Effect of salt concentration on osmotic potential in drying soils—Measurement and models

The water potential in drying soils, comprising both matric potential and osmotic potential components, can be measured using the dew point method (DPM). By combining DPM data with retention curve data acquired from techniques such as the suction plate method or the simplified evaporation method (SEM), it becomes possible to determine the soil water retention curve across the entire moisture spectrum. However, as the latter methods only determine the matric potential, the osmotic potential component in DPM data must either be negligible or known so that osmotic and matric potential components can be separated. This study aims to critically analyse common approaches for calculating the osmotic potential. To achieve this, we measured the water retention properties of a silt loam, a sandy loam and a sand across the entire moisture range by combining SEM and DPM. By using almost salt-free soil material, we characterized reference water retention curves with negligible osmotic potential components. The impact of salt on water potential was analysed by conditioning soils with MgCl₂ solutions of different concentrations, drying them, and measuring the water potential at different water contents using the DPM. The resulting water potentials were compared to the reference potentials and differences were interpreted as the osmotic potential component. The DPM-measured water potentials in drying soils can be significantly affected by osmotic potential, especially at higher matric potentials (low suctions). Two models accounting for ideal and one model accounting for non-ideal electrolyte behaviour were used to compare osmotic potential predictions with measurements. At low to medium salt concentrations, all models performed fairly well. At high concentrations, only the model accounting for non-ideal behaviour predicted the osmotic potential satisfactorily, whereas at very high concentrations, all models underestimated the impact of osmotic potential on water potential. This suggests that the surface properties of the soil matrix, such as the specific surface area and surface charges, may lead to a decrease in osmotic potential beyond what is expected in pure solutions.