Heat flux plates were employed to measure the movement of heat within a soil column during the process of water evaporation. The movement of the zone of evaporation was followed for a bare soil column with and without a surface treatment of hexadecanol. Under these conditions the evaporation zone was approximately 1 cm thick, and equal rates of evaporation were found for the check and hexadecanol treatments when the zones were at the same depth after the treated zone had been passed. Diurnal fluctuation of applied heat energy slowed the evaporation process but the evaporation zone movement was still evident.