Abstract
Infiltration is the process of water entry into soil; it is the basic process supplying the soil root zone with water. Infiltration as a process can be divided into two basic types: rain infiltration and ponding infiltration (infiltration from ponds on the soil surface). Infiltration (and cumulative infiltration) curves of both types of infiltration are described and expressed by empirical and analytical functions proposed by Philip. Special attention is devoted to the Green and Ampt approach to quantify infiltration because of its simplicity and clear physical interpretation of the process. The influences of the rain rate, entrapped air, initial soil-water content and layered soil profile on infiltration dynamics are discussed. Methods for the estimation of the soil hydraulic conductivity using the infiltration process in the field are described as well.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Angulo-Jaramillo R, Bagarello V, Iovino M, Lassabatere L (2016) Infiltration measurements for soil hydraulic characterization. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, p 386
Budagovskij AI (1955) Water infiltration into soils. Nauka, Moscow (In Russian)
Císlerová M, Šimůnek J, Vogel T (1988) Changes of steady state infiltration rates in recurrent ponding infiltration experiments. J Hydrol 104:1–16
Green WH, Ampt GA (1911) Studies on soil physics: I. Flow of air and water through soils. J Agric Sci 4:1–24
Hillel D (1973) Soil and water, physical principles and processes. Academic Press, New York, London
Horton RE (1940) An approach towards a physical interpretation of infiltration capacity. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 5:399–417
Jury WA, Horton R (2004) Soil physics. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Kostjakov AN (1932) On the dynamics of the coefficients of water percolation in soils and on the necessity of studying it from a dynamic point of view for purpose of amelioration. In: Transactions of 6th committee international society of soil science, Russia, Part A, pp 17–21
Kutílek M (1978) Hydropedology. SNTL–SVTL, Prague (In Czech)
Lichner L (2003) Soil water repellency. Part 1. Definition and characteristics of water repellent soils. J Hydrol Hydromech 51:309–320 (In Slovak with English abstract)
Mezencev VJ (1948) Theory of surface runoff formation. Meteorologija i gidrologija 3:33–40 (In Russian)
Miller EE, Gardner WH (1962) Water infiltration into stratified soil. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 26:115–118
Morel-Seytoux HJ, Khanji J (1974) Derivation of an equation of infiltration. Water Resour Res 10:795–800
Morel-Seytoux HJ, Meyer PD, Nachabe M, Tourna J, van Genuchten MT, Lenhard RJ (1996) Parameter equivalence for the Brooks-Corey and van Genuchten soil characteristics: preserving the effective capillary drive. Water Resour Res 32:1231–1238
Morel-Seytoux HJ (2008) Infiltration. In: Chesworth W (ed) Encyclopedia of soil science. Springer, Dordrecht, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp 350–361
Philip JR (1957) The theory of infiltration. 1. The infiltration equation and its solution. Soil Sci 83:345–358
Philip JR (1969) Theory of infiltration. Adv Hydrosci 5:215–296
Radcliffe DE, Šimůnek J (2010) Soil physics with HYDRUS. Modeling and applications. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, USA
Rubin J (1966) Theory of rainfall uptake by soils initially drier than their field capacity and their applications. Water Resour Res 2:739–749
Swiecicki C (1967) Soil water. SGGW, Warszawa (In Polish)
Šimůnek J, Hopmans JW, Nielsen DR, van Genuchten MT (2000) Horizontal infiltration revisited using parameter estimation. Soil Sci 165:708–717
van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44:892–898
Youngs EG (1964) An infiltration method for measuring the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous materials. Soil Sci 97:307–331
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Novák, V., Hlaváčiková, H. (2019). Infiltration of Water into Soil. In: Applied Soil Hydrology. Theory and Applications of Transport in Porous Media, vol 32. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01806-1_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01806-1_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01805-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01806-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)