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Heterogeneity of water flow in grassland soil during irrigation experiment

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Abstract

The heterogeneity of water flow was evaluated in sandy loam soil covered by grass. The radioactive tracer infiltration experiment was performed at two parallel plots with different irrigation intensities. Effective cross section and degree of preferential flow parameters were used to evaluate flow regime during the experiment. For both plots, the heterogeneity of water flow increased with depth. The differences in irrigation intensity did not result in different values of the effective cross section and degree of preferential flow, indicating similar flow regime within the two experimental plots. The heterogeneity of water flow in shallower depths (0–50 cm) did not change with cumulative infiltration except for early times/small cumulative infiltrations, when the flow paths of preferential flow were formed. In deeper depths (60–70 cm) the flow paths of preferential flow were formed later, and therefore, the heterogeneity of water changed with cumulative infiltration.

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Abbreviations

DPF:

degree of preferential flow

ECS:

effective cross section

FCA:

fraction of cross-sectional area

FTWC:

fraction of total water content change

TDR:

time domain reflectometry

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Račianska 75, 83102, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Ľubomír Lichner & Ivan Mészároš

  2. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Thákurova 7, CZ-16629, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jaromír Dušek

  3. Institute of Hydrodynamics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Pod Paťankou 5, CZ-16612, Prague, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Tesař

  4. Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Doswiadczalna 4, PL-20236, Lublin, Poland

    Henryk Czachor

Authors
  1. Ľubomír Lichner
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  2. Jaromír Dušek
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  3. Miroslav Tesař
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  4. Henryk Czachor
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  5. Ivan Mészároš
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Correspondence to Ľubomír Lichner.

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Lichner, Ľ., Dušek, J., Tesař, M. et al. Heterogeneity of water flow in grassland soil during irrigation experiment. Biologia 69, 1555–1561 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-014-0467-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-014-0467-4

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