Abstract
Abstract Study region French Atlantic coastal marshlands. Study focus These coastal marshes have been reclaimed from the sea by successive polderizations since the Middle Ages. The soils have been formed by desiccation, consolidation and maturation of clay-dominated sediments initially saturated by seawater. Since the 1970′s the extensive cultivation of grain was accompanied by widespread drainage in order to deepen the groundwater level and increase the thickness of surface leaching by rainfall. Gravimetric water and salinity profiles were recorded in an undrained grassland and a drained cornfield profiles during the period of corn plant growing from July to September 2013. The simple available water capacity (AWC) calculation from surface parameters were compared to vertical profiles of plant available water (PAW). The limit between the vadose and saturated zones was determined by comparison between the shrinkage and compaction pathways of the clay matrix. Patterns of the PAW profiles were calculated and modeled following simple second-degree polynomial equations. New hydrological insights for the region The results demonstrate the PAW evolution at successive depths compared to deepening evapotranspiration drying fronts and ascending capillarity rise. Based on soil water contents measured at 10 cm and/or 20 cm depths, the modeled PAW profiles are found sufficiently realistic to be used as an efficient tool to aid crop farming in these territories governed by the superimposed water and salt stresses.
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