First approximations of soil moisture retention curves using the filter-paper method

✍ Scribed by Duke U Ophori; Beena Maharjan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 637 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6087
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(20000430)14:6<1131::aid-hyp37>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

Relationships between gravimetric soil moisture content "w# and matric potential "f m #\ and between volumetric soil moisture content "u v # and pressure head "h# were approximated for the unsaturated zone on Long Island\ New York[ Soil samples were collected from two sites using a hand auger[ The soil moisture content was determined using the _lter!paper "w f # and gravimetric "w# methods\ respectively[ The w f was then used in an empirical equation to estimate f m [ Each set of f m and w was combined with a straight!line empirical model to obtain a w"f m # relationship[ Soil f m was converted to h\ and w to the volumetric moisture content u v \ in order to produce a u v "h# curve[ Graphical and statistical comparison showed that the resulting u v "h# curves fell within one order of magnitude of similar curves generated by a more sophisticated non!linear model developed previously[ The simplicity and low cost of the _lter!paper approach described in this study recommends it for preliminary studies of hydraulic properties in the unsaturated zone[