Abstract
Soil mantles in the Western Ghat regions of South India are so thick that their properties cannot be investigated with the common soil exploration programs. The present work has been accomplished using data from boreholes dug for the purposes of a hydro-power project and from the samples collected at deep road cuttings in an upland area in Karnataka. While the data from boreholes have furnished information on soil depth and permeability, field studies have made known soil texture and density. Ring infiltration tests have been carried out to cross-check the coefficient of permeability values measured in the laboratory. It has been inferred that the soil depth generally varies from a couple of meters near the stream sides to about 20 m near hill tops and to over 50 m sometimes in the mid-slope region. No other factor seems to influence the soil thickness. Texture is found to vary between Silty sand and Sandy silt. Silt being the predominant component and clay content being low, the soil mantles are found to be highly stable. Measured values of permeability being very low compared to the measured infiltration rates, even on the forest floors, it is concluded that the size of the core samples is insufficient to capture the preferential flow paths that characterize this land.
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Acknowledgements
Some components of this study were accomplished as a part of a major project sponsored by the MoES, Govt. of India. A major part of the data on deep soil mantles has been made available by the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. The data on soil types at two sites in Kodagu have been furnished by the Dept. of Mines and Geology, Karnataka. The authors acknowledge with thanks the authorities concerned. The authors thank all those students of N.I.E., Mysuru, who have helped them on field.
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No funding has been received specifically for carrying out this particular work and for publishing the paper. The paper includes results from work done over a duration of a decade.
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Putty, M.R.Y., Darshan, R., Kumar, N. et al. Soil Properties Influencing the Hydrology of Western Ghats: A Case Study in Karnataka. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A 102, 1161–1167 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-021-00574-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-021-00574-5