ANÁLISIS EXPERIMENTAL DE UN SISTEMA DE UN GRADO DE

We shall now examine the temperature gradients in the ground and their effects in connection with figs. 9.3, 9.4 & 9.5, because the solution, transport and deposition of nutri- ents are all functions of the temperature gradi- ent. Positive and negative temperature gradients produce opposite effects. The direc- tion of the temperature gradient indicates the direction of movement. The direction of energy or nutrient transfer is always from heat to cold. Vikttor Schauberger's important principle on this subject states that under the exclusion of light air the precipitation of salts and min- erals occurs with cooling, whereas with expo- sure to light and air precipitation takes place with heating. In both cases the highest quality matter is precipitated last. In the former case all the various nutrients and salts are deposited well below the ground surface as the water cools to +4°C. In the latter case, however, due to heat-evaporation and little penetration, the lowest quality nutrients are precipitated at the surface, which not only has dire conse- quences for soil fertility, but also for the proper formation of trees, as we shall see later. To recapitulate, a positive temperature gra- dient occurs when the incident rainwater is warmer than the receiving soil. This naturally implies that the soil is protected from the heat- ing effect of the Sun by trees and other vegeta- tion and, if the whole surface of the Earth is forested, then the groundwater table hugs the configuration of the ground-surface. As shown in fig. 9.3 the water infiltrates down to the lower strata, the groundwater body and aquifers are recharged, subterranean retention basins are created and the salts (shown as a dotted mass) remain at a level where they can- not contaminate the upper strata and are not damaging to those plants unable to metabolise them. Should a part of the forest be felled and the ground surface exposed to the direct light of the Sun, as in fig. 9.4, the temperature of ground in that area rises.

With this in mind it is essential that if any felling is to occur, then the trees should never be cut at the top of a hill. This creates a bald patch exposed to the Sun's heat and effectively

reduces the capacity of the groundwater to rise as high as it might otherwise do were the trees left untouched. If the temperature of the incident rainwater is, say, +18°C and the tem- perature of the receiving ground surface +20°C, the rain will not penetrate, but will flow off laterally to areas where it can, always presuming that a healthy balance between open space and forest has been maintained. In such a case problems of salinity will be kept to a minimum, since the overall level of the groundwater table is not unduly affected.

It does rise, however, under the areas where the trees have been removed, due to the geot- hermally induced upward pressure from below and the reduction in the quantity of overburdening groundwater lying above the +4°C centre-stratum. In other words the coun- teracting downward pressure has been dimin- ished. (This effect is discussed in more detail in chapter 10.) As this water rises so too are the salts elevated, though in this case not into the root-zone of the vegetation. However, if all the trees are removed (fig. 9.5), then there is no rainwater penetration at all, the groundwater table initially rises, bringing up all the salts with it, only eventually to sink or disappear altogether, because under these conditions no recharge is possible. This is how oversalination of the soil occurs, and the only way the prob- lem can be remedied is to recreate a positive temperature gradient through reafforestation.

In the beginning such trees will have to be pioneer, salt-loving trees and other primi- tive plants, such species being the only ones that can survive under such conditions. Later, as the soil climate improves and its salt con- tent diminishes, other species of tree can replace them since, over a period of time and due to the cooling of the ground by the shad- ing of the pioneer trees, the rainwater enters the ground, taking the salts with it. Eventually the pioneer trees die off, because the evolved soil conditions are now no longer suitable, and the dynamic balance of Nature is restored.

Irrigation only exacerbates the problem, because during the night the ground temper- atures cool somewhat, allowing the irrigation water to percolate a certain distance into the upper, now salt-containing strata. There it collects the salts and, with the increase in

temperature during the day, the atmosphere rises as it becomes specifically lighter, draw- ing up the infiltrated irrigation water plus its acquired salts, which through exposure to light and heat are deposited, and through

evaporation are left lying in the uppermost soil level. The problem of salination varies according to latitude, altitude and season, since these also affect the ambient ground temperatures, the intensity of the Sun's radia-

Fig. 9.7 Negative Temperature Gradient

If the ground temperatures are hotter than the river water, then a negative temperature gradient from river to ground exists and the transport of nutrients and salts takes place from the ground strata to the river. The ground strata are leached of their various minerals and trace elements, leading to a nett loss of biochemical material. Increasing soil infertility and river salinity results. The groundwater table also sinks for lack of resupply.

Fig. 9.8

The orientation of a river relative to the general position and height of the Sun also affects the nutrient supply. In stretches of rivers where the flow is either east->west or west->east, the side nearest the sun tends to be shaded more frequently. The water on this side is therefore cooler and on the opposite side, warmer. This produces an asymmetrical channel profile as the result of an asymmetrical temperature distribution. Should the side nearest the Sun be suitably forested, then the ground temperatures on this side are also cooler and a positive temperature gradient exists in the direction river->ground, permitting the absoprtion of moisture, trace elements and nutrients from the river. If the ground-surface on the opposite side of the river has been cleared, the ground temperatures there will be hotter, a positive temperature gradient then prevails in the direction ground->river, leading to the absorption of soil-moisture and nutrients by the river. One side of the river therefore tends to be more fertile than the other.

128 Living Energies

tion and the length of the periods of the ground's exposure to heat.

There are other conditions which also pertain to nutrient flow and, while slightly out of place here, since rivers and stream management will be discussed more fully in later chapters, it nev- ertheless seems more appropriate to address them while we are on the subject. Through the corrasion and abrasion of their sediment, all healthy rivers and streams are metabolisers and transporters of nutritive material, and as such are major contributors to the supply of nutri- ents to the surrounding vegetation. However they can only impart nutrients where the con- ditions are conducive to a nutrient transfer, i.e. where a positive temperature gradient between water and ground prevails.

Fig. 9.6 shows a river flowing through an entirely forested area. As an illustration the river water has a temperature range of between +10°C and +8°C from surface to riverbed. In contrast the ground temperatures under the forest are cooler, ranging from +8°C at the surface to +4°C at the level of the groundwater centre-stratum. The river water is therefore warmer than the surrounding soil, a positive temperature gradient exists and the transfer of nutrients, energy and moisture takes place from warmer to cooler regions, namely from the river in the direction of the ground. The fertility of the soil is enhanced and the groundwater table recharged.

Conversely, if the opposite condition of a negative temperature gradient prevails as shown in fig. 9.7, then the flow of energy, moisture and nutrients proceeds from the warmer ground strata towards the cooler

river. Here the river actually extracts from the ground the nutrients which have themselves been raised to the upper strata due to the processes mentioned earlier and illustrated in fig. 9.5 above. This results in an increasing leaching of the minerals, trace-elements and nutrients from the surrounding soil, leading to a nutrient deficit and eventual infertility. For the same reasons no groundwater recharge results. A corollary of this phenomenon is that the longer a river flows through irrigated, sun- lit farmlands, the more it becomes contami- nated with salts, artificial fertilisers, pesticides etc. making it increasingly unusable as a source of water in the lower reaches.

In fig. 9.8 both negative and positive tem- perature gradients are active simultaneously. Here the variation in river water temperature, again for the purposes of discussion, is from +17°C at the water surface to +13°C at the bot- tom. The ground under the forested area on one side of the river has lower temperatures than the river water, whereas the cleared, tree- less land on the opposite side gives rise to higher ground temperatures. In this instance the river acts to convey nutrients from the warmer left bank to the cooler right bank fol- lowing the dictates of the prevailing tempera- ture gradient which, from examination of the various ground temperatures, on the left hand side is negative and the right hand side posi- tive. The cooling effect of the forest also affects the shape of the channel profile and is mir- rored in the greater depth of water on that side, since cooler water flows faster and in a more laminar fashion, removing sediment and thereby deepening the bed at that point.

Notes

1. British scientific journal Nature, 30th June 1988. 2. The Memory of Water — Homeopathy and the Battle of

Ideas in the New Science by Michel Schiff, Thorsons, an imprint of Harper Collins, 1995, ISBN 0-7225- 3262-8.

3. Information from Brauer Biotherapies, 1 Para Road, P.O.Box 234, Tanunda 5352, So. Australia. 4. Nexus New Times magazine, Vol.2, No.17,

Dec.1993-Jan.1994, quoting from New Scientist 23rd October 1993.

5. Christopher Bird has kindly supplied information from Mme Annie Asada, director for develop-

ment at 'Science Innovative', and from Jack

Dupre, a close associate of Dr. Marie Nonclerce

pharmacist and author of a book on Antoine

Bechamp; (Louis Pasteur, Bechamp's contempo-

rary, was responsible for suppressing his signif-

cant findings). 'Science Innovative' was set up by Mme. Evelyne Besso who is also its President S.I.'s headquarters are presently situated at 30

Ave. D'Elyau, Paris 75116 (tel: 01.4656.6650). Its

aim is to foster enquiry and interest into the

essential nature of water, and to support Jacques Benveniste's continuing research.

10

THE FORMATION OF SPRINGS

There, where water splits in twain, Life is ere set free, unfolding its domain, And in emerging from its source, Water's blessed with vital, living force. There flock beasts, athirst for flowers, Midst thrusting boughs and leafy bowers. "God, Nature and Cosmos" by

J.W. von Goethe