Changes in soil hydrodynamic parameters during intermittent rainfall following tillage

The changes in the soil hydrodynamic properties following soil tillage were investigated in rainfall simulation trials of intermittent rain at the Masse experimental station (Soil Erosion LABoratory, SERLAB) in central Italy. The experiments were designed to build a database as representative as possible of situations that may occur in nature. The data collected during the experiments were used to determine the saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks, the soil sorptivity at the antecedent soil–water matric potential Ψi, S, and the flow-weighted mean pore size at Ψi, λm. It was also verified if the energy content of total rainfall after tillage explained the short-term temporal variability…

Height of water pouring effects on infiltration runs carried out in an initially wet sandy-loam soil

Ring infiltration methods are widely used for field soil hydraulic characterization. Establishing factors affecting these methods is necessary to interpret the collected data. The height from which water is poured on the soil surface is known to influence infiltration in a sandy-loam soil, since low (L, height of water pouring 0.03 m) runs yielded higher infiltration rates than high (H, 1.5 m) runs in previous investigations. The impact of water pouring height on infiltration rates seems to vary with the antecedent soil water content, θi. In this investigation, height effects on infiltration were tested for an initially very wet sandy-loam soil. Two-stage infiltration runs differing by the…

Combining pressure transducer and tipping bucket rain gauge to measure high variable runoff rate collected from a green roof

Urban areas are constantly expanding in terms of space and density. It is known that the effect of urbanization is an increase of the area of impermeable surfaces. The infiltration decreases, the surface runoff increases (Baiamonte, Singh, 2017) and the existing stormwater infrastructure may become no more appropriate to face flooding (Berndtsson, 2010). Berndtsson (2010) described the numerous benefits that can be achieved by turning the roofs green through covering them with soil and vegetation. Green roofs i) reduce and attenuate stormwater runoff, which in turn lowers risks of urban floods and improves the urban water balance thus approaching the natural one (Mentens et al., 2006), ii) …

Comparing two methods to perform a beerkan infiltration run in a loam soil at different dates

<p>Performing beerkan infiltration runs with different heights of water pouring could help to obtain saturated soil sorptivity, <em>S</em>, and hydraulic conductivity, <em>K<sub>s</sub></em>, data usable to explain and simulate hydrological processes. However, most of the available information on the L (low height of water pouring, nearly 3 cm) - H (high height, 1-2 m) methodology refers to runs making use of a relatively limited number of water volumes and there is some sign that a few water volumes could yield an incomplete description of soil alteration phenomena induced by wetting. For a lo…

Water retention characteristics of substrates containing biochar and compost as peat and perlite replacements for ornamental plant production

In Italy peat and perlite are commonly used as growth substrates in ornamental plant nurseries. Requests for ecologically sustainable growth substrates have recently focused research on the study of new media. In this context, biochar and compost, by-products of other production chains, may play a relevant role. Four growth substrates were prepared by mixing (v/v) different porous matrices including a 2-mm sieved sandy loam soil namely: 50% peat and 50% perlite (PPr), 50% compost and 50% biochar (CB), 25% peat, 25% perlite, 25% compost and 25% biochar (PPrCB) and 25% peat, 25% compost and 50% mineral soil (PCM). Water retention curves of porous matrices and growth substrates were determined…

Osservazione e modellazione del deflusso sottosuperficiale laterale saturo in un ripido versante naturale

I versanti sono unità morfologiche fondamentali che governano la risposta idrologica dei bacini idrografici durante le precipitazioni più intense. Nonostante la loro riconosciuta importanza idrologica, è ancora necessario condurre approfonditi studi, sia a carattere sperimentale che teoretico, per meglio comprendere i meccanismi di generazione e trasporto del deflusso sottosuperficiale laterale saturo nei versanti. In questo contributo sono presentati i risultati di un monitoraggio di lungo periodo del flusso laterale di falda intercettato per mezzo di una trincea drenante installata su d’un ripido versante naturale nel bacino del Lago di Baratz, Sardegna. I dati raccolti vengono utilizzati…

Sviluppi recenti e nuove tecnologie per la stima dei fabbisogni irrigui in ambiente mediterraneo

Applicazione di tecniche di Remote Sensing: stima di parametri biofisici della vegetazione e dell’evapotraspirazione effettiva