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Spatial and temporal variation of moisture content in the soil profiles of two different agricultural fields of semi-arid region

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Abstract

Modeling spatio-temporal variation of soil moisture with depth in the soil profile plays an important role for semi-arid crop production from an agro-hydrological perspective. This study was performed in Guvenc Catchment. Two soil series that were called Tabyabayir (TaS) and Kervanpinari (KeS) and classified as Leptosol and Vertisol Soil Groups were used in this research. The TeS has a much shallower (0–34 cm) than the KeS (0–134 cm). At every sampling time, a total of geo-referenced 100 soil moisture samples were taken based on horizon depths. The results indicated that soil moisture content changed spatially and temporally with soil texture and profile depth significantly. In addition, land use was to be important factor when soil was shallow. When the soil conditions were towards to dry, higher values for the coefficient of variation (CV) were observed for TaS (58 and 43 % for A and C horizons, respectively); however, the profile CV values were rather stable at the KeS. Spatial variability range of TaS was always higher at both dry and wet soil conditions when compared to that of KeS. Excessive drying of soil prevented to describe any spatial model for surface horizon, additionally resulting in a high nugget variance in the subsurface horizon for the TaS. On the contrary to TaS, distribution maps were formed all horizons for the KeS at any measurement times. These maps, depicting both dry and wet soil conditions through the profile depth, are highly expected to reduce the uncertainty associated with spatially and temporally determining the hydraulic responses of the catchment soils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil Fertilizer and Water Resources Research Institute, 06172, Yenimahalle, Ankara, Turkey

    Oguz Baskan & Yakup Kosker

  2. Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ankara, 06110, Diskapi, Ankara, Turkey

    Gunay Erpul

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  1. Oguz Baskan
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  2. Yakup Kosker
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  3. Gunay Erpul
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Correspondence to Oguz Baskan.

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Baskan, O., Kosker, Y. & Erpul, G. Spatial and temporal variation of moisture content in the soil profiles of two different agricultural fields of semi-arid region. Environ Monit Assess 185, 10441–10458 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-013-3343-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-013-3343-8

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