A modified hood infiltrometer to estimate the soil hydraulic properties from the transient water flow measurements

Abstract

Summary In-situ measurements of soil hydraulic properties on covered soil surfaces (i.e. vegetated or residue covered surfaces) are of paramount importance in many agronomic or hydrological researches. These soil parameters are commonly estimated with the tension infiltrometry technique. This paper presents a portable and modified design of the hood infiltrometer (MHI) that, unlike to the original hood infiltrometer, allows estimating the soil hydraulic properties from the transient cumulative infiltration curve. The MHI consists of a water-supply reservoir attaches to a hat-shaped base placed on the soil surface. The base of the hat is closed by a system of sticks and a malleable material ring. To test the viability of this new design, the hydraulic conductivity (Ks) estimated with MHI in a loam soil using the multiple head approach was compared to the corresponding values calculated from the transient infiltration curve analysis. Next, the MHI was tested on three different soils at saturated conditions, and the sorptivity (S) and Ks estimated by the transient infiltration curve analysis were compared to the corresponding values obtained with a disc infiltrometer (DI). An additional field experiment was performed to compare the hydraulic properties measured with MHI on a bare soil and a soil covered with plants. Results demonstrated that this design allows hermetically closing the base of the hat without disturbing the soil surface. The Ks estimated with the multiple head approach was not statistically different (p = 0.61) to that obtained with the transient infiltration curve analysis. No significant differences between the Ks (p = 0.66) and S (p = 0.50) values estimated with DI and MHI were observed. The S values measured with MHI on the covered soil surface were significantly higher than that measured on the adjacent bare soil. These results indicate that MHI can be a viable alternative to estimate the hydraulic properties of covered soils from the measured transient infiltration curve.