<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> This study explored the effect of soil water repellency (SWR) on soil hydrophysical properties with depth. Soils were sampled from two distinctly wettable and water repellent soil profiles at depth increments from 0-60 cm. The soils were selected because they appeared to either wet readily (wettable) or remain dry (water repellent) under field conditions. Basic soil properties (MWD, SOM, θv) were compared to hydrophysical properties (Ks, Sw, Se, Sww, Swh, WDPT, RIc, RIm and WRCT) that characterise or are affected by water repellency. Our results showed both soil and depth affected basic and hydrophysical properties of the soils (p &lt;0.001). Soil organic matter (SOM) was the major property responsible for water repellency at the selected depths (0-60). Water repellency changes affected moisture distribution and resulted in the upper layer (0-40 cm) of the repellent soil to be considerably drier compared to the wettable soil. The water repellent soil also had greater MWDdry and Ks over the entire 0-60 cm depth compared to the wettable soil. Various measures of sorptivity, Sw, Se, Sww, Swh, were greater through the wettable than water repellent soil profile, which was also reflected in field and dry WDPT measurements. However, the wettable soil had subcritical water repellency, so the range of data was used to compare indices of water repellency. WRCT and RIm had less variation compared to WDPT and RIc. Estimating water repellency using WRCT and RIm indicated that these indices can detect the degree of SWR and are able to better classify SWR degree of the subcritical-repellent soil from the wettable soil.</abstract>

This study explored the effect of soil water repellency (SWR) on soil hydrophysical properties with depth. Soils were sampled from two distinctly wettable and water repellent soil profiles at depth increments from 0-60 cm. The soils were selected because they appeared to either wet readily (wettable) or remain dry (water repellent) under field conditions. Basic soil properties (MWD, SOM, θv) were compared to hydrophysical properties (Ks, Sw, Se, Sww, Swh, WDPT, RIc, RIm and WRCT) that characterise or are affected by water repellency. Our results showed both soil and depth affected basic and hydrophysical properties of the soils (p <0.001). Soil organic matter (SOM) was the major property responsible for water repellency at the selected depths (0-60). Water repellency changes affected moisture distribution and resulted in the upper layer (0-40 cm) of the repellent soil to be considerably drier compared to the wettable soil. The water repellent soil also had greater MWDdry and Ks over the entire 0-60 cm depth compared to the wettable soil. Various measures of sorptivity, Sw, Se, Sww, Swh, were greater through the wettable than water repellent soil profile, which was also reflected in field and dry WDPT measurements. However, the wettable soil had subcritical water repellency, so the range of data was used to compare indices of water repellency. WRCT and RIm had less variation compared to WDPT and RIc. Estimating water repellency using WRCT and RIm indicated that these indices can detect the degree of SWR and are able to better classify SWR degree of the subcritical-repellent soil from the wettable soil.

Soil water repellency changes with depth and relationship to physical properties within wettable and repellent soil profiles

Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, 84156-83111,

Institute of Hydrology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 841 04 Bratislava,

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

This study explored the effect of soil water repellency (SWR) on soil hydrophysical properties with depth. Soils were sampled from two distinctly wettable and...

Soil water repellency changes with depth and relationship to physical properties within wettable and repellent soil profiles

Published Online: Dec 08, 2016

Page range: 99 - 104

Received: Sep 18, 2015

Accepted: Jul 27, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/johh-2016-0055

Keywords
Soil property, Soil organic matter, Aggregate, Bulk density, Mean weight diameter, Infiltration, Water repellency

© 2016

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Soil water repellency changes with depth and relationship to physical properties within wettable and repellent soil profiles

Published Online: Dec 08, 2016

Page range: 99 - 104

Received: Sep 18, 2015

Accepted: Jul 27, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/johh-2016-0055

KeywordsSoil property, Soil organic matter, Aggregate, Bulk density, Mean weight diameter, Infiltration, Water repellency

© 2016

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Soil property, Soil organic matter, Aggregate, Bulk density, Mean weight diameter, Infiltration, Water repellency