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Hydrological consequences of artificial drainage of grassland
Author(s) -
Armstrong Adrian C.,
Garwood E. A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/hyp.3360050204
Subject(s) - drainage , waterlogging (archaeology) , surface runoff , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , grassland , soil water , drainage system (geomorphology) , geology , soil science , agronomy , wetland , ecology , geotechnical engineering , biology
Soil water regimes and water balances are presented for a series of drained and undrained experimental grassland plots, intended to examine the agronomic consequences of drainage. Although drainage has lowered the watertables and reduced the duration of waterlogging in the drained plots, its effects in terms either of the total water quantities leaving the site or of peak flows is quite small. The major effect of drainage is to alter the route of water loss from the site. In its undrained state, the soil is waterlogged for the majority of the winter, incident rainfall cannot infiltrate, and water leaves as surface runoff or near‐surface flow. The introduction of fissures by mole drainage both provides an outlet and enhances the macroporosity, so that the rain moves rapidly through the soil and appears as drainflow. Consequently, the additional delay in generating peak runoff through the drainage system is only of the order of 30 minutes on this site.