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Mission:
The mission of the Soil Physics & Pesticide Research unit is to develop methods for evaluating, predicting, and managing the movement of water, salts and agricultural chemicals in the root and vadose zones of salt-affected soils. Develop tools for assessing new soil-water-crop management schemes to make effective use of limited resources where salinity and/or pesticides are a concern. Emphasis is on (1) evaluating the impact of irrigated agriculture on soil and groundwater quality using integrated unsaturated water and solute transport models and related user-friendly computer software, (2) pesticide volatilization and pesticide loadings from agricultural fields to surface and ground waters, (3) developing improved methods for measuring unsaturated water and solute transport parameters and related soil properties, and (4) characterizing the important physical and chemical processes affecting the fate and transport of harmful pesticides and related organic chemicals into the atmosphere and into the subsurface.