Losses of terbuthylazine and alachlor from agricultural fields. Part I: Volatilization processes

The volatilisation processes of terbuthylazine and alachlor were investigated in a two year field-trial experiment. Air and soil samples were collected in order to understand the relationships between air and soil concentrations. The results showed that this process can be divided in two independent phases, leading to different losses of herbicides. Before reaching a partitioning equilibrium in soil, volatilization rates of both pesticides are very high. Afterwards, volatilization losses are sharply reduced, and the two compounds demonstrate a different behavior.