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Earthworm Burrows and Soil Oxygen Diffusion

Interactive 2D reaction-diffusion simulation of soil oxygen: draw your own earthworm burrow network on a soil cross-section and watch high-diffusivity macropores raise the aerobic depth, with adjustable soil texture and microbial respiration.

Ecology & Conservation Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This simulation solves a real reaction–diffusion equation — Fick's second law with a microbial consumption sink — on a live 2D grid representing a soil cross-section. Draw your own earthworm burrow network by clicking and dragging directly on the soil: every cell you paint is assigned a much higher diffusion coefficient than the surrounding matrix, so the finite-difference solver computes oxygen penetrating deeper wherever burrows exist. Switch between clay, loam and sand (each with a different bulk diffusivity), tune the microbial respiration rate, or add random burrow tunnels, and watch the mean O₂ saturation, aerobic zone depth and effective diffusivity readouts respond to the actual simulated concentration field in real time.

⚙ Under the hood

An interactive 3D reaction-diffusion simulation of soil oxygen: earthworm burrow networks act as high-diffusivity macropores that raise the aerobic depth of a soil profile, with adjustable burrow density, soil texture and microbial respiration.

soil scienceecologydiffusionearthwormsreaction-diffusionaeration

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install