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Abstract Estimation of soil sorptivity (S) and hydraulic conductivity (K) is fundamental to model the water infiltration into the soil. This process can be affected by soil water repellency, which is defined as a reduction in soil wettability due to coating of soil particles by hydrophobic substances. Unlike to wettable soils, this phenomenon can generate infiltration curves with double-slope shape: a transient infiltration curve followed by a steady-state section. Because the topsoil final volumetric water content (θ 1) of the transient phase of the double-slope curve is not a measurable data, in principle, the standard model based on the Haverkamp et al. (1994) model cannot be used to estimate S and K. This work presents two different approaches based on the Haverkamp et al. (1994) equation, which allow estimating S and K from the first phase of a double-slope infiltration curve, when θ 1 data are not available. The methods, which are based on the analysis of both short-medium time transient infiltration curve (Tr) and the combination of both short-medium transient and steady-state infiltration steps (Mx), were applied on 20 soils affected by different degrees of water repellency. The Haverkamp et al. (1994) model was also valid for infiltration curves measured on hydrophobic soils, and the final volumetric water content was not an essential data to estimate K and S. Although the steady-state infiltration rate (q 1) calculated with Mx was about 26% larger than that estimated with Tr , comparable K and S values were obtained with both methods. Overall, a large dispersion on the estimate of θ 1 was observed with both methods. The gravimetric time, t grav , estimated in the studied soils was low, <500 s. While the Mx method required simpler numerical calculus, Tr looked like to be more robust and less subjective. Highlights • This work analyzes the first part of a bi-slope infiltration curve affected by SWR. • A first method (Tr) estimates K and S from the transient infiltration curve. • The second one (Mx) combines short-transient and steady-state infiltration analysis. • The methods were applied on 20 soils affected by SWR. • Mx requires less numerical calculus, but Tr was more robust and less subjective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new method to simultaneously estimate soil hydraulic properties is presented. • K s , α and n are estimated from inverse analysis of an upward infiltration curve. • The method is evaluated on different synthetic and experimental soils. • Accurate estimates of K s , α and n are obtained in the theoretical curves. • The method allows accurate estimates of K s and n in all experimental soils. This paper presents a new laboratory method to simultaneously estimate K s and α and n parameters of the van Genuchten (1980) θ (h) from the inverse analysis of an upward infiltration curve measured in a 5-cm high soil column. The method was evaluated on synthetic 1D infiltration curves generated for a theoretical loamy sand, loam and clay soil. The influence of the soil initial condition on the inverse analysis was also studied. Next, an optimization method was presented and tested on eight theoretical soils (from loamy sand to clay). The method was subsequently applied to experimental curves measured on five sieved soils (from sand to clay) packed in 5-cm high and diameter cylinders. The K s , α and n values estimated from the inverse analysis of the experimental curves were compared to those measured by Darcy and the pressure cell method (PC). The initial soil tension, h i , which had an important influence on the optimization, was fixed to −6.0·105 cm. The optimization method resulted robust and allowed accurate estimates of the actual hydraulic parameters. A close to one relationship (R2 = 0.99) was observed between the theoretical K s , α and n and the corresponding values obtained with the inverse analysis. Regarding to the experimental soils, significant relationships close to one were obtained between K s and n (R2 > 0.98) estimated from inverse analysis and those measured with Darcy and PC. A non-significant relationship with slope away from one was found for α. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We present the SWRIM model for simulating infiltration curves in SWR substrates. • SWRIM represents the pore system as a set of disconnected pathways with dual K. • SWRIM estimates the K d distribution and the percentage of water-conducting pores. • SWRIM was validated on different substrates of 1.0 and 2.5 cm height. • Robust fits were obtained between experimental and modeled infiltration curves. The hydraulic characterization of hydrophobic substrates, which strongly depends on the water content, is an understudied topic in the field of soil physics. Based on laboratory experiments, this work presents a physically-based model, denoted as Soil Water Repellency Infiltration Model (SWRIM), to describe the double-slope cumulative infiltration curves commonly observed in hydrophobic substrates, whose behavior is conditioned by the dual hydraulic behavior (under dry and saturated conditions) of the water repellency materials. The experimental setup consists of 1D infiltration tests on hydrophobic substrates and tension of 0 cm, following by a free drainage. The SWRIM model assumes that water flow in the hydrophobic substrate is gravity driven, representing the pore system as a set of disconnected pathways or capillaries with dual behavior. Each capillary is governed by two hydraulic conductivity values corresponding to dry or partially saturated and saturated conditions, K d and K s respectively. During infiltration, water flow within each pathway is regulated by K d , but once the pathways are filled and the substrate is fully saturated, the water flow is governed by K s , whose value is directly measured from the slope of the drainage curve. In order to incorporate the variability of the pore system, unimodal and bimodal probability distributions of K d values were considered. The application of the SWRIM model allowed determining the distribution of K d and the percentage of water-conducting pores, δ , of the hydrophobic layer. Additional determinations of the soil hydraulic conductivity, K , and sorptivity under water repellent conditions were also obtained from the inverse analysis of the initial times of the infiltration test. The proposed model was validated on experimental soil columns of 5 cm internal diameter and 1.0 and 2.5 cm height filled with pine forest organic material, Pine, rosemary leaf litter, RS, and, blond peat, Peat. Overall, convex-to-linear curves with a monotonously increasing infiltration, typical of hydrophobic substrates, were obtained. SWRIM model allowed robust fits of the infiltration curves, showing in all cases a distribution of K d with a bimodal shape. Pine and Peat presented the largest values of δ. The estimated average K d was within the same order of magnitude as K values. Overall, the results showed that the proposed physically-based model allows to satisfactory describe and characterize the dynamic hydraulic behavior of hydrophobic soil substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary In-situ measurements of soil hydraulic properties on covered soil surfaces (i.e. vegetated or residue covered surfaces) are of paramount importance in many agronomic or hydrological researches. These soil parameters are commonly estimated with the tension infiltrometry technique. This paper presents a portable and modified design of the hood infiltrometer (MHI) that, unlike to the original hood infiltrometer, allows estimating the soil hydraulic properties from the transient cumulative infiltration curve. The MHI consists of a water-supply reservoir attaches to a hat-shaped base placed on the soil surface. The base of the hat is closed by a system of sticks and a malleable material ring. To test the viability of this new design, the hydraulic conductivity ( K s ) estimated with MHI in a loam soil using the multiple head approach was compared to the corresponding values calculated from the transient infiltration curve analysis. Next, the MHI was tested on three different soils at saturated conditions, and the sorptivity ( S ) and K s estimated by the transient infiltration curve analysis were compared to the corresponding values obtained with a disc infiltrometer (DI). An additional field experiment was performed to compare the hydraulic properties measured with MHI on a bare soil and a soil covered with plants. Results demonstrated that this design allows hermetically closing the base of the hat without disturbing the soil surface. The K s estimated with the multiple head approach was not statistically different ( p = 0.61) to that obtained with the transient infiltration curve analysis. No significant differences between the K s ( p = 0.66) and S ( p = 0.50) values estimated with DI and MHI were observed. The S values measured with MHI on the covered soil surface were significantly higher than that measured on the adjacent bare soil. These results indicate that MHI can be a viable alternative to estimate the hydraulic properties of covered soils from the measured transient infiltration curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This work presents an upward infiltration method to estimate K PF = K T - K s. • K s and K T are measured from the transient infiltration and an overpressure step. • It was satisfactorily validated on packed soil with and artificial PF channel. • It was applied on soil cores collected from a grazing and tillage experiment. • 5, 35 and 60% of soil cores presented significant, moderate and negligible PF. Soil water preferential flow, PF, is the phenomenon where water moves along certain pathways, while bypassing a fraction of the porous matrix. This work presents a laboratory procedure to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the soil water preferential flow, K PF. Using an upward infiltration curve followed by an over-pressure step, K PF is calculated as the difference between the total hydraulic conductivity, K T , measured with the constant head method, and the soil matrix hydraulic conductivity, K s , calculated from the inverse analysis of the transient upward infiltration curve. Previous to this analysis, a new approach to detect and remove the effect of possible overpressures due to the soil core placement on the sorptivimeter on the hydraulic properties estimate was presented. This consisted on searching the best fitting between the experimental infiltration curve after removing successive early time steps and the corresponding simulated function. The method to estimate K PF was validated on four different 5-cm height soil columns packed with 2-mm sieved clay loam and loam soils traversed longitudinally by a closed/opened pipe of 1.5 mm and 2.5 mm internal diameter, respectively. This same experiment was also repeated on the same soils without artificial preferential channel. Next, the method was applied on 20 undisturbed soil cores collected from two fields with different grazing intensity and soil tillage management (conventional, CT, reduced, RT and no-tillage, NT, practices). Results showed that correction made to remove the infiltration curve jump due to an overpressure step allowed more accurate and realistic estimates of the soil matrix hydraulic properties. On the other hand, both K T and K s , which could be satisfactorily calculated from a single upward infiltration curve followed by an overpressure step, where satisfactorily employed to quantify K PF. While no significant effect of grazing intensity on K PF was observed, the CT K PF was significantly larger than those obtained in RT and NT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes a new method (NSQE) to estimate soil hydraulic properties (sorptivity, S, and hydraulic conductivity, K) from full-time cumulative infiltration curves. The technique relies on an inverse procedure involving the quasi-exact equation of Haverkamp et al. (1994). The numerical resolution is described and the sensitivity of the method is theoretically evaluated, showing that the accuracy of the estimates depends on the measured infiltration time. A new procedure to detect and remove the effect of the contact sand layer on the cumulative infiltration curve is also given. The method was subsequently compared to the differentiated linearization procedure (DL), which calculate K and S from the simplified Haverkamp et al. (1994) equation, valid only for short to medium times. A total of 264 infiltration measurements performed with a 10cm diameter disc under different soil conditions were used. Compared to the DL procedure, field measurements showed that the NSQE method allowed better estimates of soil hydraulic properties, independently on the infiltration noise and the presence of contact sand layer. Overall, although comparable S values were estimated with both methods, the longer infiltration times allowed by the proposed method made this procedure more accurate estimations of K. In conclusion, the NSQE method have shown to be a significant advance to accurate estimate of the soil hydraulic properties form the transient water flow. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Pasture productivity depends on soil hydro-physical properties, which in turn are deeply affected by livestock grazing. However, the comparative response of different soil types, and particularly gypseous soil types, to grazing has hardly been studied before. This paper compares the effect of grazing on the soil hydro-physical properties of silty gypseous (Gy) and non-gypseous (NGy) soils located in a semi-arid region (Middle Ebro Valley, NE, Spain). Two different soil managements were selected: ungrazed natural shrubland (N) and grazed shrubland (GR) soils. The gypsum, CaCO3 and organic matter content (OM), soil texture, soil bulk density (ρ b ), penetration resistance (PR), saturated sorptivity (S), hydraulic conductivity (K), and the water retention curve (WRC) for undisturbed soil samples from 1 to 10cm depth soil layer were measured. The ρ b and PR in NGy soils were significantly higher than those observed in the Gy ones. Soil compaction due to grazing treatment tended to increase ρ b and decrease the K and S values. While no differences in PR were observed in the Gy soils between grazing treatments, the PR measured in the NGy soils under GR was significantly higher than the corresponding values observed under N. Differences in K and S between GR and N treatments were only significant (p <0.05) in NGy soils, where K and S values under the N treatment were almost four times greater than the corresponding values measured under GR. Overall, no differences in the WRCs were observed between soil types and grazing treatments. While the WRCs of NGy soils were not significantly affected by the grazing treatment, Gy soils under N treatment present a significantly higher level of soil macropores than under GR treatment. The hydro-physical features of Gy soils tended to be less affected by grazing than those of the NGy soils. These results suggest that livestock grazing, in both Gy and NGy soils, has a negative effect on the physical soil properties, which should be taken into account by land managers of these semi-arid regions where silty gypseous and non-gypseous areas coexist. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]