The Influence of Free Swelling Index on Improvement of the Soil Moisture Curve Estimation

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Researchers estimate hydraulic properties by indirect methods using various procedures. The
objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of using the free swelling index as an estimator to
improve the precision of soil moisture curve (SMC) estimation. In this study, 147 soil samples were
taken from West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, Mazandaran, Hamedan and Kermanshah provinces,
and their particle size distribution, bulk density, free swelling index, cation exchange capacity and
SMC were determined. Then, the Groenevelt & Grant’s model was fitted to the experimental data
of SMC. Free swelling index and other variables were used as estimators to predict the parameters
of Groenevelt & Grant’s model by multiple regression method. All samples were divided into
several groups based on textural classes and SMC was estimated for them in four steps. Grouping
the data improved the estimation of SMC. In soil textural groups of the numbers 3 (silty clay loam
and clay loam classes), 7 (sandy loam class) and 8 (sand, loamy sand and sandy loam) the IRMSE
and AIC values were decreased from 0.07 and 77.85 to 0.06 and 72.28, from 0.05 and 1.63 to 0.04
and -61.78 and from 0.06 and 86.11 to 0.05 and 2.97, respectively. Therefore, using the free
swelling index as an estimator, significantly improved the estimates of SMC through the Groenevelt
and Grant’s model.

Keywords

Main Subjects


منابع مورداستفاده
میرخانی ر، شعبانپور م و سعادت س، 1384. استفاده از فراوانی نسبی ذرات و درصد کربن آلی برای برآورد ظرفیت تبادل کاتیونی خاک‌های استان لرستان. مجله علوم خاک و آب، جلد 19، صفحه­های 235 تا 242.  
Akaike H, 1974. A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 19: 716-723.
Alther GR, 1982. The role of bentonite in soil sealing applications. Bulletin of the Association of Engineering Geologists 19: 401-409.
Arnepalli D, Shanthakumar S, Rao BH and Singh D, 2008. Comparison of methods for determining specific-surface area of fine-grained soils. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 26: 121-132.
Asadu CLA and Akamigbo FOR, 1990. Relative contribution of organic matter and clay fractions to cation exchange capacity of soils in southern Nigeria. Samaru. Journal of Agricultural Research 7: 17-23.
Chapman HD, 1965. Cation-exchange capacity. Pp. 891-901. In: Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Chemical and microbiological properties. Number 9 in the series Agronomy: Am. Inst. Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
Chen FH, 1975. Foundations on expansive soils. 280 pp. New York: Elsevier.
Clapp RB and Hornberger GM, 1978. Empirical equations for some soil hydraulic properties. Water Resources Research 14: 601-604.
Dasog G, Acton D, Mermut A and Jong ED, 1988. Shrink-swell potential and cracking in clay soils of Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 68: 251-260.
Dolinar B and Trauner L, 2004. Liquid limit and specific surface of clay particles. ASTM Geotechnical Testing Journal 27: 580-584.
Dolinar B and Trauner L, 2005. Impact of soil composition on fall cone test results. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 131: 126-130.
Drake EH and Motto HL, 1982. An analysis of the effect of clay and organic matter content on the cation exchange capacity of New Jersey soils. Soil Science 133: 281-288.
Franzmeier D, 1991. Estimation of hydraulic conductivity from effective porosity data for some Indiana soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 55: 1801-1803.
Fredlund MD, Wilson GW and Fredlund DG, 2002. Use of the grain-size distribution for estimation of the soil-water characteristic curve. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 39: 1103-1117.
Gee GW and Or D, 2002. Particle-size analysis. Pp. 255-293. Methods of soil analysis. Part 4.
Grabowska-Olszewska B, 1970. Physical Properties of Clay Soils as a Function of Their Specific Surface. Pp. 405-410. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Congress of the International Association of  Engineering Geology.
Greene-Kelly R, 1974. Shrinkage of clay soils: A statistical correlation with other soil properties. Geoderma 11: 243-257.
Groenevelt PH and Grant CD, 2001. Re-evaluation of the structural properties of some British swelling soils. European Journal of Soil Science 52: 469-477.
Groenevelt P and Grant CD, 2004. A new model for the soil‐water retention curve that solves the problem of residual water contents. European Journal of Soil Science 5: 479-485.
Grossman R and Reinsch T, 2002. Bulk density and linear extensibility. Pp. 201-228. In: Methods of Soil Analysis: Part 4 Physical Methods. Soil Science Society of America. USA.
Haynes R and Naidu R, 1998. Influence of lime, fertilizer and manure applications on soil organic matter content and soil physical conditions: a review. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 51: 123-137.
Hepper EN, Buschiazzo DE, Hevia G, Urioste A and Antón L, 2006. Clay mineralogy, cation exchange capacity and specific surface area of loess soils with different volcanic ash contents. Geoderma 135: 216-223.
Hillel D, 1998. Environmental soil physics: fundamentals, applications, and environmental considerations, Academic press.
Holtz WG and Gibbs HJ, 1956. Engineering properties of expansive clays. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 121: 641-663.
Huang M, Fredlund D and Fredlund M, 2010. Comparison of measured and PTF predictions of SWCCs for loess soils in China. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 28: 105-117.
Hwang SI and Choi SI, 2006. Use of a lognormal distribution model for estimating soil water retention curves from particle-size distribution data. Journal of Hydrology 323: 325-334.
Jain SK, Singh VP and Van Genuchten MT, 2004. Analysis of soil water retention data using artificial neural networks. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 9: 415-420.
Keller A, Von Steiger B, Van der Zee S and Schulin R, 2001. A stochastic empirical model for regional heavy-metal balances in agroecosystems. Journal of Environmental Quality 30: 1976-1989.
Khaleel R, Reddy K and Overcash M, 1981. Changes in soil physical properties due to organic waste applications: A review. Journal of Environmental Quality 10: 133-141.
Leenhardt D, 1995. Errors in the estimation of soil water properties and their propagation through a hydrological model. Soil Use and Management 11: 15-21.
Li MC, 1963. Effect of heat on physico-chemical properties of soil as related to engineering behavior. Pp. 117-120. Proceedings of the 2nd Asian Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
Liao K-H, Xu S-H, Wu J-C, Ji S-H and Lin Q, 2011. Assessing soil water retention characteristics and their spatial variability using pedotransfer functions. Pedosphere 21: 413-422.
Manrique L, Jones C and Dyke P, 1991. Predicting cation-exchange capacity from soil physical and chemical properties. Soil Science Society of America Journal 55: 787-794.
Mishra AK, Ohtsubo M, Li L and Higashi T, 2011. Controlling factors of the swelling of various bentonites and their correlations with the hydraulic conductivity of soil-bentonite mixtures. Applied Clay Science 52: 78-84.
Mohammadi M and Meskini-Vishkaee F, 2013. Predicting soil moisture characteristic curves from continuous particle-size distribution data. Pedosphere 23: 70-80.
Mohammadi MH and Vanclooster M, 2011b. Predicting the soil moisture characteristic curve from particle size distribution with a simple conceptual model. Vadose Zone Journal 10: 594-602.
Nemes A, Schaap M and Wösten J, 2003. Functional evaluation of pedotransfer functions derived from different scales of data collection. Soil Science Society of America Journal 67: 1093-1102.
Pachepsky YA and Rawls W, 1999. Accuracy and reliability of pedotransfer functions as affected by grouping soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal 63: 1748-1757.
Rao A, Phanikumar B and Sharma R, 2004. Prediction of swelling characteristics of remoulded and compacted expansive soils using free swell index. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 37: 217-226.
Rawls W, Pachepsky Y A, Ritchie J, Sobecki T and Bloodworth H, 2003. Effect of soil organic carbon on soil water retention. Geoderma 116: 61-76.
Reatto A, Bruand A, Silva E, Guégan R, Cousin I, Brossard M and Martins E, 2009. Shrinkage of microaggregates in Brazilian Latosols during drying: significance of the clay content, mineralogy and hydric stress history. European Journal of Soil Science 60: 1106-1116.
Schaap MG, Nemes A and Van Genuchten MT, 2004. Comparison of models for indirect estimation of water retention and available water in surface soils. Vadose Zone Journal 3: 1455-1463.
Schuh W, Cline R and Sweeney M, 1988. Comparison of a laboratory procedure and a textural model for predicting in situ soil water retention. Soil Science Society of America Journal 52: 1218-1227.
Seybold C, Grossman R and Reinsch T, 2005. Predicting cation exchange capacity for soil survey using linear models. Soil Science Society of America Journal 69: 856-863.
Sillers WS, Fredlund DG and Zakerzadeh N, 2001. Mathematical attributes of some soil—water characteristic curve models. Pp. 243-283. In "Unsaturated Soil Concepts and Their Application in Geotechnical Practice", Springer.
Sivapullaiah PV, Sitharam TG and Rao K, 1987. Modified free swell index for clays. ASTM geotechnical testing journal 10: 80-85.
Syers JK, Campbell A and Walker T, 1970. Contribution of organic carbon and clay to cation exchange capacity in a chronosequence of sandy soils. Plant and Soil 33: 104-112.
Tietje O and Tapkenhinrichs M, 1993. Evaluation of pedo-transfer functions. Soil Science Society of America Journal 57: 1088-1095.
Tomasella J, Pachepsky Y, Crestana S and Rawls W, 2003. Comparison of two techniques to develop pedotransfer functions for water retention. Soil Science Society of America Journal 67: 1085-1092.
Vereecken H, Maes J, Feyen J and Darius P, 1989. Estimating the soil moisture retention characteristic from texture, bulk density, and carbon content. Soil Science 148: 389-403.
Walczak R, 1984. Model studies of dependence between water retention and parameters of solid phase of soils. Problemy Agrofizyki 41: 3-69 (in Polish).
Walczak R, Moreno F, Sławiński C, Fernandez E and Arrue J, 2006. Modeling of soil water retention curve using soil solid phase parameters. Journal of Hydrology 329: 527-533.
Warkentin B and Yong R, 1962. Shear strength of montmorillonite and kaolinite related to interparticle forces. Clays Clay Miner 9: 210-218.
Williams J, Prebble R, Williams W and Hignett C, 1983. The influence of texture, structure and clay mineralogy on the soil moisture characteristic. Soil Research 21: 15-32.
Wösten J, Bouma J and Stoffelsen G, 1985. Use of soil survey data for regional soil water simulation models. Soil Science Society of America Journal 49: 1238-1244.
Wösten J, Pachepsky YA and Rawls W, 2001. Pedotransfer functions: bridging the gap between available basic soil data and missing soil hydraulic characteristics. Journal of hydrology 251: 123-150.
Yukselen-Aksoy Y and Kaya A, 2010. Method dependency of relationships between specific surface area and soil physicochemical properties. Applied Clay Science 50: 182-190.
Zand-Parsa Sh, 2006. Improved soil hydraulic conductivity function based on specific liquid–vapour interfacial area around the soil particles. Geoderma 132: 20-30.