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The relationship between field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil structure: development of class pedotransfer functions
Author(s) -
Lilly A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2000.tb00174.x
Subject(s) - hydraulic conductivity , pedotransfer function , soil water , soil science , conductivity , geometric mean , mathematics , geometry , chemistry , geology
. A method to predict field‐saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs) from soil structure, as described in soil profile descriptions, was developed using 627 Kfs measurements. As the soil structure classes used are very similar to an international classification (FAO, 1990), the derived relationships (class pedotransfer functions) could be widely applicable. A total of 49 unique combinations of primary and secondary structures were identified but the relationship between these structures and Kfs was poor. However, this relationship became clearer when the structures were grouped according to both the ped size and ped orientation. It improved further with the removal of data from horizons with significant amounts of vertically orientated angular stones or very coarse roots. Soils with vertically orientated peds larger than 50 mm had a geometric mean conductivity of 0.33 cm day −1 while those with fractures in both the horizontal and vertical planes had a geometric mean conductivity of 4.1 cm day −1 . Soils with peds between 20 and 50 mm had a geometric mean conductivity of 17.9 cm day −1 and those with peds <20 mm had a geometric mean conductivity of 53.0 cm day −1 . Those soils with only horizontally orientated structures proved to be anomalous in that the conductivity increased as ped size increased.