Evaluation of saturated hydraulic conductivity from soil properties in an Inceptisol using different land cover and depths

Abstract

Three soil profiles from Regional Research Station of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Gayeshpur situated in New Alluvial zone of Nadia district, West Bengal were studied to assess the predictability of the hydraulic conductivity of the soil as influenced by different physical and chemical and properties of cultivated and forest land. The various statistical procedures were employed on the measured laboratory based data for comprehensive agreement of dependent hydraulic conductivity of soils as a model function of independent soil variables that is likely to be useful for different land cover systems. Soils are neutral in reaction, silty clay to silty clay loam in nature. Forest soil contained greater organic carbon (OC)(5.9 ± 0.16 g kg ). Jhau plantation recorded the highest value (6.8 g kg -1) of OC due to soil texture and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Soil hydraulic conductivity was greater in soil for cabbage and Sagun tree among the cultivated and forest soil studied with values 2.80 and 1.10 cmh -1. Correlation study showed a positive and negative relation with hydraulic conductivity for sand (r= 0.68; P > 0.05) and clay (r= -0.71; P > 0.05) respectively. Further, principal component analysis concluded that addition of bulk density with clay and sand can predict the hydraulic conductivity for different land uses.

Assessment of geotechnical and physico-chemical properties of age-long greywater-contaminated soils in basement complex areas, southwest Nigeria

“…Positive correlation between % clay and LL, PL and PI is expected because % clay is the factor most closely correlated with ALs and also major contributor to the plasticity of soils (Mitchell 1976;Igwe et al 2013;De Jong et al 1990;Keller and Dexter 2012;Hemmat et al 2010). The negative correlation between % clay and K sat may be due to the fact that clay fraction governs the hydraulic behaviour of soil matrix (Benzon et al 1994) and agrees with similar result obtained by Igwe et al (2013), Pan et al (2012) and Kisku et al (2017). Positive correlation between % clay and porosity may be due to high microporosity found in clayey soil (Blum et al 2014).…”

“…In addition, positive correlation also exists between % sand and K sat (r = 0.974, p < 0.01); % sand and pH (r = 0.822, p < 0.01) and % sand and CEC (r = 0.974, p < 0.01). Positive correlation between % sand and K sat agrees with Igwe et al (2013), Kisku et al (2017) and Nayak et al (2004). This means that increase in sand content leads to increase in K sat .…”

Mapping of Groundwater Recharge Zones in Hard Rock Aquifer through Analytic Hierarchy Process in Geospatial Platform

“…One of the key variables governing the surface runoff and infiltration rate is the slope gradient or slope angle [72,73]. The flat surfaces can give more time for the subsurface migration of water, resulting in an increase in GWR, while steep slopes enhance runoff and reduce surface water infiltration [31].…”