Flow in Unsaturated Soils and Transport of Herbicides in Agricultural Areas

Abstract

Predicting the behavior of pesticides in the environment is necessary to minimize the adverse effects of their application. This means that we have to understand what is happening and how it is applied in the field and predict its fate in the environment to estimate the adverse effects on the subsoil and surface water or on human health. Knowing the level of contamination in soils involves characterizing the movement of water in the transport zone and solutes. The objective of this chapter is to disseminate and highlight the problem of the transport of pollutants in soils and to guide with regard to the available methods to obtain the necessary parameters to achieve their modeling and numerical analysis. To this end, the transport equation applied to the transport of agrochemicals is described and analyzed, and the methods of obtaining the parameters required by the mathematical solution are described. The general characteristics of the different herbicides and the environmental impact that the production of these compounds is producing are also described.