Soil & Water Res., 2007, 2(4):113-122 | DOI: 10.17221/2106-SWR

Estimation of the soil water retention curve (SWRC) using pedotransfer functions (PTFs)Original Paper

Svatopluk Matula, Markéta Mojrová, Kamila Špongrová
Department of Soil Science and Geology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Soil hydraulic characteristics, especially the soil water retention curve and hydraulic conductivity, are essential for many agricultural, environmental, and engineering applications. Their measurement is time-consuming and thus costly. Hence, many researchers focused on methods enabling their indirect estimation. In this paper, Wösten's continuous pedotransfer functions were applied to the data from a selected locality in the Czech Republic, Tišice. The available data set related to this locality consists of 140 measured soil water retention curves, and the information about the soil texture, bulk density ρd, and organic matter content determined at the same time. Own continuous pedotransfer functions were derived, following the methodology used in continuous pedotransfer functions. Two types of fitting, 4-parameters and 3-parameters, were tested. In 4-parameter fitting, all parameters of the van Genuchten's equation, θs, θr, α, n, were optimized; in 3-parameter fitting, only three parameters, θr, α, n, were optimised while the measured value of θs was set as constant. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the general equations of Wösten's pedotransfer functions are not very suitable to estimate the soil water retention curves for the locality Tišice in the Czech Republic. However, the parameters of the same Wösten's equations, which were calculated only from the data for each particular locality, performed much better. The estimates can be improved if the value for the saturated soil water content θs is known, applied and not optimised (the case of 3-parameter fitting). It can be advantageous to estimate SWRC for a locality with no data available, using PTFs and the available basic soil properties. In addition, to measure some retention curves and/or some their parameters, like θs, can improve the accuracy of the SWRC estimation.

Keywords: continuous pedotransfer function; soil water retention curve; fitting; parametric method; neural network

Published: December 31, 2007  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Matula S, Mojrová M, Špongrová K. Estimation of the soil water retention curve (SWRC) using pedotransfer functions (PTFs). Soil & Water Res. 2007;2(4):113-122. doi: 10.17221/2106-SWR.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Arya L.M., Paris J.F. (1981): A physico-empirical model to predict the soil moisture characteristic from particle-size distribution and bulk density data. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 45: 1023-1030. Go to original source...
    2. Brooks R.H., Corey A.T. (1964): Hydraulic properties of porous media. Hydrology Paper No. 3, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
    3. Comegna V., Damiani P., Somella A. (1998): Use of a fractal model for determining soil water retention curves. Geoderma, 85: 307-323. Go to original source...
    4. Cornelis W.M., Ronsyn J., Van Meirvenne M., Hartmann R. (2001): Evaluation of pedotransfer functions for predicting the soil moisture retention curve. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 45: 1023-1030. Go to original source...
    5. Gupta S.C., Larson W.E. (1979): Estimating soil water retention characteristics from particle size distribution, organic matter percent and bulk density. Water Resources Research, 15: 1633-1635. Go to original source...
    6. Haverkamp R., Parlange J.Y. (1986): Predicting the soil water retention curve from particle-size distribution:1. Sandy soils without organic matter. Soil Science, 142: 325-339. Go to original source...
    7. Kuráž V. (1989): Pedologický průzkum výzkumné plochy na stanici v Tišicích, Katedra hydromeliorací, Fakulta stavební, ČVUT, Praha.
    8. Matula S. (1988): Experimental research on spatial variability, stationary measurements of the characteristics and their computer evaluation. Report of the CTU, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Prague. (in Czech)
    9. Matula S., Špongrová K. (2007): Pedotransfer function application for estimation of soil hydrophysical properties using parametric methods. Plant, Soil and Environment, 53: 149-157. Go to original source...
    10. Minasny B., McBratney A.B., Bristow K.L. (1999): Comparison of different approaches to the development of pedotransfer functions for water retention curves. Geoderma, 93: 225-253. Go to original source...
    11. Nemes A., Schaap M.G., Wösten J.H.M. (2003): Functional Evaluation of Pedotransfer Functions Derived from Different Scales of Data Collection. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 67: 1093-1102. Go to original source...
    12. Pachepsky Y.A., Timlin D., Varallyay G. (1996): Artificial neural networks to estimate soil water retention from easily measurable data. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 60: 727-733. Go to original source...
    13. Rawls W.J., Brakensiek D.L. (1982): Estimating soil water retention from soil properties. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Division ASCE, 108: 166-171. Go to original source...
    14. Rawls W.J., Brakensiek D.L. (1985): Prediction of soil water properties for hydrologic modeling. In: Jones E., Ward T.J. (eds): Watershed Management in the Eighties. Proc. Symposium of Irrigation and Drainage Division ASCE, April 30-May 1, 1985, Denver, ASCE, New York.
    15. Saxton K.E. et al. (1986): Estimating generalized soilwater characteristics from texture. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 50: 1031-1036. Go to original source...
    16. Schaap M.G., Leij F.J., van Genuchten M.Th. (1998a): Using neural networks to predict soil water retention and soil hydraulic conductivity. Soil Tillage Research, 47: 37-452. Go to original source...
    17. Schaap M.G., Leij F.J., van Genuchten M.Th. (1998b): Neural network analysis for hierarchical prediction of soil hydraulic properties. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 62: 847-855. Go to original source...
    18. Schaap M.G., Leij F.J., van Genuchten M.Th. (1999): A bootstrap neural network approach to predict soil hydraulic parameters. In: Van Genuchten M.Th. et al. (eds): Proc. Int. Workshop on Characterization and Measurements of the Hydraulic Properties of Unsaturated Porous Media, October 22-24, 1997,University of California, Riverside.
    19. Scheinost A.C., Sinowski W., Auerswald K. (1997): Regionalization of soil water retention curves in a highly variable soilscape: I. Developing a new pedotransfer function. Geoderma, 78: 129-143. Go to original source...
    20. Šútor J., Štekauerová V. (2000): Hydrophysical Characteristics of Soils from Žitný ostrov. Institute of Hydrology SAS, Bratislava. (in Slovak)
    21. Tyler S.W., Wheatcraft S.W. (1989): Application of fractal mathematics to soil water retention estimation. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 53: 987-996. Go to original source...
    22. van Genuchten M.Th. (1980): A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 44: 892-898. Go to original source...
    23. van Genuchten M.Th., Leij F.J., Yates S.R. (1991): The RETC Code for Quantifying the Hydraulic Functions of Unsaturated Soils. US Environmental Protection Agency. Available at http://www.scisoftware.com/products/retc_overview/retc_overview.html. (accessed on 23 Aug. 2007)
    24. Vereecken H., Maes J., Feyen J., Darius P. (1989): Estimating the soil moisture retention characteristic from texture, bulk density, and carbon content. Soil Science, 148: 389-403. Go to original source...
    25. Wösten J.H.M., Lilly A., Nemes A., le Bas C. (1998): Using Existing Soil Data to Derive Hydraulic Parameters for Simulation Models in Environmental Studies and in Land Use Planning. Final Report on the European Union, Wageningen.
    26. Wösten J.H.M., Lilly A., Nemes A., le Bas C. (1999): Development and use of a database of hydraulic properties of European soils. Geoderma, 90: 169-185. Go to original source...
    27. Wösten J.H.M., Pachepsky Y.A., Rawls W.J. (2001): Pedotransfer functions: Bridging the gap between available basic soil data and missing soil hydraulic characteristics. Journal of Hydrology, 251: 123-150. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content