The Influence of Organic Matter on Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity. (S01-nemes602314-poster)
Authors:
A. Nemes* - USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD W.J. Rawls - USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD Y.A. Pachepsky - USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD
Abstract:
Estimation of soil hydraulic properties by pedotransfer functions (PTFs) can be used in some
applications. Several PTFs exist in literature that estimate saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of the soil, and use organic matter (OM) content as one of the inputs. Common knowledge associates increasing Ks with increasing OM content through its improving effect on soil structure. However, negative correlations between OM and Ks have also been found. We evaluated the effect of changes in soil OM content as estimated with the PTFs developed from data from Belgium, the Netherlands and from the European HYPRES database. We have also used the group method of data handling to estimate Ks and the effective porosity from basic soil data in three data sets from the US, Europe and Hungary. Direct estimation of Ks and computations based on the Kozeny-Carman approach were used in the analysis of correlations between OM and Ks. Group properties of soils with negative correlations between OM and Ks have been defined.
Speaker Information: Attila Nemes, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD, USDA-ARS BARC-WEST Bldg 007, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-2350; Phone: (301) 504-5707; E-mail:
Session Information: Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 4:00 PM-6:00 PM Presentation Start: 4:00 PM (Poster Board Number: 1628)
Keywords: saturated hydraulic conductivity; pedotransfer function; organic matter; effective porosity
