Essential Apparatus & Equipment Used in Soil and Water Sciences

Hydrology lab.

Environmental science is a combination of pure sciences and also applied sciences where a lot of equipments will be used during fieldwork in order to collect samples which will be analysed in the lab or to obtain data on the spot. In this blog post, I am going to introduce some equipments used especially in Soil and Water Sciences. I apology that the description of each apparatus or equipment listed below might not be as detailed as it should be, but I have tried my best to make things clear. If there are any mistake that you find, please let me know! Besides, although I might not know all the details of the equipment, feel free to ask me questions (yes you are encouraged to do so!) and I will try my best to answer them. 

Quick link to the specific topics:

For General Usage 

For Soil / Sediment Sampling 

For Soil Quality / Quantity Measurement 

For Water Sampling 

For Water Quality / Quantity Measurement 

For Water Purification 

For Air Quality / Movement Measurement

For General Usage

Metre tape [Brand: Stanley PowerLock (left) & Yamayo Million 50M (right)]

Unit: centimetre (cm) / metre (m)

As easy as you can see, they are used to measure the distance or length of an object.

Diameter tape [Brand: Yamayo Million]

Unit: centimetre (cm) / metre (m)

Unlike metre tape, this equipment can be used to measure the diameter of a cylindrical object while measuring the circumference using the scale on the other side of the tape.

Levelling staff [Brand: SK]

Unit: centimetre (cm)

It is used to measure the height of an object and it can be extended.

Electronic vernier calipers (top) [Brand: Control] &

Vernier calipers (bottom) [Brand: Kern Germany]

Unit: inch (in.), millimetre (mm) or centimetre (cm)

It is used to measure the thickness or diameter of an object.

Compass [Brand: Suunto Finland, Model: MC-2]

To determine the direction.

**Place it away from magnetic metals (such as iron) so that the it is not affected by outer factors.

Geo Transit [Brand: Brunton]

It is a combination of compass and clinometer (to measure the steepness of slope). To use the compass, the small white button should be pressed while for the clinometer, adjust it at the bottom of the meter.

Altimeter + Barometer [Brand: Thommen Classic]

Unit: metre (m) & millimetre Hg (mm Hg) 

To measure the altitude and air pressure of the spot.

Digital planimeter [Brand: Placom, Model: KP-90N]

Unit: kilometre square (km2), meter square (m2), centimetre squaer (cm2), acre, inch square (in2), feet square (ft2)

For 2D object with irregular shape, it is hard to get a precise surface area. By tracing the side of the object using the lens, we can determine the surface area of the object.

Laser rangefinder [Brand: Laser Technology, Model: TruPulse 200]

This device is used to determine the distance of an object using laser beam.

**Your eye should be placed at the side with single lens.

Parafilm "M" laboratory film [Brand: Pechiney Plastic Packaging]

It is like sticker which is stretchable used to seal apparatus from moisture and air.

**Avoid using it near heat source and also some organic solvents which might melt it.

Zip lock bag [Brand: HP Minigrip]

This plastic bag with an air-tight seal can be used to store solid samples such as soil.

**Press out the air inside before sealing it to avoid reaction of air with sample.

Mortar & Pestle

This set of equipment is usually seen in kitchen which is used to break up large object into smaller pieces or to mash something into paste. For soil science, it can be used to break up large chunk of soil into smaller particles.

**Do not knock the pestle on the mortar, grind instead so that the mortar or pestle will not be accidentally cracked.

Glass dessicator [Brand: 上海玻璃仪器公司]

With silica gel underneath, it is used to absorb moisture from sample.

**Make sure that the silica gel is in good condition (purple colour). If it is not, heat it at 105 °C for one hour.

Stainless steel dessicator [Brand: BOEKEL]

Its usage is same as glass dessicator.

Top pan balance [Brand: Sartorius]

Unit: gram (g)

To measure the weight of sample.

**Before placing sample on the balance, remember to 'tare' the balance to make sure that the reading is zero.
**avoid wind movement or vibration to get an accurate measurement.

Dead Blow Sledge Hammer [Brand: Halder Supercraft]

In soil science, we might need to insert an equipment into the soil which might need a lot of energy to do so if the soil is hard. So hammer is used to applied force on the equipment (with care) to embed it easier.

**This type of hammer will be less likely to cause damage to the equipment compared to the normal metal hammer.

Filter paper ashless grade 42 (big) & Glass fibre filter paper (small ) [Brand: Whatman]

Filter paper can be used to remove small particles from the air or water sample with the aid of other equipment. They vary in diameter and size of pores.

Membrane filter [Brand: Schleicher & Schull, Model: ME25]

Diameter: 47mm, pore size: 0.45 µm

This filter has very very tiny pores to filter out very fine particles including microorganism from water or air. It has covers in front and behind of each piece of filter paper like sticker to prevent contamination.

Stopwatch [Brand: Control]

Unit: Second (s)

Stopwatch is very important to record the time because the time taken will be used to calculate the rates such as velocities.

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For Soil / Sediment Sampling

Core sampler [Brand: Eijkelkamp]

Made up of four parts: handle short, extension rod, closed ring holder and spare cutting shoe, it is used to collect soil sample.

Steps:
1) Embed the closed ring holder into the soil by turning the sampler clockwise (if the soil is too hard, knocking it into the ground slightly using hammer).
2) Pull the sampler out.
3) Remove the closed ring holder by turning it anticlockwise.
4) Take the spare cutting shoe (a cylindrical structure with open ends) out from the closed ring holder.
5) Use a knife to slice away excess soil at both end of the spare cutting shoe.

Posthole auger (left) & Screw auger (right) [Brand: Eijkelkamp]

Augers are used in collecting soil samples by loosing up the soil by column or to drill hole in the soil. The difference between the two augers above is, posthole auger is used to cutting fibrous, rooted and swampy soil while screw auger is good for collecting a column of soil with complete composition (mixed well).

Scoop

As simple as it is, to collect soil sample at the surface of the ground.

Blog post related:

Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Hydrology (part one)

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For Soil Quality/Quantity Measurement

Double ring infiltrometer

This equipment has open ends and it is used to measure the water infiltration rate into the soil.

Steps:

1) The lower part of the infiltrometer with the orange band is embedded into the soil using a hammer (placed a piece of wood between the hammer and the infiltrometer to prevent damage as shown in the picture above). 

2) A ruler is placed at the inner ring vertically.

3) Water is added into the inner ring and outer ring. 

4) After recording the initial water level at the inner ring, record the water level again after a few minutes consistently to obtain the rate.

**Water added in the outer ring is to ensure that the water in the inner ring seeps into the ground vertically straight into the soil instead of spreading out. If the water at the outer ring decreases too fast, water can be added. However, water at the inner ring cannot be added after the measuring process started.

Penetrometer [brand: ELE]

unit: pound force per square foot (Ibf/ft2) or kilogram force per centimetre square (kgf/cm2) 

By pressing the metal rod vertically down on the ground, we can measure the penetration resistance of top layers or samples.

Shear meter // Pocket vane tester [brand: Eijkelkamp]

Unit: kg/cm2

To measure the shear strength of cohesive soil, the tester is pressed down on ground with the meter facing upwards and turned.

Jet fill tensiometer (left) [Brand: Soilmoisture Equipment Corp] &

Electronic tensiometer (right) [Brand: Eijkelkamp, model: SMS2500S]

Unit: centibar (cbar)

Tensiometer is used to measure the soil suction or the water tension of the soil. The higher the reading, the dryer the condition of the soil. After burying the ceramic tip (white colour part) into the soil until the mark at the tube filled with water, the tensiometer has to be left for at least one day so that the equilibrium between the tensiometer and surrounding soil is reached to get a more accurate reading.

**The ceramic tip should be immersed in distilled water for 8 hours before use to ensure that the porous surface of the ceramic is filled with water. 

**The water filled in the tube should have no air bubble. For jet fill tensiometer, the air bubble can be released by pressing the button on top.

**After drilling the hole, the soil taken from the bottom of the hole should be added water to make it into mud. The mud is smeared at the whole surface of the ceramic tip to ensure that the ceramic is totally in contact with the soil without air spaces (mud consists of fine particles).

**Water will seep out from the ceramic tip slowly. When the water level decreases, water can be added into the tube again from top.

**For electronic tensiometer, only the tube with a rubber cap will be left on the side, the electronic meter with needle at the bottom will be put on only when taking the reading.

Munsell soil colour charts

These charts act as a reference when we want to determine the colour of the soil because it is very subjective when it comes to colour. For each page, there are holes so that we can place the piece of white paper smeared with the soil (with a little water added) under the page to match the soil colour with the one on the chart.

**It is quite tricky to determine the name of the soil colour because it consists of three parts: hue (page), value (verticle column) and chroma (horizontal row). For example: 4P 4/6. 4P means it is purple hue of 4 with a value of 4 and a chroma of 6.

Automatic cone penetrometer [Brand: Controls]

Unit: millimeter (mm)

It is used to measure soil surface pressure. Soil sample is placed below the cone. Reading is taken after the button (labelled A in the photo) is pressed and the cone sunk into the soil.

Soil compaction meter [Brand: Field Scout, Model: SC-900]

Unit: pound per square inch (psi) & kilo Pascal (kPa)

As shown in the name of this equipment, it is used to measure the soil compaction by inserting the pointed part of the meter into the ground.

Blog post related:Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Geophysics

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For Water Sampling

Centrifuge tube [Brand: nunc]

It is used to collect liquid sample up to 50 mL.

Purging pump

Operating using battery, it is used to pump water out from a well or hole to be collected as sample.

Polyethylene bottle (left) & BOD bottle [Brand: Wheaton ] (middle) & 

clear glass bottle [Brand: Duran] (right)

Different types of bottles are used to store different types of samples for different quality testings.

Hand pressure pump [Brand: Soil Moisture Equipment Co.]

This set of equipment consists of a pump and a conical flask to collect water sample. The conical flask will be connected to another container which is connected to the source of sample. 

**The conical flask shown in the picture above serves as the buffer to prevent the sample from getting into the pump. It is not used to collect sample.

Syringe [Brand: Cellotron] with syringe filter [Brand: Agilent]

This equipment is used to remove microorganisms and small particles (size > 0.45µm) from the sample in small amount.

Blog posts related:

Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Hydrology (part one)

Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Environmental Foresic (part two)

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For Water Quality/Quantity Measurement

Staff gage [Brand: MC] 

Unit: centimetre (cm) / metre (m)

Like metre rule, they are used to measure the depth of water. The one on the left is extensible while the one of the right is not.

**The one on the left is called levelling staff too.

Hydrometer

Unit: gram per centimeter square (g/cm2)

The bottom of hydrometer is filled with Lead. It can be used to determine the relative density of a liquid by letting it float vertically in the liquid sample.

Spectrophotometer [Brand: Spectronic, Model: 20 Genesys]

Every chemical absorbs light at different rate. Spectrophotometer is used to measure the amount of light absorbed by the chemical placed in the sample cell.

**A blank (distilled water) should be used first before measuring the sample to ensure accuracy.

Current meter [Brand: JFE ALEC Co., Model: AEM1-D]

Unit: metre per second (m/s)

It is used to measure the velocity of water current.

Current velocity meter [Brand: Swoffer, Model: 2100]

To measure the velocity of current.

Electronic portable flow meter [Brand: Marsh McBirney, Model: Flo-mate]

With an adjustable sensor on the rod, it is used to measure the velocity of water flow.

Digital depth sounder [Brand: Speedtech Instrument]

Using sound wave, it can be used to determine the depth of water by placing the sensor (black in colour) into the water.

Dissolved oxygen meter [Brand: YSI, Model: 52]

Unit: milligram per litre (mg/L) or percent (%), degree Celcius (°C)

It can be used to measure the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature in the water. It can be used to measure salinity too, but seldom.

**There will be only one unit for the DO that appears as reading. The unit can be adjusted during calibration.

Multiparameter [Brand: YSI, Model: 556 MPS]

Unit: degree Celcius (°C), milliSiemens per centimetre (mS/cm), gram per litre (g/L), percent (%), milligram per litre (mg/L)

As shown in the units above, this multiparameter can be used to measure the temperature, the conductivity, the salinity, the total dissolved solid (TDS), dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) and also pH of water all at the same time. 

Multiparameter [Brand: Thermo Electrom Corp., Model: Orion 230A+] (left) &

[Brand: YSI, Model: 30 Salinity Conductivity Temperature] (right)

These two models of multiparameters are used to measure multiple parameters such as salinity, conductivity, temperature etc.

Propeller [Brand: General Oceanic]

This analogue equipment is placed in the water to measure hourly the average velocity flow of current.

Weight

It is used in water with very fast flow to make sure that the velocity-measuring equipment is kept at an upright position.

Water level recorder [Brand: Spohr]

It is used to automatically measure the water level.

Water level meter [Brand: Seba hydrometrie]

It is used to measure the groundwater levels in monitoring wells and boreholes. Its length is up to 30m.

Rain gauge [Brand: Tru-Chek]

Unit: inch (in.)

To measure the volume of rain, it is fixed vertically at the tree trunk or a wall.

Portable turbidity meter [Brand: Thermo Electron Corp, Model: Orion AQ4500 (left) & 

Brand: HACH, Model: 2100P (right)] 

Unit: Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU)

Turbidity meter is used to measure the cloudiness of the water by measuring the light penetration through the liquid in the sample cell. 

Blog posts related:
Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Hydrology (part one)
Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Hydrology (part two)

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For Water Purification

Water distiller [Brand: Favorit WHL]

This equipment is very important because distilled water is needed for lots of experiments and measurements. For examples, we might need to dilute concentrated hydrochloric acid to our desired concentration or we need it to act as 'blank' in spectrophotometry. 

For Air Quality / Movement Measurement

Whirling / Sling psychrometer [Brand: Zeal]

Unit: percent (%)

Consist of dry bulb and wet bulb, we can determine the relative humidity of the air by referring to the table above after obtaining two temperature readings from the psychrometer. The psychrometer whirled 

**Wet bulb needs to be wetted before use.

**If the surrounding temperature is below freezing point, the time of whirling should be extended some more to get an accurate reading.

Hand-held anemometer (left) [Brand: Synchrotac Instrument] &

Contact Anemometer (right) [Brand: Weather Measure]

Unit: kilometre per hour (km/hr)

Anemometer is used to measure the velocity of wind.

Blog posts related:
Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Climatology
Tasik Chini Fieldwork - Air Quality

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P/S: Despite of the very expensive price of most of the equipment above, no equipment was harmed during the photo-shooting sessions (yeah it took me a few days to finish it) that I had to carry each of them downstairs from the hydrology lab on first floor (with care). It was really tiring but I am satisfied with the results because they look good! Yeah but some photo had to be taken in the dull-looking laboratory because I was unable to carry them down due to their weight and bulkiness (take no risk! I will not be able to afford anyone of them!!!).

This is actually a laboratory assignment where we are required to 'catalogue' all the equipment used in Soil and Water Sciences (erm, I was unable to do 'all', so what we have here are 'most') and marks will be given based on public reviews. So I hope that you guys can do me a favour by +1 my blogpost or to leave a comment whether to voice your opinion, correct some errors in the description or to ask questions. Thank you for your help! Your comments can help me to make improvement too! Cheers!