We are pleased to present a new paper series from a collaborative work between TUM, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), University Bonn and University of California Davis. We worked on the numerical modelling of unsaturated flow and reactive herbicide transport in the unsaturated zone, combined with the evaluation of biodegradation with help of stable carbon isotopes.
In the first paper of the series, “Fate of herbicides in cropped lysimeters: 1. Influence of different processes and model structure on vadose zone flow”, we compared different model structures to characterize flow within the soil cores of two lysimeters, linked with stable water isotope measurements. Building up on these findings, in the second paper ”Fate of herbicides in cropped lysimeters: 2. Leaching of four maize herbicides considering different processes”, models were extended for describing reactive transport of the herbicides and investigating process contributions, including the investigation of biodegradation with help of compound-specific isotope analysis (stable carbon isotopes).