Influence of soil texture on snowmelt infiltration into frozen soils

Abstract

This paper describes the influence of soil texture on snowmelt infiltration into frozen soils. Field data collected on frozen, unsaturated agricultural soils of the Canadian Prairies during snow ablation demonstrate: (a) poor association between the amount of infiltration of meltwater released by the seasonal snowcover and soil texture, and (b) small differences in cumulative amounts among soils of widely different textures. A physics-based numerical simulation of heat and mass transfers with phase changes in frozen soils is used to study the mechanics of the infiltration process in representative clay, silty clay loam, silt loam and sandy loam soils. The results of the simulations show that the differences among cumulative snowmelt infiltration into clay, silty clay loam and silt loam soils after 24 h of continuous infiltration are small. Infiltration into a lighter-textured sandy loam after 24 h was on average 23% higher than in the other three soils with most of the increase occurring in the first 5 h of the simulation. Key Words: Soil texture, snowmelt, infiltration, frozen soils