A comparison of
the water content curve with the Ep curve shows
how the calculated evapotranspiration slowed as
the soil surface dried out, and hence the near-
surface relative humidity decreased. It should also
be noted that suctions in the soil at 20 mm depth
were not particularly high, the highest recorded
value being 280 kPa.
Measurements of soil resistance were started on
24 May 1996. From this day until 22 September,
the soil pro®le lost an average of 3% of moisture
over a depth of 1500 mm. This represents a water
loss of 80 mm, which is almost exactly the cumu-
lative value of Ep for this period. Hence water

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 738
(a)
200 Rn
160
Le
Energy flux: W/m2
120
80 Summer
40
G
240
J F
Fig. 25. Monthly variation in Rn , Le and G in (a) Johannesburg, South
Africa (latitude 268S), and (b) Lund, Sweden (latitude 578N)
losses calculated from the energy balance for this
period were realistic, and the potential evapotrans-
piration Ep was equal to the actual evapotranspira-
tion E. Hence, even though the Ep =EA ratio had
fallen to a relatively low value, evapotranspiration
was still taking place in the `water non-limiting'
mode. Thus the product of increased ¯ow gradient
resulting from increased surface suction and re-
duced permeability, also as a result of increasing
suction, remained suf®cient to maintain a `water
non-limiting' state for evapotranspiration. However,
1996 was on unusually wet year and the above
®gures are probably not typical of conditions in
Johannesburg.
ESTIMATES OF EVAPOTRANSPIRATION BY MEANS
OF LYSIMETER EXPERIMENTS
A lysimeter consists of a body of soil (or waste)
that is representative of the main body of soil, but
for which arrangements have been made to mea-
sure the input, output and storage terms of the
water balance. Lysimeters have been used in many
studies of the soil water balance. The advantages
of lysimeters are that they can be made to repre-
sent real ®eld conditions reasonably closely. The
disadvantages are that they are costly to construct
and observe, and take a long time to yield results.
Also, it is often dif®cult to make accurate meas-
urements and keep accurate records for an experi-
ment that may be located in an out-of-the-way
place. Great care must be taken to ensure that the
boundary conditions of the lysimeter are realistic,
otherwise completely misleading results may be
obtained. The results of two lysimeter experiments
conducted on land®lls will now be described to
indicate the type of results that can be achieved,
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BLIGHT
(b)
Summer
Winter
Rn
Winter
Le
G
M A M J J A S O N
Month
and to illustrate further the difference between
potential and actual evapotranspiration.
A series of lysimeters was set up at a land®ll in
Johannesburg. The arrangement and dimensions of
the lysimeters are shown diagrammatically in Fig.
27. The lysimeters were built below natural ground
level and their sides and bases were sealed with
impervious geomembranes. There was a drainage
layer at the base of each lysimeter, draining to a
sump from which leachate could be removed by
means of a small electric borehole pump that was
lowered down a 100-mm diameter standpipe. The
lysimeters were ®lled with compacted domestic
refuse, with soil cover layers to simulate sections
of a land®ll. The lysimeters were ®rst brought to
their full moisture storage capacity (i.e. ÄS in
equation (2b) was brought to zero) by ponding
water on the soil-covered surfaces and allowing
in®ltration to occur until leachate appeared in the
drainage sumps. The ponded water was then re-
moved, the refuse was allowed to drain and the
leachate removed until no further leachate collected
in the sumps. As indicated in Fig. 27, the surfaces
of two of the lysimeters were then covered by
sheets of geomembrane to seal them against water
losses by evaporation, while the soil covers of two
duplicate lysimeters were left exposed to evapora-
tion.
After a period during which evaporation was
allowed to occur, water was added to the surfaces
of the lysimeters until leachate again began to
appear. The difference between the water added to
the sealed and unsealed lysimeters required to
cause leachate to appear, plus the recorded precipi-
tation minus the pan evaporation was taken to be
equal to the evaporative loss E over the period of
the experiment. The experiment was then repeated.
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 739
8
1.5

Ep/EA
7 1.0
0.5
6 Ep/EA

Evaporation rate: mm/day

Ep
5 EA Ep
Ep/EA
4 EA

0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390
Days from 1 January 1996
(a)

1200

1000
Cumulative precipitation and evaporation: mm

800

P
600
Soil suction: kPa
Ep
300
400 EA 200
100
0
below surface: %
content 20 mm

200 20
Soil water

11 mm of rain
0 15
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390
Days from 1 January 1996
(b)

Fig. 26. Johannesburg, 1996: (a) rates of evaporation calculated using the
energy balance and measured using the A-pan; (b) comparison of cum-
ulative A-pan evaporation with cumulative precipitation and soil evapo-
transpiration calculated using the energy balance

The results of the experiments are summarized in sampling from boreholes drilled at two locations at
Table 2. It is interesting to note that the evapora- the end of the wet season (May) and the end of the
tive loss from the 5´5-m deep lysimeter, for each dry season (September) (see the atmospheric water
period of drying, was more than twice the loss balance for Johannesburg in Fig. 8(c)). These pro-
from the 3-m deep lysimeter. This shows that the ®les show that the entire 16-m thickness of refuse
in¯uence of drying can extend from the surface, to dries out in the dry season and wets up again in
depths probably exceeding 5 m. This conclusion the wet season. Hence the absolute amount of
has been con®rmed by the moisture content pro- evaporation depends on the depth of waste, and
®les shown in Fig. 28. These were measured thus on the amount of water available to be
(Blight et al., 1992) on the same land®ll by evaporated. If the depth of material in the lysi-

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 740 BLIGHT

Water content: %
0 50 100 150
0

Soil top cover

2
Geomembrane seal
Intermediate soil cover Refuse

4
250%
Cell 2B Cell 2A Cell 1B Cell 1A
4.5 m 6
3 5.5 m
4.5 m 4.5 m m

Depth: m
4.5 m 4.5 m 8

Fig. 27. Layout of lysimeters containing domestic re-

10
fuse

End dry
12 season

meters available for drying is taken into account

(see Table 2) it appears possible to assign a value End wet
14
for the evapotranspiration per unit depth of materi- season

al available for drying. In Table 2, E=EA per unit

depth varies from 0´03=m to 0:06=m. Taking a
16
similar approach, the evaporative loss per metre
depth of refuse per day for the lysimeters varied
only from 0´16 to 0´25 mm=m per day. End of dry season

The water lost from the pro®le shown in Fig. 28 End of wet season
can be calculated to be equivalent to 720 mm, as
compared with the rainfall for that year of 730 Storage capacity

mm. Hence if the entire annual rainfall in®ltrates South hole

into the land®ll it can be completely lost again by
evapotranspiration. The average annual A-pan eva-
poration for the area is 1860 mm. Hence for this
land®ll the equivalent to the ratio E=EA from Fig.
28 is 730=1860 ˆ 0:39. This is larger than the
North hole
Fig. 28. Water content pro®les for a land®ll in
Johannesburg measured at the ends of the wet and
dry seasons, 1988. Refuse was placed in 1980

Table 2. Results of evaporation estimates from land®ll lysimeters (see Fig. 27)
Drying period: days Cell depth: m Evaporation loss from Evaporation from free water E=EA
cell, E surface (A-pan), EA : mm
124 3 59 mm 630
0´47 mm=day 0´09
0´16 mm=m per day (0´03=m)
5´5 173 mm
1´39 mm=day 0´27
0´25 mm=m per day (0´05=m)
171 3 89 mm 580
0´52 mm=day 0´15
0´17 mm=m per day (0´05=m)
5´5 178 mm
1´05 mm=day 0´31
0´19 mm=m per day (0´06=m)

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 741
values for E=EA found for the shallower ®eld out on a land®ll near Cape Town. Here the depth
lysimeters (see Table 2). Thus E=EA is not intrin- of refuse is 6 m (two lifts of 3 m) and the land®ll
sically constant, but depends on how much water is separated from the water table by a depth of
is available to be evaporated. In the case of Fig. 2 m. The land®ll incorporates ®ve large lysimeters,
28, only the annual rainfall was available to be each measuring 18 m 3 18 m in plan, which enable
evaporated, and this was the limit to the evapora- the output of leachate L to be collected and meas-
tion that could take place. In the case of the 3- ured. Fig. 29 shows the cumulative A-pan evapora-
and 5´5-m deep lysimeters, even less water was tion EA , precipitation P and leachate L recorded
available to evaporate, and hence E=EA for the 3- for the land®ll over a period of 9´5 years. For the
m deep lysimeter was less than that for the 5´5-m 8 years from 1988 to 1995, the rainfall amounted
deep one. For the land®ll, the evaporative loss per to 5370 mm, the A-pan evaporation to 12 580 mm
metre depth of waste was 0´13 mm=m per day and the leachate to 126 mm. Fig. 29 shows that the
averaged over the whole year. This is not very rate of production of leachate has been essentially
different to the range of values of 0´16±0´25 constant since mid-1987, and hence during the 8
mm=m per day observed for the lysimeters (see years from 1988 to 1995 the land®ll was as close
Table 2). to being in a steady-state water balance with its
These lysimeter tests illustrate the difference environment as seasonal weather ¯uctuations will
between actual evaporation E and potential eva- allow. The evaporation losses can be calculated as
poration Ep . As stated earlier, Ep is the evapora- E ˆ P ÿ L ˆ 5370 ÿ 126 ˆ 5244 mm
tion or evapotranspiration that could potentially
take place from a soil surface, given the available or 0´30 mm=m per day for the period of 8 years.
net radiation and near-surface water vapour pres- The equivalent to the ratio E=EA ˆ 5244=
sure and temperature gradients. E is the actual 12 580 ˆ 0:42 or 0:07=m over the 6-m depth of
evaporation that takes place, given the near-surface refuse. This is slightly more than was measured for
conditions as well as the availability of water. It is the 160 m deep land®ll at Johannesburg. The cu-
possible to measure a value of Ep above a dry mulative evaporation losses of 5244 mm were
impervious surface such as a water-proofed con- again very close to the rainfall of 5370 mm.
crete roof (see Fig. 23), but E for such a surface Although leachate is continually produced from the
must be zero. Thus Ep represents the upper limit land®ll, it amounts to only 126=5244 ˆ 2:4% of
to the evaporation, or the potential evaporation rainfall. In other words, in this winter rainfall,
from a soil surface, but not necessarily the actual seasonal water surplus climate (Fig. 8(d)), almost
evaporation E. all the in®ltration into the land®ll is evaporated.
A second lysimeter experiment has been carried Much the same happens in the summer rainfall,

6 m waste

16 16
Geomembrane SECTION 15380 m

14 18 m 14
Rainfall and evaporation: 3 1000 mm

12 12
)
Leachate, L: 3 100 mm

TYPICAL (E A
t ion
10 LYSIMETER ora 10
v ap
18 m

ne
-pa
eA
8 lativ 8
PLAN mu
Cu 6470 m
6 6
on (P)
Average c ipitati
e pre
4 ulativ 4
Cum
L) 236 m
Measured Cumulative leachate (
2 May lysim eter s) 2
(Me an of 5

0 0
1986 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95
Year

Fig. 29. Components of the water balance for a land®ll near Cape Town, measured over 9´5 years

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 742
perennial water de®cit climate of Johannesburg. It
appears that in these conditions, where the water
available for evapotranspiration is limited by the
availability of precipitation, E=EA per unit depth
has a value of about 0:05=m for land®lled refuse.
Alternatively, the average evapotranspiration loss is
0´2±0´3 mm=m per day, with the total evapotran-
spiration being limited by the quantity of water
stored in the waste.
DEPTH OF SOIL ZONE INTERACTING WITH THE
ATMOSPHERE
When discussing the soil water balance, the
depth of soil over which it applied was stated to be
`the unsaturated zone of soil between the ground
surface and the water table'. This has also been
referred to as the `range of seasonal moisture
changes' (e.g. Kassiff et al., 1969), `the active
zone' (e.g. Nelson & Miller, 1991) or the `zone of
seasonal in¯uence'. In geotechnical practice, the
active zone is expected to be at least 3 m deep
(Nelson & Miller, 1991), but depths well in excess
of this have also been reported. For example, the
lysimeter experiments described above show an
active zone that is at least 6 m deep. At a site in
South Africa described by Williams (1991), swell
movements of over 200 mm were recorded at a
depth of 10 m (Fig. 30) and an extrapolation of
movement trends indicates that the active zone
may be as deep as 30 m. In agricultural hydrology,
Heave: mm
0 100 200 300 400
0 0
5 1
10
Depth: m
15
20
25 Site I: heave after 9.8 years
Site II: heave after 3.6 years
30
Fig. 30. Measurements of heave with depth, indicating
a depth of active zone of about 30 m
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BLIGHT
however, signi®cant evaporation is not expected
from depths greater than 2 m (e.g. Hillel, 1980).
The reason for the difference in expectations is
that geotechnical engineers are usually concerned
with small annual moisture changes that accumu-
late to give long-term soil movements and changes
in shear strength, whereas agricultural hydrologists
are concerned with the much larger quantities of
water necessary to sustain seasonal crop growth at
the surface. Some other examples of active zone
depths are described below.
Figure 31 shows seasonal changes in water con-
tent observed for a clay pro®le in Israel (Kassiff et
al., 1969). The measurements were made beneath
the shoulders of an airport pavement and indicate a
depth of active zone of at least 5 m. It would be
reasonable to expect even larger seasonal changes
under a natural soil surface, as the pavement would
have shielded the soil from some of the effects of
seasonal moisture change. Fig. 32(a) shows water
content pro®les observed in South Africa (de
Bruijn, 1965) towards the end of the wet season in
a clay soil pro®le under various surfaces. The
water table was at a depth of 9´1 m. The water
content in the soil under a gravel-covered surface
was appreciably higher than that where the surface
supported grass or trees. This would be expected
on the basis of the data shown in Fig. 14, with the
gravel acting as a mulch that maximizes in®ltration
and reduces evaporation. Note that the water con-
tent pro®les tend to be displaced parallel to each
Water content: %
500 15 30 45
March
(end wet
season)
2
Oct./Nov.
Depth: m
(end dry
season)
3
4
5
Fig. 31. Seasonal changes in water content observed
under the shoulders of an airport pavement in Israel
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 743
Water content: % Suction: pF units
0 5 10 15 20 25 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6
0 0
(a) (b)

1 1

2 2
Depth: m

3 3

Depth: m
4 4

5 5

UNDER TREES
UNDER GRAVEL 6
UNDER GRAVEL
UNDER GRASS

Fig. 32. (a) Water content pro®les beneath various surfaces (South Africa). (b)
Corresponding suction pro®les

other, in a similar way to the water content pro®les
shown in Fig. 28, and to a lesser extent those
shown in Fig. 31.
Obviously, evapotranspiration from grass and
trees increases water losses from a soil pro®le.
Trees, with their larger leaf area, may, depending
on the species, evapotranspire more extensively
than grass or annual agricultural crops. According
to Henrici (1947), trees may have the capacity to
evapotranspire at rates of 2 to 4 times that of
grassland, i.e. at 10±20 mm=day as compared with
up to 5 mm=day for grassland. The suction pro®les
corresponding to Fig. 32(a) are shown in Fig. 32(b)
(pF equals the logarithm to base 10 of the suction,
expressed in centimetres of water head). This dia-
gram clearly shows the differences in suction under
vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces. It is surpris-
ing to ®nd that the suction under grass was appar-
ently greater than that under trees.
The difference in water extraction by trees and
annual crops or grassland is illustrated by Fig. 33,
which shows three examples of water tables ob-
served under tree covered areas and adjoining
cultivated (but not irrigated) land in South Africa
(Blight & Lyell, 1984, Blight, 1984a,b, 1987). In
all cases the trees were Australian eucalypt species
and the adjoining ®elds were used to grow maize
in summer and lay fallow in winter (the dry sea-
son). Fig. 33(a) shows a water table depression
under the trees of 19-m, while Fig. 33(b) shows a
depression of at least 10-m. Fig. 33(c) shows
groundwater conditions under a power station site
on land which, prior to terracing, had been partly
covered by a eucalyptus plantation. Under the tree
covered area the water table had been depressed by
upwards of 20 m. In another, less well-documented
case, the water table rose, after felling a eucalyptus
plantation, by at least 13 m over a period of 15
years (Wolpert, 1952).
It is a common belief that trees extend the depth
of their root systems in search of water. To quote
Penman (1963):
If root development is such that the roots can continue
to grow downwards in pursuit of a retreating water
table, it will be possible to lower the water table
permanently, provided that the mean annual transpira-
tion is a little greater from the deep-rooted vegetation
than that of any shallow-rooted vegetation it has
replaced: and in silty soils of high speci®c yield `little'
need be only a few millimetres per year.
Based on this statement, it has been argued that
drying of a soil pro®le to depths exceeding, per-
haps, 5 m (see e.g. Fig. 32) cannot occur unless
trees are present. However, in a recent paper,
Dobson & Moffat (1995) showed that the popular
view of tree-root architecture is not correct. Trees
generally do not have tap roots extending to great
depths, and the rooting depth of mature trees is
usually restricted to 1±2 m, although the lateral

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 744 BLIGHT

Eucalyptus
Maize

Elevation above datum: m

1445
1440 Piezometers
Dry Dry
1435 Dry Bedrock
19 m Water table
1430 Dry
1425
1425
1420
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Horizontal distance: m
(a)

Eucalyptus
Maize
Elevation above datum: m

1445
1440 4m
10 m Dry
1435 Dry
1430
1425
1420
1415
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Horizontal distance: m
(b)

Approximate limit
Positions of Original of treed area
piezometers ground Power
level station
1470 terrace
Elevation above datum: m

1460

1450 Base of
Alluvium
1440 Piezometric Piezometric Weathered
level in level in siltstone
sandstone residual
1430 siltstone
and shale
1420 Top of
sandstone
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300
Horizontal distance: m
(c)

Fig. 33. Water table depression beneath eucalyptus plantations: (a, b) near
Johannesburg; (c) at the site of a power station near Johannesburg

spread may exceed 20 m. Fig. 34 (after Dobson & at ground level. The roots were nearly all con®ned
Moffat) shows a realistic portrayal of mature tree- to the ®rst metre of soil, there was no tap root, and
root architecture, as well as an analysis of the root the largest root at a depth of 1´5 m had a diameter
distribution for mature white pines. of about 30 mm. There were very few roots, with
The author has, over a period of many years, diameters of more than 10 mm at that depth. The
inspected the root systems of numbers of eucalyp- evidence of Fig. 35, together with the observations
tus and other trees uprooted in the course of site summarized by Dobson & Moffat (1995) bring into
clearing. These trees, capable of causing the water question whether Penman's view, quoted above,
table depressions shown in Fig. 33, do not have tap was correct. It appears more likely that the water
roots and are unlikely to have extensive deep root table depressions shown in Fig. 33 were the result
systems, even though occasional ®ne roots are of a sustained suction at the surface drawing the
found at depths of many metres in test pits or pile water upwards at a rate greater than it could be
holes. Fig. 35 shows the uprooted stump of a replenished by lateral ¯ow from the adjacent sur-
eucalyptus tree with a bole diameter of over 1´5 m face under the crops. However, as Fig. 32(b)

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 745
20 shows, annual crops or vegetation such as grasses
can produce soil suctions that are just as high as
those under trees. This seems unusual, for not only

Height: m
10
are annual crops reported to evapotranspire at a
lesser rate than trees (e.g. Henrici, 1947), but they
are only active for part of the year, whereas the
evergreen eucalypts evapotranspire continuously.
This explains the lesser depression of the water
(a)
table under annual crops (see Fig. 33). However, it
is also known (de Wit, 1958, Stewart, 1977) that
the production of biomass by plants is proportional
0 to their rate of transpiration. Hence a vigorously
0.2 growing summer crop should be capable of gener-
ating and maintaining high suctions at the soil
0.4 surface during the growth period.
The rates of upward ¯ow of water necessary to
Root depth: m

0.6
sustain a drawn-down position of the water table
0.8 Root size:
. 1 mm
are not unreasonably large. For example, Fig. 36(a)
1.0 , 1 mm
shows suction pro®les calculated for a hypothetical
soil pro®le in which the water table is maintained
1.2 at a depth of 12 m and the soil suction at the
1.4 surface is maintained at 1500 kPa (which roughly
corresponds to the wilting point). For the calcula-
1.6 tions, the equation for steady-state one-dimensional
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Number of roots: per m2 upward ¯ow of water was taken as
 
(b) @ @uw
k ˆ0 (15a)
@z @z
Fig. 34. (a) Root architecture of a mature tree (note
the absence of a tap root). (b) Distribution of roots in which z is the depth above the water table, ÿuw
with depth for mature white pines growing in sandy is the soil suction and k is the coef®cient of
soil permeability at suction ÿuw .

Fig. 35. Root system of eucalyptus tree, showing the absence of a tap root

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 746 BLIGHT

Suction, 2uw: kPa Effective stress

component, 2Xuw: kPa
0 300 600 900 1200 1500
12 0 150 300
Surface 12
Height above water table, z: m
permeability, ks

Height above water table, z: m

10 1
2 10
8 3
8
6 4 (1) Hydrostatic line
(2) ks 5 0.001 k0 6
4
5 (3) ks 5 0.01 k0
2
(4) ks 5 0.1 k0 4
3
2 (5) ks 5 k0 4
2 5
Water table, permeability, k0
0
(a) 0
(b)

Fig. 36. The effect of evapotranspiration at the surface on suctions in a soil pro®le
for a variable soil permeability

The coef®cient of permeability k was assumed the soil surface, depending on climate and vegeta-
to be linked to the soil suction by the equation tion.
(due to Gardner (1961))
a
kˆ (15b) OBSERVATIONS OF RECHARGE OF THE WATER
b ‡ (ÿuw )1:5
TABLE AND LEACHATE FLOW FROM WASTE
in which a and b are appropriate constants. Fig. DEPOSITS
36(a) shows suction pro®les corresponding to There are relatively few measurements on record
of the recharge ¯ow to natural ground water tables
(1) no upward ¯ow,
or the leachate ¯ow of waste deposits. While it
(2) k s ˆ 0:001k 0 ,
could be expected that natural recharge and lea-
(3) k s ˆ 0:01k 0 ,
chate ¯ow would have some similarity, there are
(4) k s ˆ 0:1k 0 ,
big differences in the characteristics of a natural
(5) ks ˆ k0.
soil±groundwater system and those of waste depo-
where k s is the coef®cient of permeability of the sits. In a natural system, much of the recharge
soil at the surface (i.e. at a suction of 1500 kPa) takes place from concentrations of surface water
and k 0 is the coef®cient of permeability at zero such as ponds, streams and marshes, where water
suction. is retained on the surface permanently or season-
If k 0 is taken as 100 mm=year (3 3 10ÿ7 cm=s) ally. In contrast, waste deposits are designed to
then the upward ¯ows necessary to sustain the shed as much precipitation as possible, and hence
suction pro®les vary from 125 mm=year for k s ˆ to minimize in®ltration and recharge of the lea-
k 0 , down to 13 mm=year for k s ˆ 0:001k 0. These chate ¯ow.
out¯ows are well within the evapotranspiration In a recent publication, Vegter (1995) has re-
capabilities of both grasses and trees. ported a survey of the natural recharge of water
Figure 36b shows the effective stress component tables in South Africa. The recharge data, consist-
of the suction according to the equation (e.g. ing of both measurements and estimates of re-
Bishop & Blight, 1963) charge (in millimetres per year) are plotted in Fig.
ó 9 ˆ ó ‡ ÷uw (16) 37 against the `net rainfall', de®ned as the mean
annual rainfall minus 0´5 EA . Each data point is
where ó9 is the effective stress, ó the total stress represented by a capital letter, this being the initial
and ÷ a factor that modi®es the suction ÿuw to letter of the town nearest to the point of measure-
make it a component of effective stress for a ment or estimation. Measured or estimated leachate
typical relationship between ÷ and ÿuw for a clay ¯ows for a number of waste deposits have been
soil. Because ÷ reduces sharply as ÿuw increases, included on the graph. All the deposits were un-
ÿ÷uw approaches a constant value with depth that capped, but had soil cover layers in place at the
is considerably less than the larger values of time when the leachate ¯ow was measured. Two of
suction. the sites, HHH and HHVH, are co-disposal land-
It can thus be concluded that the `active zone' ®lls where hazardous liquids are co-disposed with
or the zone of soil that interacts with the atmos- municipal waste.
phere may extend to depths of 20 m or more below It is interesting to see that the leachate ¯ows

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 747
HHVH

Leachate flow: mm/year

500

Recharge or leachate flow: mm/year

A, B, C, N, M, Locations where
400 recharge was determined
HHH Landfill or ash dump
300 Co-disposal landfills
R Rainfall
200 EA A-pan evaporation
L Added liquids
100
Lethabo
100
22000 0 12000 14000 16000
Coastal
Waterval V
Park
R
Net rainfall 1 Liquid addition 5 R 1 L 2 0.5EA Q

ash
E W
50
ark thabo
S
FD P
l Le
a sta Pennsylvania, USA
N
M
Co
Edmonton, UK
L P A B C
H
22000 21500 21000 2500 Waterval 0 1500 11000
Net rainfall 5 R 2 0.5EA

Fig. 37. Recharge of the water table and leachate ¯ows related to net rainfall for
natural sites and waste deposits

from land®lls are generally less than the natural
recharge ¯ows. Also, the leachate ¯ows from land-
®lls in various parts of the world (South Africa;
Edmonton, UK (Blakey, 1992); Pennsylvania, USA
(Bonaparte & Othman, 1995); and an ash dump in
South Africa (see later) appear to follow similar
trends. In other words, the recharge from waste
deposits where there is no co-disposal of liquids
seems to be similar in nature, but less than that
from a natural land surface.
Hence it appears that the processes of recharge
of natural water tables and leachate ¯ow from
waste deposits are essentially similar. However,
because the surface of a waste deposit is designed
to shed and not retain water, the leachate ¯ow
from a waste deposit is less than the recharge of a
natural water table in similar climatic conditions,
because the run-off component of the soil water
balance is larger.
ESTIMATING AND MEASURING THE WATER
STORAGE CAPACITY (S) FOR THE ACTIVE ZONE
The classical de®nition of the storage or `®eld
capacity' term in the water balance equation is
(Veihmeyer & Hendrickson, 1949):
The ®eld capacity is the amount of water held in soil
after excess water has drained away and the rate of
downward movement has materially decreased, which
usually takes place within 2±3 days after a rain or
irrigation in pervious soils of uniform structure and
texture.
In soil mechanics terms, the ®eld or storage
capacity would be the water content in static equi-
librium with the effective stress ó 9 in the soil,
where the components of the effective stress would
be the pore water suction and the total overburden
stresses, that is:
S ˆ f (ó 9) ˆ f (ó , ÿuw ) (17)
where ó 9 in the active zone would have the com-
ponents ÿuw and ó. The effective stress will in-
crease with increasing overburden and moisture
stresses, and hence the ®eld capacity will also vary
with depth and time, and cannot be de®ned by a
single value.
The formal de®nition of ®eld capacity indicates
that it has a quasi-static value that relates to near-
surface soil under speci®c conditions `after a rain
or irrigation', but presumably without the effects of
subsequent evapotranspiration, or the in¯uence of
stresses in the soil water contained by the stratum
below it. Hence the formal de®nition relates to the
speci®c condition of ó 9 ˆ 0. This may be adequate
for agriculture, where only the surface layer or root
zone of the soil is of interest, but it is inadequate
for geotechnical engineering where greater depths
and signi®cant overburden stresses are of impor-
tance.
In reality, the storage S of a soil stratum or a
waste deposit, will never reach a constant state, but
will approach a dynamic equilibrium with the other
terms in the water balance, namely I, ET, and Rech .
In periods when the storage exceeds the storage
capacity or equilibrium value of the storage, there
will be a net downward movement of water
through the pro®le, and recharge of the water table
will occur. When the storage capacity has not been
reached, it is possible for the pro®le to accumulate
more water without recharge occurring. However, it
may also happen that recharge will be occurring

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 748 BLIGHT

towards the base of a soil pro®le, while out¯ow of
water to the atmosphere (by evapotranspiration) is
simultaneously occurring at the surface.
This is illustrated, for a hypothetical situation in
Fig. 38. The water stored in the active zone (S)
would correspond to the area under the water con-
tent±depth curve, and would ¯uctuate both season-
ally with I and ET, and with possible changes in
the characteristics of the material in the active
zone. If the active zone consists of soil or an
inorganic waste (e.g. ash), there would be little
change in storage capacity with time, but if it were
putrescible refuse stored in a land®ll its character-
istics would change progressively with advancing
decomposition. The suctions in the active zone
would change in sympathy with the water content,
and any possible changes of total stress.
It follows from Fig. 38 that the areas under the
water content±depth pro®les in Figs 28, 31 and
32(a) represent water storage in the pro®les con-
cerned. In Figs 28 and 31, the area between the
wet and dry season water content pro®les repre-
sents the change in water storage between wet and
dry seasons.
These concepts will now be illustrated with
reference to a power station ash dump. The ash
dump, situated near Johannesburg, is 30 m high
and has been placed on the surface of a back®lled
open-cast coal mine. The water table is at a depth
of about 10 m below the rather irregular surface of
the back®ll. The section of the ash dump where
the measurements were made was placed in 1987,
I ET
0 Suction, 2UW
0 14
and the tests to be described below were performed
in 1993 and 1994. The ash had been placed at a
nominal water content of 15% (for dust control),
but the actual water content at placing was not well
controlled. For current ash placement it can fall
well below 15% in dry windy weather and be well
over 15% in wet weather.
To obtain the water storage curves for the ash,
two vertical columns consisting of 200-mm bore
plastic piping were set up. One column was 6 m
high and the second was 12 m high. The columns
were ®lled with a slurry of the ash at a water
content of 50%. A free water surface was main-
tained at the base of each column, and evaporation
was allowed to occur from the open upper end.
After allowing 3 months for the columns to reach
moisture equilibrium, and hence their equilibrium
storage capacities, they were dismantled and samp-
led for moisture content. While the columns were
equilibrating, the suction±water content relation-
ship for the ash was determined in the laboratory
(Fourie et al., 1995).
The moisture content pro®les for the ash-®lled
columns are shown in Fig. 39. The laboratory
suction±water content curve for the ash, with the
suction expressed as metres of water head is also
shown in the ®gure. The suction±water content
relationship was determined for uncon®ned speci-
mens of ash and would be expected to give a
slightly higher water content than the column tests,
where the height of the ash column would have
introduced equivalent overburden stresses. The two
types of curve should, however, coincide at suc-
tions corresponding to the tops of the ash columns.

12
∆S
Seasonal
range of Seasonal
10
Height above water table: m

storage range
of suction
Water content:
Active zone

8 Equilibrated ash
Depth

Area 5 Area 5 Columns

Storage, S Change in
storage 6
Wa

Line Laboratory
ter

defining suction–water
on

4
co

storage content
cti

nte

capacity
Su

relationship
nt

Fluctuating Rech Water table at base

water table of columns
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Water content: % Water content: %

Fig. 38. Water storage and storage capacity in the Fig. 39. Results of experiments to determine the ®eld
active zone between the surface and the water table capacity±depth relationship for power station ash

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
As Fig. 39 shows, the laboratory suction±water
content relationship almost coincides with the equi-
librium water contents in the columns, and can
thus be used to determine the storage capacity±
depth relationship for the ash deposit. The princi-
ple of this observation could be extended to any
waste deposit. However, as discussed above, to
obtain a storage capacity versus depth curve, the
con®ning stress should also be varied. The ash
column tests used in this experiment are also not
ideal because of the reduction of overburden stress
caused by silo action between the ash and the walls
of the column. Ideally, triaxial tests, in which both
the suction and overburden stress can be controlled,
should be used to de®ne the storage capacity
versus depth relationship.
To investigate the actual water content pro®le in
the ash dump and to compare it with the storage
capacity as established from the column tests,
holes were drilled through the full height of the
dump and into the soil below. The holes were
drilled in October 1993, at the end of the dry
season (see Fig. 8(c)) and again in April 1994, at
the end of the wet season.
The water content pro®les in Fig. 40 show a
very variable water content, with a slight trend to
increase with depth. If it is assumed that the water
content was essentially constant with depth, the
Date Mean moisture
sampled content SD
cover
749
mean water contents, plus or minus one standard
deviation, are as follows:
Date sampled Mean ‡ 1 SD Mean ÿ 1 SD
Oct. 1993 15´3% 11´7%
Apr. 1994 16´4% 11´4%
On this basis there was little change in the water
content from the end of the dry season to the end
of the wet season.
Because of the mining activities adjacent to the
ash dump, the water table has been drawn down to
40 m below the top of the ash dump. Hence, it
may be assumed that a depth of 40 m below the
ash dump surface marks a level of zero suction.
The laboratory suction±water content curve, on the
assumption of zero suction at a depth of 40 m, has
been superimposed on Fig. 40. It lies on the dry
side of the water content pro®les and, therefore, if
it correctly represents the water storage capacity of
the ash, there is a water surplus which is slowly
draining downwards. The amount of surplus water
stored in the ash amounts to about 1450 mm and,
based on permeability measurements for the ash
(Fourie et al., 1995), it can be calculated that this
surplus moisture is recharging the water table at
about 20 mm=year.
While a representative laboratory suction±water
content curve can be obtained relatively easily for
a homogeneous material such as ash, it is very
dif®cult to measure a representative suction±water
content curve for less homogeneous materials such
as domestic refuse. The problem is illustrated by

13.5% 6 1.8% Fig. 41 which shows a set of measurements of

Soil

Oct. 1993
Apr. 1994 13.9% 6 2.5%
0
suctions made by means of tensiometers, in the
refuse contained by the lysimeters illustrated in
Fig. 27 and the corresponding water contents. The
5
30

10
25 Laboratory suction–
water content
curve for 1-year-old
15 refuse
Depth: m

Ash

20
Suction: kPa

20
15

Storage capacity
25 assuming
water table 10
at 40 m depth

30 5
Mine
spoil

35 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 20 40 60 80 100
Water content, w: % Water content: %

Fig. 40. Water content pro®les measured in an ash Fig. 41. Suction±water content measurements made in
dump in 1993 and 1994 the lysimeter illustrated in Fig. 27

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 750 BLIGHT

curve superimposed on the experimental points was
obtained in the laboratory, but does not represent
®eld conditions very well.
Figure 42 shows three water content pro®les A,
B and C measured in the Cape Town land®ll
referred to in Fig. 29. The measurements were
made in April, at the end of the dry season when
the leachate ¯ow had ceased, and should therefore
represent the water storage capacity of the waste
quite closely. The results appear chaotic unless
viewed in terms of the description for each sample.
When this is done, it is found that the water
storage capacities for the various components of
the waste can be summarized as in Table 3. It may
appear strange that so much water is stored in the
sand and rubble cover component, with its rela-
tively small proportion of the total volume and its
low water content. However, the dry density of
sand and rubble is about 1800 kg=m3 , whereas that
of the other components is only about 400 kg=m3 .
Hence a given percentage water content represents
more water when referred to the denser component
of the waste.
Sand & Paper &
rubble garden waste
0 AB 10 20 30
C
B C
1
C
A
C B
2 A
Depth: m
SEASONAL AND LONGER TERM VARIATIONS IN
THE SOIL WATER BALANCE
The term `water balance' and equations (2a)±
(2c) give the impression that the balance is a static
one, an equilibrium between the atmosphere and
the Earth. However, this is erroneous. A static
equilibrium can be approached, but never achieved,
because of the seasonal variations of precipitation
and evapotranspiration. Hence the water balance is
a condition of dynamic equilibrium that corre-
sponds to current weather patterns and soil surface
conditions. If any of these is changed, for example
by new construction, a new equilibrium will be
approached. This is illustrated by Figs 43 and 44.
Figure 43 shows observations of the seasonal
movement of a building on expansive clay in Cape
Town (Donaldson, 1965). The structure goes
through a repeated seasonal cycle of movement
which is mirrored by the variation in the water
table depth. There are slight variations in both
surface movement and water table depth that de-
pend on ¯uctuations in the amount and monthly
distribution of rainfall from year to year. The un-
saturated zone at this site is effectively in water
balance with the atmosphere.
Figure 44 shows similar data for an asphalt-
Food & surfaced road in a newly urbanized area. The water
garden waste balance for the area was drastically changed by
40 50 60 paving the surface and also by irrigation of the
gardens established on either side of the road. As a
A
20

C
B
Movement: mm

10
A B
A C
3
B 0
C
A
B C B 210
4 A
A A BC
B
C 220
5
5
Water table depth: m

Fig. 42. Water content pro®les sampled in April 1995 6

at the land®ll referred to in Fig. 29
7

9
Table 3. Water storage in Cape Town land®ll
10
Waste component Water storage Water stored:
capacity: mm 200
Rainfall: mm

%
100
Sand and rubble 5±12 145 (19%)
Paper and garden 19±35 225 (29%)
0
waste F MAM J J ASOND J F MAMJ J ASOND J F MAMJ J ASOND
Garden and food 41±59 410 (52%) Month
waste
Fig. 43. Seasonal variations in surface movement and
Total 780 (100%)
water table depth for an old building in Cape Town

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 751
Heave movement: mm

60

Interceptor drain
40 n
atio
por
Eva 600

0
20 500
400
300
0 150 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5
0
Year Drainage blanket
Water table depth: m

3
4 a dam 30 m high with a vertical interceptor drain due
5 tion was assumed to maintain a constant out¯ow from
6
1 2
Fig. 44. Surface heave movements and a rise of the
water table that occurred as a new water balance was
established in a recently urbanized area
result, water started to accumulate in the unsatu-
rated zone, the water table began to rise, and the
soil swelled, heaving the road surface. This process
took place over a period of about 5 years, after
which a new water balance had been established.
Movements of the road surface and water table
then became seasonal, as in Fig. 43.
SOME CONSEQUENCES OF A CHANGING SOIL
WATER BALANCE
Effects of desiccation on soil strength
The method used to produce Fig. 36 can also be
used to investigate likely changes in effective
stress, and hence in strength, in a soil subjected to
desiccation. For example, Fig. 45 shows suctions
calculated for the downstream zone of an earth
dam (protected from seepage by drains) as a result
of a steady net evaporative out¯ow of 25 mm=year
from the surface of the downstream zone, having
a constant permeability of 3 mm=year (1 3 10ÿ8
Fig. 45. Suctions produced in the downstream zone of
to evaporation from the downstream slope. Evapora-
the slope of 25 mm=year
3 4 5 6 7
Year
cm=s). After multiplying the suctions by appropri-
ate values of ÷ to obtain the contribution of the
suction to effective stress (see Fig. 36), consider-
ably smaller values are obtained. In fact, if the
same relationship between ÿuw and ÷ as that for
Fig. 36 is used, it is found that all suctions in
excess of 200 kPa reduce to values of ÿ÷uw of
175 kPa. The value of ÷ for suctions of 150 kPa or
less is close to unity, and these suctions represent
the effective stress component without modi®ca-
tion. Thus, in Fig. 45 the effective overburden
stress for almost the entire volume of the down-
stream zone is given by:
ó v 9 ˆ (ãz ‡ 175) kPa
where ãz is the total overburden stress at depth z.
Figure 46 (Blight, 1970) shows ®eld vane
strength measurements that illustrate some of the
points made by Fig. 45. The measurements were
made in the upstream zone of the Rietvlei embank-
ment dam, a homogeneous earth®ll dam with a
full-height central vertical reinforced concrete core
wall. The cross-section is very similar to that
shown in Fig. 45, with the vertical drain replaced
by the concrete core wall. One set of measure-
ments was made when the phreatic surface in the

Shear strength: kPa

0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0
Strength with high water level
Maximum change in strength Strength with low water level
2 predicted on basis of change
Depth below surface: m

in water level
4

6
WATER LEVEL
CHANGE IN

Observed
change in
8 strength

10

12

Fig. 46. Effects of a changing phreatic level on vane shear strengths in an

earth dam embankment

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 752
dam was at a depth of 5´3 m. As a result of
drought, the phreatic surface gradually dropped by
a height of 6 m over the next 12 months, when a
second set of vane strength measurements was
made. The ®gure shows that measured changes in
strength considerably exceeded the change that
would be expected on the basis of the change in
water level alone. Also, the greatest discrepancies
were measured close to the surface of the embank-
ment. Assuming the total stresses in the embank-
ment did not change, the only tenable explanation
is that the pore pressure pro®le above the water
table, in the dam, when the lake level was low, did
not conform to hydrostatic conditions. Negative
pore pressures, considerably greater than the hydro-
static values, must have been produced in the slope
by evaporation from its surface.
The angle of shearing resistance of the soil in
the Rietvlei embankment is 338, and hence the
larger changes in shear strength of up to 200 kPa
correspond to a change in the effective stress
component due to suction (ÿ÷uw ) of over 350 kPa.
These relatively large changes are compatible with
the values of ÿuw and ÿ÷uw associated with
Fig. 45.
Effects of a rising water table ± surface heave
When a water table has been depressed, for
example by the desiccating effect of trees (see Fig.
33), the soil water balance will be disturbed if the
trees are felled and the land put to a different use.
If the desiccating effect is removed, the water table
will inevitably rise with time. Not only will heave
associated with the relief of desiccation occur, but
the entire cleared area will heave, as the effective
stress will be reduced at all depths in the pro®le.
The situation is illustrated by the pore pressure and
suction pro®les shown in Fig. 47.
Pore Pore
suction pressure
a b c Ground surface
Suction in Recovered position
of water table
zone of
desiccation Equilibrium suction
1 2
under surface with
Suction in
equilibrium with
new land use
depressed d e Depressed position
water table of water table
1 Suction caused 2 Suction caused
by desiccation by depression
of water table
Fig. 47. Suction and pore pressure pro®les illustrating
the effects of recovery of a depressed water table (see
text)
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BLIGHT
These pro®les represent conditions under a
treed surface and subsequently when the trees
have been felled and the groundwater has come to
a new equilibrium with a different land use. The
line ad represents the suction in the zone desic-
cated by the trees, line bd represents the hydro-
static suction pro®le over the depressed water
table, and line ce represents the hydrostatic suc-
tion pro®le in equilibrium with the recovered
water table. Dimension 1 represents the suction
that would be relieved if the trees were felled and
the water table remained in the depressed position,
and dimension 2 represents the suction that would
be relieved as the water table rose to its new
equilibrium position.
If calculating the amount of heave for the pro®le
on the basis of a static water table, the calculated
heave would correspond to
Decrease of suction ˆ suction 1
whereas if the potential rise of the water table were
recognized, one would calculate the heave corre-
sponding to
Decrease of suction ˆ (suction 1 ‡ suction 2)
What is particularly insidious about this situation is
that the rise in water table reduces the effective
stress over the whole depth of the soil pro®le, both
above and below the depressed position of the
water table. Hence not only is the depth to which
expansion occurs unexpectedly large, but the initial
position of the water table no longer represents a
level below which expansion will not occur. Hence,
for example, tension piles anchored below the level
of the depressed water table will heave as they will
not be anchored in stable material.
The quantity of heave likely to occur as the
water table rises to its new equilibrium position
can be calculated from the compressibility charac-
teristics of the soil, the initial effective stress pro-
®le and the expected change of effective stress as
the water table recovers.
The initial effective stress pro®le may be esti-
mated from measurements of swelling pressure.
The compressibility characteristics may be repre-
sented by, for example, the swelling index Cs , i.e.
the slope of the void ratio versus log (effective
stress) rebound line in an oedometer test on the
saturated soil.
It is dif®cult to estimate the ®nal equilibrium
position of the recovered water table, as this will
depend on the character of the new land use.
However, if evidence (such as that shown in Fig.
33) about the depth of the `undisturbed' water
table is available, this will serve as a valuable
guide to the estimation of the new equilibrium
water table position.
The quantity of heave is important, but the time
over which it will occur may be equally important.
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
The relationship between time and heave for a
structure such as a road or an isolated building
over a stable water table can be calculated by
assuming appropriate boundary conditions and ap-
plying the theory of water ¯ow in soils (e.g. Blight,
1965). This method breaks down when considering
heave of an extensive area such as that of an
industrial township or a power station. In cases like
this, the only feasible approach seems to be to
calculate a water balance for the site, and hence to
estimate the rate at which water will accumulate in
the pro®le. Thus the `rate model' usually used for
problems of this type must be replaced by a `capa-
city model'.
If the water table is deep (as it will be if
considering a depressed water table), the contribu-
tion to the accumulation of the water in the pro®le
from the water table itself will be negligible. The
major component of recharge must be the net in®l-
tration (i.e. in®ltration minus evapotranspiration
losses) into the soil through the ground surface.
Water recharging the pro®le from the surface is
assumed to do so in the form of a sharply de®ned
wetting front (e.g. Morgenstern & de Matos, 1975).
The time taken for the recharge to occur can be
assessed by calculating the time necessary for the
available recharge to ®ll:
(a) air-®lled pore space in the pro®le above the
water table,
(b) additional void space created by swelling.
The air-®lled void space per unit volume of soil is
given by
va e(1 ÿ S)
ˆ (18)
v 1‡e
The additional void space resulting from swell is
753
vs Äes
ˆ (19)
v 1‡e
in which va is the volume of air-®lled pore space,
vs is the void space resulting from swell, v is the
volume of soil, e is the void ratio, Äes is the
increase in void ratio resulting from swell, and S is
the degree of pore space saturation. The contribu-
tion of vs =v is very small and can usually be
neglected.
The time taken for the available recharge to ®ll
the available void space is calculated by dividing
the available void space by the recharge rate, i.e.
Available space
Time to fill pore space ˆ
Recharge rate
or
va =v ‡ vs =v
tˆ (20)
(1=v)(dRech =dt)
in which dRech =dt is the rate of recharge estimated
from the water balance model.
To calculate the time±heave curve, the pro®le is
subdivided into horizons and the time taken to
recharge each horizon is calculated together with
the contribution to heave of the horizon. Typical
time±heave curves calculated on this basis are
shown in Fig. 48 for the power station site shown
in Fig. 33(c). It can be seen that the major portion
of the heave occurs from the surface downwards.
In the case of any isolated structure on the surface,
heave will have to occur by lateral ¯ow from
adjacent recharged soil. Hence the heave of such a
structure will usually occur more slowly than that
of the area as a whole.
Once the pro®le has been recharged, the water
table will rise very quickly to its ®nal equilibrium

dRech 5 10% precip. dRech 5 15% precip.

dRech 5 15% precip.
dt dt
dt
100 100
8–12 m
dRech 5 0.100 m/year dRech 5 0.065 m/year dRech 5 0.100 m/year
80 4–8 m dt dt 80 dt
% of final heave
% of final heave

Likely time–
60 heave 60
0–4 m relationship

40 40
Surface infiltration
Surface
infiltration
20 and upward 20
flow from
water table
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 2 4 6 8
Time: years Time: years
(a) (b)

Fig. 48. Predicted time±heave curves for the power station site shown in Fig. 33(c): (a) western half of site;
(b) eastern half of site (surface in®ltration only)

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 754
position. Fig. 48 also indicates the uncertainty
attached to estimating dRech =dt from a water bal-
ance model when the rate of recharge is unknown
with any precision.
Figure 49 shows a number of time±heave rela-
tionships observed for the power station site. These
all have approximately the shape of the predicted
curves shown in Fig. 48. The curves in Fig. 48
were predicted on the assumption that the ®nal
equilibrium position of the water table would be
10 m below the level of the power station terrace.
As a result of very poor housekeeping by the
power station operators, the water table eventually
rose to 4 m below the surface. As a result, heave
quantities were greater than predicted. The obser-
vations shown in Fig. 49 ceased abruptly in 1989,
because at that time the voids left beneath certain
of the structures to accommodate the heave move-
ment had almost closed up. It was decided to mine
out a larger void, and this was done at great cost,
instead of attacking the problem at source and
limiting in®ltration into the soil.
Effects of a rising water table ± resisted uplift of
piles
Clearly, if a soil pro®le expands, the soil will
transmit the effects of its expansion to any pile
260
240
220
200
180
160
Surface heave: mm
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0 pipe having a yield stress of 300 MPa. Spaced at
1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Year
Fig. 49. Time±heave relationships observed at the site
of the power station shown in Fig. 33(c)
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BLIGHT
installed in it, unless the pile shaft is isolated from
the soil. The effect on such piles will be illustrated
with reference to the power station site discussed
in the previous section.
Once the danger of severe heave of the site had
been recognized, it was decided that vulnerable
plant and building foundations for the power sta-
tion would be piled, using bored cast in situ piles.
Design for heavy loads was not problematic, as
piles could be socketed into the siltstone and shale
at the base of the pro®le (see Fig. 33(c)). However,
problems would arise with the design of lightly
loaded piles and piles that would be installed 2±3
years prior to receiving their full dead load. As the
desiccation in the pro®le was relieved and heave
occurred, piles would become subject to frictional
uplift, and therefore had to be designed as tension
anchor piles.
Previous work (Blight, 1984a) had established
design curves for pile uplift forces based on the
Collins approach (Collins, 1953) and using shear
strengths established by means of laboratory tests
and large-scale in situ plug-pulling tests. The lit-
erature contained some experimental justi®cation
for the use of Collins' equation. Donaldson (1967),
for instance, observed the behaviour of a single
225-mm diameter pile, 10 m long, installed in
expansive clay and found that the distribution of
uplift force on the shaft was similar to that pre-
dicted by Collins. Similar tests did not appear to
have been done on piles of lengths and diameters
approaching those used at the power station site
(up to 35 m long and diameters up to 2000 mm).
Because of the importance of achieving satisfac-
tory pile performance with economy and the dearth
of information con®rming the applicability of Col-
lins' equation to the very large piles being planned,
it was decided to con®rm the design recommenda-
tion by installing a group of instrumented test piles
and subjecting them to accelerated heave of the
surrounding soil. A decision was made to install a
group of seven piles, three of which would be
instrumented. The layout of the test group is shown
in Fig. 50. The instrumented piles (1±3) were
located so as to represent a corner pile, a side pile
and an interior pile of a typical pile group. The
group included a multi-depth extensometer so that
the distribution of heave with depth could be ob-
served. All piles were straight-shafted, 1050 mm in
diameter and 33 m long. All were reinforced with
twelve mild steel bars of 25 mm diameter and
having a yield stress of 280 MPa.
The instrumentation consisted of a central col-
umn composed of 89 mm o.d., 78 mm i.d. steel
3-m intervals up the column were strain cells
consisting of a vibrating wire gauge mounted axi-
ally within a 200-mm long ¯anged length of pipe.
Electric resistance strain gauges cemented to the
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 755
Heave: mm
220 0 20 40 60 80 100
0

4 2625 2625

6 Multi-depth
extensometer
Depth below terrace: m

8
7
10

2625
12

14 Initial depth
of water table 6 3 5

16

2625
Time from start of flooding:

18 40 days
70 days 2 1 4
20 163 days

22

(a) (b)

Fig. 50. (a) Heave±depth pro®les shown by the multi-depth extensometer. (b) Layout
of the pile test group and the location of the multi-depth extensometer (dimensions in
mm). Piles 1±3, instrumented; piles 4±7, installed to produce group effect

inner surface of the strain cell wall provided back-
up to the vibrating wire gauges. A load versus
strain calibration was established for each strain
cell prior to taking it to site. To ensure water-
tightness of the instrument column, each pair of
mating ¯anges was sealed with a rubber O-ring.
The large (213-mm diameter) ¯anges were in-
tended to act as stress raisers to ensure that the
concrete would crack on either side of each strain
cell, so that the recorded strain would be directly
related to the shaft tension in the pile.
Each of the three instrumented piles contained
eight strain cells. To check on possible gross defor-
mation or dislocation of the test piles, three 25-
mm diameter steel rods sleeved inside 50-mm o.d.
steel tubes were installed in each pile. Each rod
terminated with a square anchor plate, which was
embedded in the concrete. One of these rods was
anchored at the bottom of the pile (33 m), while
the others were anchored at depths of 9 and 18 m,
respectively. Comparison of the levels of the tops
of the rods relative to each other and to the top of
the pile enabled any gross dislocation of the pile
shaft to be approximately located, as well as en-
abling the overall shaft extension to be measured.
The instrument columns were assembled in situ
down a storage hole. When complete, each was
withdrawn by a crane and lowered into the rein-
forcing cage where it was secured in an axial
position. The complete instrumented cage was then
lowered down the pile hole, and the pile was con-
creted using a placing tube to avoid segregation
and impact on the instrumented column. After the
seven piles and the extensometer had been in-
stalled, a series of 75-mm diameter watering holes
was drilled around the group and between the rows
of piles. The holes penetrated to the depth of the
deepest strain cells (i.e. 25 m). Approximately 1
month after casting the piles, water was admitted
to the pro®le through hoses placed down the water-
ing holes.
Figure 50a shows a selection of readings taken
on the multi-depth extensometer. The water table
in the pro®le was at a depth of 14 m and the
measurements have been plotted relative to the
initial level of 21 m. A relative compression of up
to 7 mm was recorded at the level of the water
table where, as a result of the arti®cial raising of
the phreatic surface, a slight heave would have
been expected. The heave above the water table
increased progressively to the surface, and a maxi-
mum surface heave of 88 mm had been recorded
when the experiment was abandoned. However, the
pro®le was still expanding at this time (121 days
from the start of watering).
Figure 51 shows pro®les of total pile tension for
pile 2 at 36 and 45 days (i.e. 7 and 16 days after
applying water). Total tensions were obtained by
multiplying the instrument column tension by the
ratio of the total reinforcement area to the column
cross-section. This assumed that the concrete had
cracked and the steel was carrying the entire load.
The tension for yield of the piles was based on a
yield stress of 290 MPa and decreased with depth

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 756 BLIGHT
Tension in pile: kN
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
0 Anchorage
Pile 2
33 m long
4 Design curve based on
large-scale shear tests
7 on large-scale
10
Depth: m
13
16 Tension for
yield of pile
19
Electric resistance gauges
22
Vibrating wire gauges
36 days
25
45 days
Fig. 51. Distribution of tensions induced in a pile by
expansion of the soil pro®le
as the steel tubes housing the dislocation tell-tales
were stopped off.
The small total tensions recorded at a depth of
4 m were almost certainly underestimates as the
strain at this depth was not suf®cient to crack the
concrete (less than 150 3 10ÿ6 ). The same may
partially apply to a depth of 7 m. Actual tensions
may have been as much as twelve times those
deduced on the basis of the steel area alone. Sim-
ilar remarks apply in the anchorage length at
depths below 19 m.
Superimposed on Fig. 51 is the design curve
based on Collins' equation and shear strengths
measured in large-scale plug-pulling tests (Blight,
1984b). The predicted curve shows very reasonable
agreement with the observed tensions, especially if
the above reservations are borne in mind.
In Fig. 52, shaft shear stresses calculated from
tension increments in the three test piles are com-
pared with each other and with the strength±depth
relationship based on the plug-pulling tests. Results
for the three piles agree well with each other and
reasonably with the results of the plug-pulling
tests, especially if it is accepted that tensions down
to 7 m have probably been underestimated.
Figure 52 also shows how the uplift shears are
counteracted by the anchorage shears on the pile
shaft. The depth at which the direction of the shear
stress was reversed lay between 11 and 12 m,
which is above the original position of the water
table (14 m). This does not mean that the soil
above the water table did not swell, but it does
indicate that the pile was moving upwards relative
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Shear stress on pile perimeter: kPa
Uplift
2200 2150 2100 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
2 Strength–depth
relationship based
4
in situ tests
6
8
10
12
14 Water table
16
18
Pile 1
20 Pile 2
Pile 3
22
Depth: m 24
26
Fig. 52. Distribution of shear stresses on a pile shaft
surface induced by expansion of the soil pro®le
to the soil for about 3 m above the water table.
Fig. 52 provides a useful check on the validity of
the force measurements. For vertical equilibrium of
the pile, the area under the uplift shear stress
diagram should equal that under the anchorage
shear stress diagram, and each area should equal
the maximum tension in the pile. In all three cases,
these conditions were reasonably well met, not-
withstanding the reservations concerning measured
tensions at either end of the piles. For piles 1 and
2 each shear area equalled just over 2000 kN,
while for pile 3 each area equalled about 1500 kN.
Another check was provided by comparing the
measured shaft extension to the integration of the
measured strains. These differed by 15% with the
strain integration giving the lower ®gure.
Flooding of a soil pro®le to cause an accelerated
change in water balance
As shown in Fig. 44, the transition from one
soil water balance to another, as a result of a
change in surface conditions, can take a number of
years to occur, and can have very adverse effects
for structures built on the surface. If it is recog-
nized that a proposed change of land usage will
result in changing the soil water balance, then the
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 757
change can be accelerated. If the change at the soil Surface loading, p
surface will result in an accumulation of water in Surface cover
the unsaturated zone, then, as seen above, the
z Surface perched water
change in the water balance can be accelerated by a b c d e f table due to ponding
¯ooding, i.e. by arti®cially raising the water table
h u0 u∞ uf σv
towards the surface. p
Figure 53 (Blight & de Wet, 1965) illustrates
the changes in effective stress that occur during
and after the ¯ooding of a soil pro®le: In the Permanent water
table
virgin unsaturated pro®le the pore water pressure
at depth z is u0 (point a in Fig. 53(a)). The
Tension Pressure
pressure u0 is in dynamic equilibrium with the (negative) (positive)
water table at depth h below the surface. The
corresponding point on an effective stress versus (a)
movement relationship (Fig. 53(b)) would be A. At
the end of ¯ooding a temporary perched water
table has been established at the ground surface
and the pore water pressure is uf (point d in Fig. B

Vertical movement
53(a)). The surface has heaved and the effective

Heave
c
stress has been reduced. Point B in Fig. 53(b) de D
describes the state of the soil in terms of effective A
stress and heave. If the fully heaved soil surface is 0
be
covered by an impervious surface, or a structure, bf
the pro®le will contain an excess of moisture Settlement ae
which will gradually drain away until static equili-
Effective stress
brium is established with the permanent water
table. The pore water pressure will then be u1 (b)
(point b in Fig. 53(a)). The effective stress will
have increased somewhat, and the surface will have Fig. 53. (a) Changes in pore pressure and total stress
settled bringing the soil to point C in Fig. 53(b). during ¯ooding of a pro®le. (b) Changes in effective
The effects of the surface loading imposed by the stress and vertical movement
structure (ef in Fig. 53(a)) would be to increase
the effective stress further and cause further settle- periment (Blight & de Wet, 1965). Flooding was
ment to take place to point D in Figure 53(b). maintained for 96 days, after which period the
Figure 54 shows the time±heave±settlement surface of the test area was covered by a concrete
curve observed in a large-scale ®eld ¯ooding ex- slab to represent a structure. Heave was observed

100
% of maximum observed surface heave

80

Natural heave
60 curve for house
in vicinity of
flooded area

40
Area covered by concrete slab

20
Area flooded

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time from commencement of flooding: years

Fig. 54. Time±heave±settlement relationship for Blight & de Wet's (1965) experiment

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 758 BLIGHT

to continue for a further year, after which a slow LP 7

settlement commenced. After 7´5 years the settle-
LP 6
ment had virtually ceased. In this particular case, EX 1
post-¯ooding settlement amounted to about 20% of 50
maximum heave. It is likely that post-¯ooding
settlement will be more in cases where the perma-
nent water table is deeper or the superimposed load
EX 4
is greater. To illustrate the extent to which ¯ooding 40
can accelerate the natural readjustment of the water
balance, Fig. 54 also shows the heave curve corre-

Surface heave: mm
sponding to a natural season-by-season accumula-
tion of moisture in the pro®le.
The pre-heaving technique has been successfully 30
EX 2
applied in constructing several large shopping com-
plexes on expansive clay in South Africa. The LP 3
following data refer to a complex in the town of
Vereeniging (Blight et al., 1992b). The soil pro®le 20
consists of a thin surface layer of ®ll underlain by
1´5±2 m of stiff, slickensided sandy clay alluvium.
The alluvium, in turn, rests on 9±10 m of residual
shale, weathered to a stiff, slickensided clayey silt.
This overlies less-weathered shale. The water table 10 EX 3
before ¯ooding was at a depth of 11 m.
The main structure was to be supported on piles
and the pre-heaving was intended to stabilize the
soil underlying the slab-on-grade ¯oors. Prewetting 0
Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov.
holes of 300 mm diameter and 6 m deep were
Month
drilled on a 3-m grid with a wider spacing of
3´6 m adjacent to main column grid lines. The Fig. 55. Time±surface heave relationships observed
holes were ®lled with crushed rock to prevent them during ¯ooding of the site for a shopping complex in
from collapsing. Vereeniging, South Africa, 1983. EX, surface point of
Expansion of the soil was monitored by means multi-depth extensometer; LP, surface-level peg
of surface pegs and four multi-depth extenso-
meters. The extensometers enabled the progression
Heave at 3 August 1983: mm
of heave at various depths in the pro®le to be
0 10 20 30 40 50
monitored. Flooding was maintained for a period 0
EX 2 EX 4
of 2´5 months between early June and late August.
3

1
EX
EX

Fig. 55 shows available records of surface heave

versus time, while Fig. 56 shows pro®les of heave
recorded at the four extensometers shortly before
¯ooding was terminated. Start of flooding
10 June 1983
The maximum recorded surface heave varied
5
Depth below surface: m

from 12 to 55 mm over the 11 000-m2 area of the

site. The time±heave curves given in Fig. 55 show
very similar features to those of Blight & de Wet
(1965) time±heave curve (see Fig. 54). Unfortu-
nately, the surface pegs were destroyed once con-
struction was started and the extensometers were
destroyed shortly thereafter. By this time the ex- 10
tensometer curves were showing a steady settle- Original water table
ment as the excess water slowly drained out of the
soil.
Figure 56 shows the variation of heave with
depth recorded by the four extensometers. These
curves show that most of the heave took place
15
within the upper 5 m of the pro®le, where desicca-
tion should have been greatest. Unfortunately, no Fig. 56. Heave±depth relationships after ¯ooding of
post-construction monitoring has been carried out the site for a shopping complex in Vereeniging, South
on the structure. It is understood, however, that no Africa. EX, surface point of multi-depth extensometer

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
problems of excessive settlement have been experi-
enced and that the owners of the complex are
satis®ed with the result.
THE CRACKING AND FISSURING OF SOIL,
RESULTING FROM EVAPOTRANSPIRATION AT THE
SURFACE
The interchange of moisture required for the soil
water balance to adjust itself both seasonally and
in the long term takes place mainly by the transfer
of energy and water through the soil surface. As
this transfer takes place, the soil is alternately
wetted and dried and swells and shrinks in sym-
pathy. The shrinkage results in surface cracking,
and subsequent wetting and swelling causes the
cracks to close again. If loose material is blown or
washed into the open cracks before swelling can
occur, restrained swelling stresses will be generated
parallel to the soil surface. These stresses are often
large enough to cause the soil to fail passively,
creating swelling ®ssures (Skempton et al., 1969).
Not only will open surface cracks drastically mod-
ify the in®ltration of water into a soil pro®le and
assist to distribute it within the soil very rapidly,
but both cracks and swelling ®ssures will modify
the shear strength characteristics of the soil (e.g.
Blight, 1967).
Stresses in a shrinking soil
Assume the existence of a large expanse of deep
intact clay having a water table initially coincident
with the surface. As a result of slow evaporation
the water table withdraws below the surface, but
the clay remains saturated. When the water table is
at a depth h below the surface, the vertical stresses
in the soil are approximately as shown in Fig.
57(a). The pore water pressure at the surface is
u ˆ ÿáãw h (21)
where ãw is the unit weight of the pore water and
á is a factor that increases above unity as the rate
of evaporation increases. If evaporation ceases, á
tends to unity. At any depth z below the surface,
the total overburden stress is
ó v ˆ ãz (22)
and the effective overburden stress is
ó v 9 ˆ [ãz ‡ áãw (h ÿ z)] (23)
where ã is the bulk unit weight of the clay.
As evaporation proceeds, óv 9 increases and the
soil surface settles as the clay shrinks. As long as
the clay remains intact, no shrinkage can take
place in a horizontal direction and a horizontal
shrinkage stress arises. Fig. 57(b) shows the hori-
zontal stresses in the soil pro®le. The pore water
pressure at the surface is still
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759
u ˆ ÿáãw h
At depth z below the surface the horizontal total
stress will be related to the vertical total stress at
that depth, i.e.
ó h ˆ Kãz (24)
where the factor K may vary with depth, but is
here assumed to be constant.
Furthermore, the additional horizontal shrinkage
stress ó s acts. This stress must be closely related
to the pore water tension arising from surface
evaporation, and is therefore written as
ÿó s ˆ âãw h (25)
at the surface. The value of the factor â will
depend on the stress±strain characteristics of the
soil in the horizontal plane; it will probably be
equal to or greater than á.
If ó s is a total tension, the effective horizontal
stress at depth z will be
ó h 9 ˆ (ó s ‡ ó h ) ÿ u
or
ó h 9 ˆ ãw (h ÿ z)(â ÿ á) ÿ Kãz (26)
If ó s is an effective tension, the effective horizon-
tal stress at depth z will be
ó h 9 ˆ ó s ‡ (ó h ÿ u)
or
ó h 9 ˆ ãw (h ÿ z)(â ÿ á) ÿ Kãz
The result is the same whether ó s is a total or an
effective tension. Depending on the relative values
of â and á, ó h 9 may be a tension or a compres-
sion. If at the surface ó h 9 is a tension, it will
decrease with depth as shown in Fig. 57(b), be-
coming a compression at some distance above the
water table.
Cracking in a shrinking soil
Cracking occurs at the surface when the rela-
tionship between ó v 9 and the horizontal shear
stress ôh is such that the soil fails or fractures. To
investigate the fracture conditions, two assumptions
are made:
(a) ó v 9 and ó h 9 are principal stresses,
(b) an appropriate failure criterion is identi®ed.
The ®rst assumption is certainly true at the surface
and is probably true at depth, at least to a ®rst
approximation. As cracking is a form of brittle
fracture, the Grif®th criterion is probably appropri-
ate at the surface, and is also convenient to use at
depth.
Figure 58 shows the Mohr envelope for the
Grif®th criterion as well as a failure envelope for
drained tension tests on London clay (Bishop &
 760 BLIGHT

Tension Compression
(negative) (positive)

2αγwh 1αγwh

Pore
water z
stress, u

h
Overburden
stress, σv

Water table

Effective
overburden
stress, σ v′

(a)

Tension Compression
(negative) (positive)

2βγwh
2αγwh

Pore Horizontal
water effective z
stress, u stress, σ h′

Horizontal h
shrinkage Horizontal
stress, σs total
stress, σh

Water table

K γh

(b)

Fig. 57. Changes in stresses in a soil pro®le as a result of drying: (a)

vertical stresses; (b) horizontal stresses

Garga, 1969). It appears from this comparison that
either the Grif®th or the Mohr±Coulomb criterion
should be appropriate to the present problem. The
Grif®th criterion gives a more de®nite indication of
crack orientations than does the Mohr±Coulomb
criterion, and for this reason the former will be
used here.
Formation of shrinkage cracks of the surface. At
the soil surface, the major and minor principal
stresses are
ó 1 9 ˆ ó h 9 ˆ ÿ(â ÿ á)ãw h (27)
ó 3 9 ˆ ó v 9 ˆ áãw h
As h increases (water table drops) the two stresses
diverge until failure occurs, and the soil cracks.
According to the Grif®th criterion (Hoek, 1964,
Jaeger & Cook, 1969), the inclination ø of the
cracks to the vertical is given by
ó v9 ÿ ó h9 â
cos 2ø ˆ ˆ (28)
2(ó v 9 ‡ ó h 9) 2(2á ÿ â)
Vertical cracks will form if cos 2ø ˆ 1, i.e. if
â > 43á. If â , 43á, inclined surface cracks will
form. For example, if ⠈ 54á, then ø ˆ 178; and if
⠈ á, then ø ˆ 308. If the value of cos 2ø calcu-
lated from equation (28) is greater than unity, ø is
taken as zero. Negative values of cos 2ø are valid.

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 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH 761
0
Griffith criterion

Shear stress, τ
0.1

0.2

Depth as fraction of water table depth

Mohr–Coulomb 0.3
envelope for
London clay
0.4

0.5

0 Direct effective stress, σ ′ 0.6

Uniaxial
tensile strength, σt 0.7 α52 α52
β53 β52
Fig. 58. Failure envelope for London clay in tension,
0.8
and the Grif®th failure envelope

Formation of shrinkage cracks at depth. At depth 0.9

z the major and minor principal stresses will be
ó 1 9 ˆ ó h 9 ˆ ãw (h ÿ z)(â ÿ á) ÿ Kãz
ó 3 9 ˆ ó v 9 ˆ ÿ[ãz ‡ áãw (h ÿ z)] (29)
As before, the inclination of the cracks to the
vertical will be given by
ó v9 ÿ ó h9
cos 2ø ˆ
2(ó v 9 ‡ ó h 9)
ãz(K ÿ 1) ÿ âãw (h ÿ z)
ˆ one end or the other.
2[ãz(K ‡ 1) ÿ (2á ÿ â)ãw (h ÿ z)]
With the approximations 㠈 2ãw and K ˆ 12
(K ˆ 12 would correspond roughly to the stress
condition in a normally consolidated clay)
ÿ[z ‡ â(h ÿ z)]
cos ø ˆ
2[3z ÿ (2á ÿ â)(h ÿ z)]
This expression clearly offers several possible
crack orientations. If, for example á ˆ ⠈ 2, the
variation in ®ssure inclination with depth should be
as shown in Fig. 59. Fissures will vary from 308
off-vertical at the surface, to vertical, to 408 off-
vertical near the water table. The ®ssure orientation
if á ˆ 2 and ⠈ 3 is also shown in Fig. 59. In
this case ®ssures would be vertical to a depth equal
to half the water table depth, and would be in-
clined below this.
Characteristics of cracking observed in soil pro®les
The following summarizes observations of
cracking and ®ssuring observed in soil pro®les in
the unsaturated zone:
(a) Uninterrupted, open vertical cracks usually
persist only to about 1 m deep.
1.0
Fig. 59. Crack pro®les predicted by Grif®th failure
theory
(b) The greatest depth at which open vertical
cracks can usually be discerned is about 1´5 m.
These cracks are often not continuous to the
surface, but terminate in an inclined ®ssure at
(c) No inclined ®ssures usually exist at depths of
(30) less than about 0´5 m.
(d) The range in ®ssure inclinations measured on
18 ®ssures at depths greater than 0´5 m was
398 to 788 off-vertical, the average value being
about 558.
(31)
The above observations are illustrated in Fig. 60,
which shows a crack exposed in a ®ssured soil
pro®le. This can be compared with the predicted
crack in Fig. 59 for á ˆ 2 and ⠈ 3.
The formation of swelling ®ssures
If shrinkage cracks become ®lled with material
washed down or blown in from the surface and the
soil subsequently swells, horizontal swelling will
be restrained and large horizontal swelling pres-
sures may develop. If the horizontal stresses be-
came large enough in relation to the overburden
stresses, the clay may fail in passive compression
(see e.g. Blight, 1969). Under these conditions, the
horizontal stress becomes the minor principal
stress, and the vertical stress becomes the major
principal stress. In terms of the Grif®th failure
criterion, the orientation of swelling ®ssures to the
vertical will be given by

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 762
Fig. 60. Cracks observed in a desiccated soil pro®le
ó h9 ÿ ó v9
cos 2(908 ÿ ø) ˆ
2(ó h 9 ‡ ó v 9)
In most clays containing swelling ®ssures, ó h 9=ó v 9
would have had a value of between 3 and 6 when
the ®ssures were formed. Values of ø of between
508 and 608 would therefore be expected to pre-
dominate.
Fissures in pro®les that seasonally shrink and
swell
Clays that seasonally shrink and swell can be
expected to contain two sets of ®ssures, one corre-
sponding to shrinkage, the other to swelling. The
shrinkage ®ssures must, of course, form ®rst, and
swelling ®ssures will not form unless open shrink-
age ®ssures become ®lled with extraneous material.
Once swelling ®ssures have formed, the shrinkage
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BLIGHT
®ssures may become inactive, seasonal movement
being largely con®ned to shearing movements
along the swelling ®ssures.
Figure 61 shows a histogram of crack orienta-
tions observed in the same soil pro®le that is
shown in the photograph in Fig. 60 (Williams,
1965). In this analysis a total of 192 observations
was used and the following trend emerged:
(a) there was a de®nite peak showing a high
percentage of near-vertical cracks
(b) there was a subsidiary, but signi®cant, peak
showing a concentration of angles of inclina-
tion centred at about 358
(c) there was a concentration of angles of inclina-
tion of 55±658.
The vertical cracks and ®ssures with inclinations of
about 358 probably arose from drying shrinkage of
the clay, while the ®ssures inclined at 55±658 to
the vertical were probably formed by swelling
movements.
Spacing of cracks on the surface
Horizontal shrinkage stresses near the surface
are relieved by the formation of surface cracks.
Vertical stresses, as they depend only on gravity
and the effects of desiccation, must remain essen-
tially unaltered by surface cracking. The relief of
horizontal shrinkage stresses causes a release of
strain energy, which must be utilized in producing
the crack surfaces.
Suppose that the strain energy per unit volume
in a layer of clay of thickness dz is converted into
surface energy. If L is the length of crack sur-
rounding a horizontal area A, T s is the surface
energy of the crack surface, and Es is the strain
energy per unit volume of clay immediately before
the soil cracks, then
(32)
32
28
Number of measurements
24
20
16
12
8
4
80 60 40 20 0
Inclination of fissures to vertical: deg.
Fig. 61. Histogram of crack inclination measured in a
desiccated soil pro®le
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
2L dz Ts ˆ A dz Es
or
A 2Ts
ˆ (33)
L Es
The crack pattern initiated in an intact soil will
tend to form so that a minimum of crack surface
will relieve a given strain energy per unit volume,
i.e. the ratio of the area to the perimeter for the
crack pattern will be a minimum. Patterns consist-
ing of a series of squares or regular hexagons both
have an area=perimeter ratio of
A d
ˆ CONCLUSION
L 4
where d is the distance between parallel faces. The
minimum possible value of this ratio appears to be
d=4 and, therefore, square or hexagonal crack pat-
terns appear most likely to form. Hence from
equation (33)
8Ts
dˆ (34)
Es
The rough surfaces of the tension cracks will be
covered by a ®lm of capillary pore water. Also,
because all void spaces intersected by a crack will
be occupied by menisci of approximately hemi-
spherical shape, the actual surface area of the crack
will be at least twice the super®cial area. Hence
the surface energy of the crack surfaces Ts should
be rather more than twice the surface energy of the
water.
The strain energy per unit volume of soil
released by the crack formation Es would be given
by the area under the stress±strain curve for com-
pression of the clay. The change in horizontal
effective stress when cracks form at the surface is
given by
Äó 9 ˆ ó h 9 ÿ (ÿu) (35)
i.e.
Äó 9 ˆ âãw h
If m is the slope of the stress±strain curve for
horizontal compression of the clay (i.e. horizontal
strain ˆ m Äó 9)
1 m
Es ˆ m(Äó 9)2 ˆ (âãw h)2 (36)
2 2
Hence the expression for the crack spacing be-
comes
16 Ts
dˆ (37)
m(âãw h)2
For a typical normally consolidated clay m ˆ 3
mm2 =N. If Ts is taken as 200 3 10ÿ6 N=mm (Ts
for water is 75 3 10ÿ6 N=mm) and â as 2, cracks
with a spacing of 200 mm are likely to form when
the water table has receded to a depth of 100 mm.
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763
If the clay is stiffer, with m ˆ 30 mm2 =N, cracks
with a spacing of 200 mm are likely to form when
the water table is 30 mm deep.
A typical pattern of shrinkage cracks in a soil
surface is shown in Fig. 62. This example shows
both deep primary cracks and shallower secondary
cracks. Note that most of the crack intersections
are orthogonal, and the crack pattern is more
square than hexagonal. Similar observations have
been reported by Corte & Higashi (1964) and
Lachenbruch (1962).
It is hoped that this description of the processes
whereby water is transferred between the atmos-
phere and the unsaturated soil zone, and the con-
sequences of this movement will be of bene®t to
geotechnical engineers working on the many pro-
blems of unsaturated zone soils. It is gratifying to
see the growing interest in studies of this kind in
many parts of the world (e.g. Kitamura et al.,
1996, Kleppe & Olsen, 1985, Lim et al., 1996,
Richardson & Waugh, 1996, Fourie et al., 1997,
Newson et al., 1997, Williams et al., 1997).
It is also interesting to see that the techniques
developed for studying the water interchange are
now ®nding direct commercial applications. The
writer is currently involved, for example, in asses-
sing the water storage and evaporative capacity of
a land®ll in a water de®cient area with the object
of using it as an environmentally safe receptacle
for liquid industrial wastes. A second study is in
progress to assess similar capacities for a large dry
ash dump that is to be used to absorb and evapo-
rate brine. As the world's commercial development
continues and environmental controls become stric-
ter, these techniques will be used ever more
widely.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This has been the ®rst Rankine Lecture to have
concentrated on the behaviour of soils in the unsat-
urated zone and on the interaction of this zone
with the atmosphere. My enduring interest in the
mechanics of unsaturated soils was ®rst kindled by
Professor Jere Jennings, who encouraged me to
pursue my studies of this fascinating subject. My
second mentor was Professor Alan Bishop, who
further encouraged me. I am grateful to both for
starting me on an intellectual journey that I have
continually enjoyed. I am also grateful to my pro-
fessional colleagues and assistants who, over the
years, have taught me far more than I would ever
have been able to learn by my own efforts.
I wish particularly to acknowledge the support
and assistance of my wife Rhona and of my four
children, Barbara, Catherine, Jennifer and Geoffrey,
 764
Fig. 62. Cracking pattern in a desiccated soil surface
all of whom have at some time or another assisted
me ably in my research. I particularly want to
acknowledge Jennifer's help with the studies of
in®ltration and evapotranspiration. In these, she has
been the leader and I the assistant.
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VOTE OF THANKS
PROFESSOR S. F. BROWN, Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Nottingham
An invitation to deliver the annual Rankine
Lecture is rightly regarded by the recipient as a
great honour and one that is recognized interna-
tionally, such is the standing of this British Geo-
technical Society event. However, acceptance of
the invitation (I am not aware that any have been
declined) presents the lecturer with an enormous
challenge. What will he use for his subject matter?
Should it be broad or narrow? Will it hold the
interest of a geotechnically literate but varied
audience for well over an hour? Has he enough
new and interesting things to say? How on Earth
can he rearrange his life and that of his family to
prepare properly? If he gets it wrong, will anyone
speak to him at dinner afterwards? These and a
number of other pertinent questions need to be
addressed.
For the UK speaker on alternate years, there is
at least the background `site investigation data'
generated by years of attendance at previous Ran-
kine Lectures. If he gets it wrong (I choose my
words carefully!) he has only himself to blame. For
the overseas Rankine Lecturer, the `site investiga-
tion data' are sparse, and the challenge, therefore,
all the more daunting.
Geoff Blight has now most successfully joined
the list of distinguished geotechnical engineers
from many overseas countries who have met the
various challenges associated with the preparation
and delivery of a Rankine Lecture with ¯ying
colours. We should not be surprised that he has
done so. Geoff is an accomplished lecturer and a
geotechnical engineer of wide experience who has
been able to keep in close touch with international
developments throughout the period of South Afri-
ca's isolation from the international community. In
a university environment where research funds are
scarce, he has produced work of international ex-
cellence over many years. It is entirely appropriate
that he should be the ®rst Rankine Lecturer from
the continent of Africa, though not the ®rst to be
 INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE EARTH
born there. He shares this distinction with Profes-
sor Burland and Dr Henkel.
The topic for this year's lecture was extremely
appropriate, given the growing interest in partially
saturated soils and the excellence of much of the
research being undertaken in this challenging ®eld.
In Professor Blight's case, the involvement goes
back to his PhD work here at Imperial College. In
this country, where the water table laps around our
feet, we can easily forget that enormous areas of
the world have arid climates and that the well-
developed soil mechanics of saturated soils cannot
be readily applied. Geoff reminded us that we
often do not take proper account of where the
water table really is.
The title of Professor Blight's lecture, `Inter-
actions between the Atmosphere and the Earth', is
one which would not disgrace a meeting of en-
vironmentalists, of geodesists or of plant scientists.
However, the substance, while being of interest to
two of these groups, particularly plant scientists,
very much applies to geotechnical engineering. It
was essentially about the important matter of
`water in soil'.
After establishing his experimental credentials
through showing us a photograph of himself in an
extremely dirty `lab. coat', Professor Blight de-
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767
scribed several catastrophic failures to illustrate the
need to know about water conditions in soils and
waste deposits. He went on to discuss, in detail,
the water balance in soils, the complications pre-
sented by plants and trees and how the key para-
meters can be quanti®ed. A notable feature was the
very large depth of in¯uence on water content
caused by effects near or at the surface.
Professor Blight demonstrated how a proper
understanding of the water balance in soils pro-
vides a basis for solving important geotechnical
problems associated with volume change, strength
and stability. In particular, he illustrated the appli-
cations in practical management of waste deposits.
Throughout his lecture, Professor Blight con®rmed
his reputation for practical work using the ®eld
(and his back garden) as a laboratory.
Over many years Geoff Blight has carried out
pioneering work at the southern tip of Africa,
essentially on his own. He has applied scienti®c
principles to local soil mechanics problems to good
effect. His lecture this evening has been delivered
with admirable clarity and attention to detail.
On behalf of the British Geotechnical Society
and this evening's audience, it is a great pleasure
to thank you most sincerely for preparing and
delivering the 37th Rankine Lecture.