Scaling the saturated hydraulic conductivity of an alfisol

Abstract

SUMMARY Alfisols exhibit a high degree of spatial variability in their physical properties. As a result, it is difficult to use information on physical parameters measured at one location to model larger‐scale hydrologic processes. In this study, the saturated hydraulic conductivity, K S , of an Alfisol was determined on 109 undisturbed monoliths using the falling‐head permeameter method. The model developed by Arya & Paris (1981) was used to calculate the pore volume from sand and clay fractions. Scaling factors were calculated from the measured K s , sand pore‐volume, clay pore‐volume, clay content and effective porosity, using the similar media concept. Prediction of K s of gravelly Alfisol using clay pore‐volume is confounded by high gravel content which, when discounted, improves the prediction remarkably. The scaled mean saturated hydraulic conductivity K* for all horizons of the Alfisol was approximately l.0x 10 −5 ms −1 .