Estimation of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity by artificial neural networks ensemble in smectitic soils

Abstract

The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of the soil is one of the main soil physical properties. Indirect estimation of this parameter using pedo-transfer functions (PTFs) has received considerable attention. The Purpose of this study was to improve the estimation of Ks using fractal parameters of particle and micro-aggregate size distributions in smectitic soils. In this study 260 disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected from Guilan province, the north of Iran. The fractal model of Bird and Perrier was used to compute the fractal parameters of particle and micro-aggregate size distributions. The PTFs were developed by artificial neural networks (ANNs) ensemble to estimate Ks by using available soil data and fractal parameters. There were found significant correlations between Ks and fractal parameters of particles and microaggregates. Estimation of Ks was improved significantly by using fractal parameters of soil micro-aggregates as predictors. But using geometric mean and geometric standard deviation of particles diameter did not improve Ks estimations significantly. Using fractal parameters of particles and micro-aggregates simultaneously, had the most effect in the estimation of Ks. Generally, fractal parameters can be successfully used as input parameters to improve the estimation of Ks in the PTFs in smectitic soils. As a result, ANNs ensemble successfully correlated the fractal parameters of particles and micro-aggregates to Ks.