Andrea Carminati

"We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot."

-- Leonardo da Vinci

This applies also to the Physics of the Soil. My interest is to improve our understanding of  the physical processes that control soil properties and process. In particular, I am interested on the retention and flow of water in soils. And since one of the main drivers of water flow in soils is the vegetation, I am interested in the water flow at the interface between soil and plant sciences.

The soil is complex systems, and so are the interactions between soil and vegetation. Interdisciplinary and multi-scales approach are therefore needed to understand such interactions, including studies at the pore scale (scale below a micron). Extending the findings at the microscopic scales to larger and field scales is an important and challenging objective that we try to address combining experimental and modelling approaches.

My research interests include:

• Root water uptake
• Physics of the rhizosphere (i.e. the soil in the vicinity of the roots and that is affected by the roots)
• Water infiltration in soils and soil water repellency
• Soil-plant interactions in relation to drought tolerance
• ... and more to come