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Spatial analysis of soil hydraulic conductivity in a tropical rain forest catchment
Author(s) -
Elsenbeer Helmut,
Cassel Keith,
Castro Jorge
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/92wr01762
Subject(s) - terrace (agriculture) , geology , hydraulic conductivity , hydrology (agriculture) , sampling (signal processing) , elevation (ballistics) , drainage basin , geomorphology , soil science , soil water , geometry , mathematics , geotechnical engineering , geography , computer science , computer vision , archaeology , filter (signal processing) , cartography
The topography of first‐order catchments in a region of western Amazonia was found to exhibit distinctive, recurrent features: a steep, straight lower side slope, a flat or nearly flat terrace at an intermediate elevation between valley floor and interfluve, and an upper side slope connecting interfluve and intermediate terrace. A detailed survey of soil‐saturated hydraulic conductivity ( K sat )‐depth relationships, involving 740 undisturbed soil cores, was conducted in a 0.75‐ha first‐order catchment. The sampling approach was stratified with respect to the above slope units. Exploratory data analysis suggested fourth‐root transformation of batches from the 0–0.1 m depth interval, log transformation of batches from the subsequent 0.1 m depth increments, and the use of robust estimators of location and scale. The K sat of the steep lower side slope decreased from 46 to 0.1 mm/h over the overall sampling depth of 0.4 m. The corresponding decrease was from 46 to 0.1 mm/h on the intermediate terrace, from 335 to 0.01 mm/h on the upper side slope, and from 550 to 0.015 mm/h on the interfluve. A depthwise comparison of these slope units led to the formulation of several hypotheses concerning the link between K sat and topography.