In particular, they help managers identify new data needs or weaknesses, design monitoring plans, develop management options, and focus resources on sensitive or vulnerable areas. Managers interested in knowing more about these methods will find a copy of this book invaluable. It depends on the geologic materials in question, not on agronomic practices or pesticide characteristics. Ground water vulnerability is the relative ease with which a contaminant can migrate to the aquifer under a given set of agronomic management practices, pesticide characteristics, and aquifer sensitivity conditions. Sensitivity and vulnerability are not always correlative.
Settings characterized by rapid infiltration and shallow depth are more sensitive than others.
These settings include shallow or outcropping mature karst, shallow or outcropping fractured bedrock, shallow or outcropping coarse-grained deposits, soils with extensive macroporosity, and clay soils with high shrinking and swelling potential. Confined aquifers and those in areas of low rainfall and steep slopes will be less sensitive. Understanding Pesticide Movement. Dilution, surface runoff, erosion, and volatilization affect their transport in soil, and they are also subject to degradation and transformation into other products. These conditions include soil characteristics, such as the amount of organic content in the soil, and how easily the pesticide sorbs to soil particles.