Soil Sampler With Retrievable Liner

Abstract

A simple, hand-operated soil sampler based on commercially available drainpipe is described. The sampler is robust, avoids cross-contamination of samples and can penetrate to a depth of three metres. The detailed design of, and a procedure for using, the sampler are given. IntroductionTHE soil sampler with retrievable liner was developed to meet research needs of the Landfill Research Project being undertaken by the Institute of Geological Sciences. Part of the Project involves a large in situ lysimeter which is being monitored to a depth of 3 m by a neutron moisture probe (Black et al., 1976). In order to calibrate the neutron moisture readings with minimal disturbance to the lysimeter a hand driven sampler capable of reaching the required depth was needed.Ordinary split spoon and spiral flight augers are incapable of producing undisturbed samples for volumetric water content measurement, whilst the equipment described by Eeles (1969) and Swanson (1950) are both limited in depth. The undisturbed core sampler using a hand operated spiral flight system (Hayden and Heinemann, 1968) is also limited in depth, whereas the mechanised version (Hayden and Robbins, 1975) is expensive and too large to operate inside the barn containing the lysimeter.