Effects of Land Use on Soil Properties and Hydrology of Drained Coastal Plain Watersheds

Abstract

Some of the world's most productive cropland requires artificial or improved drainage for efficient agricultural production. Soil hydraulic properties, such as hydraulic conductivity and drainable porosity, are conventionally used in design of drainage systems. While it is recognized that these soil properties vary over a relatively wide range within a given soil series, it is generally assumed they can be approximated based on soil type, independent of crop or land use. Effects of land use on hydrology of drained soils in the North Carolina lower coastal plain were investigated by comparing hydrologic measurements on drained agricultural cropland, drained forest land (Loblolly pine), and an undrained forested wetland. Higher ET on the drained pine forest site resulted in reduced drainage outflow and deeper water tables compared to the agricultural site. Measurements for the wetland site showed water tables near the surface but annual outflows similar to the drained forest site. Field effective hydraulic conductivity in the top 70 cm of the drained forest site was more than two orders of magnitude greater than that of corresponding layers of the soil on the agricultural site. Drainable porosity, based on measured soil water characteristics, was also much higher for the forested sites. Long term (50-year) DRAINMOD simulations predicted average annual drainage outflow of 51.4 cm for the agricultural field as compared to 37.6 cm for the forested site. The difference resulted primarily from greater ET predicted for the forested site. Because of the high hydraulic conductivity of the surface layers and large surface depressional storage, predicted surface runoff from the forested site was nil, compared to an average annual runoff of 13 cm for the drained cropland site. Results of long-term simulations were used to analyze these effects for the widely variable seasonal and annual weather conditions of eastern North Carolina.