Soil and Water Research, 2023 (vol. 18), issue 2
Past, present and future of the applications of machine learning in soil science and hydrologyReview
Xiangwei Wang, Yizhe Yang, Jianglong Lv, Hailong He
Soil & Water Res., 2023, 18(2):67-80 | DOI: 10.17221/94/2022-SWR 
Machine learning can handle an ever-increasing amount of data with the ability to learn models from the data. It has been widely used in a variety of disciplines and is gaining increasingly more attention nowadays. As it is challenging to map soil and hydrological information that are characterised with high spatial and temporal variability, applications of machine learning in soil science and hydrology (AMLSH) have become popularised. To better understand the current state of AMLSH research, a scientific and quantitative approach was performed to statistically analyse publication information from 1973 to 2021 archived in the Scopus database using...
δ13C as a tool to determine the origin of soil organic carbon: Case study of a restored sloping orchardOriginal Paper
Mateja Mur¹ec, Jean Leveque
Soil & Water Res., 2023, 18(2):81-88 | DOI: 10.17221/101/2022-SWR
The effect of drip irrigation on the origin and size fraction of soil organic carbon was studied in the soils of an apple orchard (Malus domestica Borkh.) on hilly (20%) terrain in northeastern Slovenia in three slope positions (upslope, midslope and downslope), comparing irrigated with non-irrigated soils. Physical fractionation of soil organic carbon was performed on three soil layers (0–0.05, 0.05–0.15 and 0.15–0.30 m) in three size fractions: fraction A (> 0.0002 m), fraction B (0.0002‒0.00005 m) and fraction C (< 0.00005 m). Fraction A was the richest in soil organic carbon (7.7%), but fraction C was the dominant...
Influence of Paulownia fortunei (Seem.) Hemsl. roots on preferential flow in the red soil hilly regionOriginal Paper
Zhuo Tian, Shuaipu Zhang, Qinxue Xu, Mingfeng Bi, Jianhua He
Soil & Water Res., 2023, 18(2):89-101 | DOI: 10.17221/140/2022-SWR
Preferential water flow in soil significantly affects runoff, water infiltration, storage, groundwater environment, and soil stability. Plant roots positively affect preferential flow development. This study explored the relationship between the root system of Paulownia fortunei (Seem.) Hemsl. and preferential flow using dyeing tracer test and image analysis techniques. A typical red soil hilly region on the outskirts of Guilin City (Guangxi, China) was selected as the study area. A Bright Blue solution was used to visualize the pathways followed by the infiltrated water in simulated rainfall experiments, and Image Analyzer of Plants was used...
Detection of high erosion risk areas and their incorporation into environmental impact assessmentOriginal Paper
Efrén Tarancón-Andrés, Jacinto Santamaria-Peña, David Arancón-Pérez, Eduardo Martínez-Cámara, Julio Blanco-Fernández
Soil & Water Res., 2023, 18(2):102-115 | DOI: 10.17221/91/2022-SWR
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is normally used independently of the physical and temporal location of the product, process or service under analysis. This makes LCA results more easily comparable and globally accepted. At the same time, it has drawbacks though, e.g. land use will have the same impact regardless of location. However, the use of certain terrains in high erosion risk areas as compared to others in low erosion risk areas will have a different impact on the ecosystem. The availability of airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data (ALS) allows a quick and accurate morphogeometric analysis of any terrain. For this reason, this article...
Soil resistance to flowing water erosion as affected by tea planting age in Three Gorges Reservoir Area of ChinaOriginal Paper
Guanhua Zhang, Wenjun Yang, Jiajun Hu, Jigen Liu, Wenfeng Ding, Hai Xiao
Soil & Water Res., 2023, 18(2):116-127 | DOI: 10.17221/157/2022-SWR
Soil erosion resistance is influenced by intrinsic soil properties and multiple external factors. This study investigated the effect of tea planting age on soil resistance to flowing water erosion (reflected by rill erodibility (Kr) and critical shear stress (τc)) in Three Gorges Reservoir Area. One slope farmland (as the control) and five tea plantations cultivated for 3 to 34 years were selected for sampling sites. The results indicated that bulk density (BD), soil cohesion (Coh), water stable aggregate (WSA), mean weight diameter (MWD), soil organic carbon (SOC), litter density (LD), and root mass density (RMD)...
Measuring of infiltration rate in different types of soil in the Czech Republic using a rainfall simulatorOriginal Paper
David Kabelka, David Kincl, Jan Vopravil, Jiøí Brychta, Jan Baèovský
Soil & Water Res., 2023, 18(2):128-137 | DOI: 10.17221/132/2022-SWR
Knowledge of the issue of water movement in the soil is the basis for agricultural activity, but also for many other sectors. One of the basic indicators that is evaluated in soil science is the rate of water infiltration into the soil. The article specifically states how soil texture and soil moisture affect the rate of water infiltration. The results show that changes in water infiltration can be significant and certain trends can be traced. The rate of water infiltration into the soil is most affected by the sand fraction (soil particles 0.05–2 mm). The higher the percentage of these soil particles in the soil, the lower the changes in infiltration...