Abstract
Hydraulic properties of soil play important roles in water and temperature regimes. Measuring hydraulic properties has been studied for decades in the laboratory and in the fields. In 1989 the Guelph Permeameter was introduced to measure in situ field-saturated hydraulic conductivity, K fs, but it required an empirical constant. Until recently, no procedure had been introduced to in situ measure K fs without an empirical constant. In this article, we proposed a new simple method to measure K fs. Field and laboratory measurements for volcanic ash origin Kanto loam, loess, and Toyoura sand were taken using a metallic cylinder (30 cm long and 4.5 cm inner diameter) or a PVC cylinder (30 cm long and 5.0 cm inner diameter) installed into soil down to a 5 cm depth. Temporal changes in water depth or hydraulic head inside the cylinder were measured with a laser measure. Values of K fs measured with this proposed method agreed well with saturated hydraulic conductivity measured in the laboratory for undisturbed soil cores. New analytical solution was derived for a future automated device for this purpose.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
13 February 2018
In the original publication of this article, the equation 12 had a typographical error and has been incorrectly published online. Now the correct equation has been provided in this erratum.
References
Angulo-Jaramillo R, Vandervaere JP, Roulier S, Thony JL, Gaudet JP, Vauclin M (2000) Field measurement of soil surface hydraulic properties by disc and ring infiltrometers: a review and recent developments. Soil Tillage Res 55:1–29
Blake GR (1965) Bulk density. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part 1. Physical and mineralogical properties, including statistics of measurement and sampling. SSSA, Madison, pp 374–390
Bodhinayake W, Si BC, Noborio K (2004) Determination of hydraulic properties in sloping landscapes from tension and double-ring infiltrometers. Vadose Zone J 3:964–970
Bouwer H (1986) Intake rate: cylinder infiltrometer. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis: part 1—physical and mineralogical methods. SSSA, Madison, pp 825–844
Decagon Devices, Inc. (2016) DualHead infiltrometer operator’s manual. Version: February 11, 2016—13:47:36. 2365 NE Hopkins Court Pullman WA 99163
Elrick DE, Reynolds WD, Tan KA (1989) Hydraulic conductivity measurements in the unsaturated zone using improved well analyses. Groundw Monit Remediat 9:184–193
Klute A, Dirksen C (1986) Hydraulic conductivity and diffusivity: laboratory methods. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis: part 1—physical and mineralogical methods. SSSA, Madison, pp 687–734
Li YY, Shao MA (2006) Change of soil physical properties under long-term natural vegetation restoration in the Loess Plateau of China. J Arid Environ 64:77–96
Melling L, Hatano R, Goh KJ (2005) Soil CO2 flux from three ecosystems in tropical peatland of Sarawak, Malaysia. Tellus B 57:1–11
Miyazaki T (1996) Bulk density dependence of air entry suctions and saturated hydraulic conductivities of soils. Soil Sci 161:484–490
Mohanty BP, Kanwar RS, Everts CJ (1994) Comparison of saturated hydraulic conductivity measurement methods for a glacial-till soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:672–677
Nielsen DR, Biggar JW, Erh KT (1973) Spatial variability of field-measured soil–water properties. Hilgardia 42:215–259
Nimmo JR, Schmidt KM, Perkins KS, Stock JD (2009) Rapid measurement of field-saturated hydraulic conductivity for areal characterization. Vadose Zone J 8:142–149
Nishiwaki J, Asagi N, Komatsuzaki M, Mizoguchi M, Noborio K (2017) Effect of added organic matter on soil fertility after stripping-off Cs-contaminated top soil at Iitate village in Fukushima Prefecture. Paddy Water Environ 15:11–18. doi:10.1007/s10333-016-0524-4
Noborio K, Kubo T (2017) Evaluating a dual-frequency-phase-shift soil moisture and electrical conductivity sensor. Paddy Water Environ 15:573–579. doi:10.1007/s10333-016-0574-7
Ochiai H, Noborio K, Ohta K, Kitaura T, Kita N, Kato T (2011) Evaluating the distribution of soil surface temperature using thermography during soil sterilization with hot water. Jpn J Soil Phys 118:13–17 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Reynolds WD, Elrick DE (1990) Ponded infiltration from a single ring: I. Analysis of steady flow. Soil Sci Soc Am J 54:1233–1241
Reynolds WD, Elrick DE, Youngs EG (2002) Ring or cylinder infiltrometers (vadose zone). In: Dane JH, Topp GC (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part 4. Physical methods. SSSA, Madison, pp 818–843
Acknowledgements
This research was partly supported by the 2016 Meiji University International Collaborative Research Project, the 2016 Research Grant of the Meiji University Promoting Education and Research Foundation, and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) of JSPS (Project # 25252044).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-018-0631-5.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Noborio, K., Ito, Y., He, H. et al. A new and simple method for measuring in situ field-saturated hydraulic conductivity using a falling-head single cylinder. Paddy Water Environ 16, 81–87 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-017-0617-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-017-0617-8