Page 62 - GrapevineMarApr 2022

Around The Vineyard

Below the ground, water movement is not limited The smaller the soil particles, the greater the sur-
to the warm months. If the vineyards are in areas face area per unit mass of soil. The large surface
that experience cold winters, the topsoil still gets area of clay and its mineral composition make it the
groundwater infiltration even in freezing tempera- storage depot of soil nutrients. Soils with more clay
tures. have more nutrients than sandy soils. Clay particles
have about 1,000 times as much external surface
Factors that affect groundwater movement: area as the particles in an equal weight of sand.
(Figure 2)
• Capillarity action.
• Coefficient of permeability.
• Gravity.
• Ground permeability.
• Ground topography.
• Hydraulic gradient forces. (static head)
• Molecular attraction between soil and water.
• Rock porosity.
• Water surface tension.

Relax, we are not going to be delving into calculus Figure 1: Soil classification system. Grains of soil
and quantum physics to describe what is going on have vastly more surface area than their volume
under the ground. There is no test at the end of suggests.
this article.
The effect of particle size on surface area as

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