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It is known that solute transport through soil is heterogeneous at all spatial scales. However, little data are available to allow quantification of these heterogeneities at the field scale or larger. In this study, we investigated the spatial patterns of soil properties, hydrologic state variables, and tracer breakthrough curves (BTCs) at the field scale for the inert solute transport under a steady‐state irrigation rate which produced near‐saturated conditions. Sixty‐five undisturbed soil columns approximately 20 cm in height and diameter were sampled from the loamy topsoil of an agricultural field site in Silstrup (Denmark) at a sampling distance of approximately 15 m (with a few exceptions), covering an area of approximately 1 ha (60 m × 165 m). For 64 of the 65 investigated soil columns, we observed BTC shapes indicating a strong preferential transport. The strength of preferential transport was positively correlated with the …