Soils fieldwork, analysis, and interpretation to support hydraulic and hydrodynamic modelling in the Murray floodplains

Soil Research ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jai Vaze ◽  
Brian R. Jenkins ◽  
Jin Teng ◽  
Narendra K. Tuteja
Keyword(s):  
Overland Flow ◽  
Stability Index ◽  
Pedotransfer Functions ◽  
Hydrodynamic Modelling ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Soil Infiltration ◽  
Infiltration Rates ◽  
Rapid Appraisal ◽  
Floodplain Area ◽  
Similar Soil

There are limited datasets which cover the heavy clays found in the Murray floodplain area. To understand the processes associated with the water balance within the Koondrook–Perricoota Forest (KPF), detailed hydraulic and hydrodynamic modelling of the flood inundation patterns and overland flow in the KPF is required. Reliable and accurate soils information is critical for any credible hydrologic or hydrodynamic modelling results. Extensive fieldwork across the entire KPF and detailed laboratory testing of the collected samples was undertaken to produce soils information including: spatial distribution of soil types, soil stratigraphy along the surface and subsurface flowpaths, soil hydraulic properties, soil salinity, and soil organic matter. Soil sampling and soil profile descriptions were undertaken at 26 sites spread across the forest. Deep drilling was done at 12 sites to check the existence of ancestral streams and for salinity profiles; soil hydrology testing to estimate infiltration rates was undertaken at 10 sites. Rapid appraisal methods for soil infiltration were developed for the project. Results were compared to soil pedotransfer functions generated from laboratory results; soil indexes including the dispersibilty index and electrochemical stability index; and typical infiltration and permeability rates inferred from soil texture and structure. The results from this study and the archived soil physical and hydraulic datasets can be used for any detailed hydraulic or hydrodynamic modelling exercise in the Murray floodplain area with similar soil properties.

scholarly journals Pedotransfer in soil physics: trends and outlook — A review —

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya. Pachepsky ◽  
K. Rajkai ◽  
B. Tóth
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Extreme Event ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Pedotransfer Functions ◽  
Soil Physics ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Soil Hydraulic

Parameters governing the retention and movement of water and chemicals in soils are notorious for the difficulties and high labor costs involved in measuring them. Often, there is a need to resort to estimating these parameters from other, more readily available data, using pedotransfer relationships. This work is a mini-review that focuses on trends in pedotransfer development across the World, and considers trends regarding data that are in demand, data we have, and methods to build pedotransfer relationships. Recent hot topics are addressed, including estimating the spatial variability of water contents and soil hydraulic properties, which is needed in sensitivity analysis, evaluation of the model performance, multimodel simulations, data assimilation from soil sensor networks and upscaling using Monte Carlo simulations. Ensembles of pedotransfer functions and temporal stability derived from “big data” as a source of soil parameter variability are also described. Estimating parameter correlation is advocated as the pathway to the improvement of synthetic datasets. Upscaling of pedotransfer relationships is demonstrated for saturated hydraulic conductivity. Pedotransfer at coarse scales requires a different type of input variables as compared with fine scales. Accuracy, reliability, and utility have to be estimated independently. Persistent knowledge gaps in pedotransfer development are outlined, which are related to regional soil degradation, seasonal changes in pedotransfer inputs and outputs, spatial correlations in soil hydraulic properties, and overland flow parameter estimation. Pedotransfer research is an integral part of addressing grand challenges of the twenty-first century, including carbon stock assessments and forecasts, climate change and related hydrological weather extreme event predictions, and deciphering and managing ecosystem services. Overall, pedotransfer functions currently serve as an essential instrument in the science-based toolbox for diagnostics, monitoring, predictions, and management of the changing Earth and soil as a life-supporting Earth system.

scholarly journals Geophysical mapping of soil texture variability in the root zone to improve modelling of the water and nutrient flow.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Schwartz Madsen ◽  
Bo Vangsø Iversen ◽  
Christen Duus Børgesen
Keyword(s):  
Soil Texture ◽  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Clay Fraction ◽  
Clay Content ◽  
Auxiliary Variable ◽  
Pedotransfer Functions ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Sampling Density ◽  
Soil Hydraulic

<p>Modelling is often used to acquire information on water and nutrient fluxes within and out of the root zone. The models require detailed information on the spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties derived from soil texture and other soil characteristics using pedotransfer functions (PTFs). Soil texture can vary considerably within a field and is cumbersome and expensive to map in details using traditionally measurements in the laboratory. The electrical conductivity (EC) of the soil have shown to correlate with its textural composition.</p><p>This study investigates the ability of electromagnetic induction (EMI) methods to predict clay content in three soil layers of the root zone. As the clay fraction often is a main predictor in PTFs predicting soil hydraulic properties this parameter is of high interest. EMI and soil textural surveys on four Danish agricultural fields with varying textural composition were used. Sampling density varied between 0.5 and 38 points per hectare. The EMI data was gathered with a Dualem21 instrument with a sampling density 200-3000 points per hectare. The EC values were used together with the measured values of the clay content creating a statistical relationship between the two variables. Co-kriging of the clay content from the textural sampling points with the EC as auxiliary variable produces clay content maps of the fields. Unused (80%) texture points were used for validation. EMI-predicted clay content maps and clay content maps based on the survey were compared. The two sets of soil texture maps are used as predictors for PTF models to predict soil hydraulic properties as input in field-scale root zone modelling.</p><p>The comparisons between EC and clay content show some degree of correlation with an R<sup>2</sup> in the range of 0.55 to 0.80 for the four fields. The field with the highest average clay content showed the best relationship between the two parameters. Co-kriging with EC decreased mean error by 0.016 to 0.52 and RMSE by 0.04 to 1.80 between observed and predicted clay maps.</p>

scholarly journals Depression storage and infiltration effects on overland flow depth-velocity-friction at desert conditions: field plot results and model

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 3293-3307 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Rossi ◽  
J. O. Ares
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Soil Core ◽  
Infiltration Rates ◽  
Overland Flows ◽  
Desert Areas ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract. Water infiltration and overland flow are relevant in considering water partition among plant life forms, the sustainability of vegetation and the design of sustainable hydrological models and management. In arid and semi-arid regions, these processes present characteristic trends imposed by the prevailing physical conditions of the upper soil as evolved under water-limited climate. A set of plot-scale field experiments at the semi-arid Patagonian Monte (Argentina) were performed in order to estimate the effect of depression storage areas and infiltration rates on depths, velocities and friction of overland flows. The micro-relief of undisturbed field plots was characterized at z-scale 1 mm through close-range stereo-photogrammetry and geo-statistical tools. The overland flow areas produced by controlled water inflows were video-recorded and the flow velocities were measured with image processing software. Antecedent and post-inflow moisture were measured, and texture, bulk density and physical properties of the upper soil were estimated based on soil core analyses. Field data were used to calibrate a physically-based, mass balanced, time explicit model of infiltration and overland flows. Modelling results reproduced the time series of observed flow areas, velocities and infiltration depths. Estimates of hydrodynamic parameters of overland flow (Reynolds-Froude numbers) are informed. To our knowledge, the study here presented is novel in combining several aspects that previous studies do not address simultaneously: (1) overland flow and infiltration parameters were obtained in undisturbed field conditions; (2) field measurements of overland flow movement were coupled to a detailed analysis of soil microtopography at 1 mm depth scale; (3) the effect of depression storage areas in infiltration rates and depth-velocity friction of overland flows is addressed. Relevance of the results to other similar desert areas is justified by the accompanying biogeography analysis of similarity of the environment where this study was performed with other desert areas of the world.

scholarly journals Decadal-scale shifts in soil hydraulic properties as induced by altered precipitation

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. eaau6635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Caplan ◽  
Daniel Giménez ◽  
Daniel R. Hirmas ◽  
Nathaniel A. Brunsell ◽  
John M. Blair ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Infiltration Rates ◽  
Precipitation Regimes ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Pore Blockage ◽  
Plant Available Water ◽  
Soil Hydraulic ◽  
Precipitation Manipulation Experiment

Soil hydraulic properties influence the partitioning of rainfall into infiltration versus runoff, determine plant-available water, and constrain evapotranspiration. Although rapid changes in soil hydraulic properties from direct human disturbance are well documented, climate change may also induce such shifts on decadal time scales. Using soils from a 25-year precipitation manipulation experiment, we found that a 35% increase in water inputs substantially reduced infiltration rates and modestly increased water retention. We posit that these shifts were catalyzed by greater pore blockage by plant roots and reduced shrink-swell cycles. Given that precipitation regimes are expected to change at accelerating rates globally, shifts in soil structure could occur over broad regions more rapidly than expected and thus alter water storage and movement in numerous terrestrial ecosystems.

scholarly journals Mapping soil hydraulic properties using random-forest-based pedotransfer functions and geostatistics

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 2615-2635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitta Szabó ◽  
Gábor Szatmári ◽  
Katalin Takács ◽  
Annamária Laborczi ◽  
András Makó ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Pedotransfer Functions ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Matric Potential ◽  
Indirect Methods ◽  
Saturated Water Content ◽  
Soil Hydraulic ◽  
Wilting Point

Abstract. Spatial 3-D information on soil hydraulic properties for areas larger than plot scale is usually derived using indirect methods such as pedotransfer functions (PTFs) due to the lack of measured information on them. PTFs describe the relationship between the desired soil hydraulic parameter and easily available soil properties based on a soil hydraulic reference dataset. Soil hydraulic properties of a catchment or region can be calculated by applying PTFs on available soil maps. Our aim was to analyse the performance of (i) indirect (using PTFs) and (ii) direct (geostatistical) mapping methods to derive 3-D soil hydraulic properties. The study was performed on the Balaton catchment area in Hungary, where density of measured soil hydraulic data fulfils the requirements of geostatistical methods. Maps of saturated water content (0 cm matric potential), field capacity (−330 cm matric potential) and wilting point (−15 000 cm matric potential) for 0–30, 30–60 and 60–90 cm soil depth were prepared. PTFs were derived using the random forest method on the whole Hungarian soil hydraulic dataset, which includes soil chemical, physical, taxonomical and hydraulic properties of some 12 000 samples complemented with information on topography, climate, parent material, vegetation and land use. As a direct and thus geostatistical method, random forest combined with kriging (RFK) was applied to 359 soil profiles located in the Balaton catchment area. There were no significant differences between the direct and indirect methods in six out of nine maps having root-mean-square-error values between 0.052 and 0.074 cm3 cm−3, which is in accordance with the internationally accepted performance of hydraulic PTFs. The PTF-based mapping method performed significantly better than the RFK for the saturated water content at 30–60 and 60–90 cm soil depth; in the case of wilting point the RFK outperformed the PTFs at 60–90 cm depth. Differences between the PTF-based and RFK mapped values are less than 0.025 cm3 cm−3 for 65 %–86  % of the catchment. In RFK, the uncertainty of input environmental covariate layers is less influential on the mapped values, which is preferable. In the PTF-based method the uncertainty of mapping soil hydraulic properties is less computationally intensive. Detailed comparisons of maps derived from the PTF-based method and the RFK are presented in this paper.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Road-Bioretention Strip System from a Hydraulic Perspective—Case Studies

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoning Li ◽  
Xing Fang ◽  
Yongwei Gong ◽  
Junqi Li ◽  
Jianlong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Flow Simulation ◽  
Soil Infiltration ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Safety Hazard ◽  
The Road ◽  
Total Runoff ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Infiltration Parameters

The two-dimensional overland flow simulation program, FullSWOF_2D, was revised to include submodules of determining infiltration by zones (Z) and grate-inlet (G) drainage from a 2D surface to a 1D pipe flow. The updated program, FullSWOF-ZG, was used to evaluate the performance of a road-bioretention strip (RBS) system and explore/understand key parameters of continuous RBS design. The program was validated using eight pervious surfaces under simulated rainfall events and tested with 20 experimental cases of a locally depressed curb inlet. The mean difference of simulated interception efficiencies (36.6%–86.0%) and observed interception efficiencies (34.8%–84.0%) of the curb inlet was 3.5%, which proves the program predicts the curb-inlet interception efficiency accurately. The 20 road-only and 20 RBS modeling cases were designed and modeled using the FullSWOF-ZG program. These case studies have different road lengths, curb inlet lengths, longitudinal slopes, cross slopes, bioretention-overflow inlet heights, and bioretention soil infiltration parameters. Only 34.6%–48.4% of the total runoff volume is intercepted by the RBS’s curb inlet under heavy rainfall (250 mm/h) and the remaining part of the runoff flows downstream along the road, which may cause local inundation and become a safety hazard. The curb inlet becomes the bottleneck of the RBS system that could impede the runoff flowing into the bioretention strip for detention and infiltration to improve the stormwater quality.

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