Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial scaling of saturated hydraulic conductivity of soils in a small watershed on the Loess Plateau, China

  • SOILS, SEC 2 • GLOBAL CHANGE, ENVIRON RISK ASSESS, SUSTAINABLE LAND USE • RESEARCH ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (K S) is a key variable in hydrologic processes, the parameters of which have strong scale-dependency. Knowing the scaling dependency of K S is important when designing an appropriate sampling strategy.

Materials and methods

Determinations of K S were made for 4,865 undisturbed soil samples, collected from a grid with cells of 10 × 10 m in the Daye watershed (50 ha) on the Loess Plateau, China. The dataset was “re-sampled” to investigate the effect on K S of scales that differed by two orders of magnitude in terms of spacing and support, and eight scales of extent. The variance, correlation length, and nugget–sill ratio derived by analysis of the full dataset were taken to be the true values. Apparent values of variance, correlation length, and nugget–sill ratio were those calculated for each re-sampled data sub-set.

Results and discussion

Comparing the parameter values at different scales showed that apparent variance increased with increasing extent (p < 0.01), decreased with increasing support (p < 0.01), but was not significantly affected by spacing (p = 0.137). Apparent correlation length increased with increasing extent and support (p < 0.01). As spacing increased below 1.1 times the true correlation length (i.e., below 80 m), the apparent correlation length decreased slightly but, as spacing increased above 80 m, it notably increased. Apparent nugget–sill ratio decreased with increasing spacing and support (p < 0.01), and increased with increasing extent (p < 0.01). The scaling dependency for K S was in the order of extent > support > spacing for all three parameters, with mean coefficient of determination values of 0.96, 0.88, and 0.53, respectively.

Conclusions

The statistical properties investigated for K S were found to be scaling-dependent, which would benefit sampling strategy design.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Armstrong A, Quinton JN, Francis B, Heng BCP, Sander GC (2011) Controls over nutrient dynamics in overland flows on slopes representative of agricultural land in North West Europe. Geoderma 164:2–10

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Biswas A, Si BC (2011) Identifying scale specific controls of soil water storage in a hummocky landscape using wavelet coherency. Geoderma 165:50–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blöschl G (1998) Scale and scaling in hydrology—a framework for thinking and analysis. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Blöschl G, Sivapalan M (1995) Scale issues in hydrological modelling—a review. Hydrol Process 9:251–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buttle JM, House DA (1997) Spatial variability of saturated hydraulic conductivity in shallow macroporous soils in a forested basin. J Hydrol 203:127–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chien YJ, Lee DY, Guo HY, Houng KH (1997) Geostatistical analysis of soil properties of mid-west Taiwan soils. Soil Sci 162:291–297

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dörner J, Dec D, Peng X, Horn R (2010) Effect of land use change on the dynamic behaviour of structural properties of an Andisol in southern Chile under saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conditions. Geoderma 159:189–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehigiator OA, Anyata BU (2011) Effects of land clearing techniques and tillage systems on runoff and soil erosion in a tropical rain forest in Nigeria. J Environ Manage 92:2875–2880

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Franklin RB, Mills AL (2003) Multi-scale variation in spatial heterogeneity for microbial community structure in an eastern Virginia agricultural field. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 44:335–346

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fu XL, Shao MA, Wei XR, Horton R (2010) Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen as affected by vegetation types in Northern Loess Plateau of China. Geoderma 155:31–35

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gamma Design Software (2004) GS+ Version 7. GeoStatistics for the Environmental Sciences. User’s guide. Gamma Design Software, LLC pp 160

  • Gao L, Shao MA (2012) The interpolation accuracy for seven soil properties at various sampling scales on the Loess Plateau, China. J Soils Sediments 12:128–142

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garten CT Jr, Kang S, Brice DJ, Schadt CW, Zhou J (2007) Variability in soil properties at different spatial scales (1 m–1 km) in a deciduous forest ecosystem. Soil Biol Biochem 39:2621–2627

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gelhar LW (1993) Stochastic subsurface hydrology. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, p 390

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta RK, Rudra RP, Dickinson WT, Patni NK, Wall GJ (1993) Comparison of saturated hydraulic conductivity measured by various field methods. Trans ASAE 36:51–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirzel A, Guisan A (2002) Which is the optimal sampling strategy for habitat suitability modeling. Ecol Model 157:331–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Shao MA, Wang QJ, Fan J, Reichardt K (2008) Spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties on a steep slope in a Loess Plateau of China. Sci Agric 65:268–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Shao MA, Wang QJ, Fan J, Horton R (2009) Temporal changes of soil hydraulic properties under different land uses. Geoderma 149:355–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins GM, Watts DG (1968) Spectral analysis and its applications. Holden–Day, San Francisco, p 525

    Google Scholar 

  • Journel AG (1980) The lognormal approach to predicting local distributions of selective mining unit grades. Math Geol 12:285–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerry R, Oliver MA (2007) Comparing sampling needs for variograms of soil properties computed by the method of moments and residual maximum likelihood. Geoderma 140:383–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klute A, Dirksen C (1986) Hydraulic conductivity and diffusivity. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis, Part 1. Am Soc Agron Monograph 9:687–734

  • Krige DG (1994) A statistical approach to some basic mine valuation problems on the Witwatersrand. J S Afr Inst Min Metall 94:95–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Lauren JG, Wagnet RJ, Bouma J, Wosten JHM (1988) Variability of saturated hydraulic conductivity in a glossaquic hapludalf with macropores. Soil Sci 145:20–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima MPR, Soares AMVP, Loureiro S (2011) Combined effects of soil moisture and carbaryl to earthworms and plants: Simulation of flood and drought scenarios. Environ Pollut 159:1844–1851

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lin HS, Wheeler D, Bell J, Wilding L (2005) Assessment of soil spatial variability at multiple scales. Ecol Model 182:271–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XY (1982) The research method of soil physics and soil melioration. Shanghai Technology Press, Shanghai (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Logsdon SD (2002) Determination of preferential flow model parametres. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:1095–1103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matalas NC (1967) Mathematical assessment of synthetic hydrology. Water Resour Res 3:937–945

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty BP, Kanwar RS, Everts CJ (1994) Comparison of saturated hydraulic conductivity measurement methods for a glacial-till soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:72–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty BP, Mousli Z (2000) Saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil water retention properties across a soil-slope transition. Water Resour Res 36:3311–3324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moustafa MM (2000) A geostatistical approach to optimize the determination of saturated hydraulic conductivity for large-scale subsurface drainage design in Egypt. Agric Water Manag 42:291–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mualem Y (1992) Modeling the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media. In: van Genuchten MTH, Leij FJ, Lund FJ (eds) Indirect methods for estimating the hydraulic properties of unsaturated soils. University of California, Riverside, pp 15–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Puckett WE, Dane JH, Hajek BF (1985) Physical and mineralogical data to determine soil hydraulic properties. Soil Sci Soc Am J 49:831–836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawls WJ, Gimenez D, Grossman R (1998) Use of soil texture, bulk density, and slope of the water retention curve to predict saturated hydraulic conductivity. Trans ASABE 41:983–988

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards JH, Caldwell MM (1987) Hydraulic lift: substantial nocturnal water transport between soil layers by Artemisia tridentata roots. Oecologia 73:486–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Iturbe I, Vogel GK, Rigon R, Entekhabi D, Castelli F, Rinaldo A (1995) On the spatial organization of soil moisture fields. Geophys Res Lett 22:2757–2760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romano N (1993) Use of an inverse method and geostatistics to estimate soil hydraulic conductivity for spatial variability analysis. Geoderma 60:169–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Sinoga JD, Martínez-Murillo JF, Gabarrón-Galeote MA, García-Marín R (2010) The effects of soil moisture variability on the vegetation pattern in Mediterranean abandoned fields (Southern Spain). Catena 85:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russo D, Jury WA (1987) A theoretical study of the estimation of the correlation scale in spatially variable fields: 1. Stationary fields. Water Resour Res 23:1257–1268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saito H, Goovaerts P (2000) Geostatistical interpolation of positively skewed and censored data in a dioxin-contaminated site. Environ Sci Technol 34:4228–4235

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sobieraj JA, Elsenbeer H, Coelho RM, Newton B (2002) Spatial variability of soil hydraulic conductivity along a tropical rainforest catena. Geoderma 108:79–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sobieraj JA, Elsenbeer H, Cameron G (2004) Scale dependency in spatial patterns of saturated hydraulic conductivity. Catena 55:49–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang KL, Hou QC, Wang BK, Zhang PC (1993) The environment background and administration way of wind-water erosion crisscross region and Shenmu experimental area on the Loess Plateau. Mem NISWC Acad Sin Minist Water Conserv 18:2–15 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Topp GC, Zebchuk WD, Dumanski J (1980) The variation of in situ measured soil water properties within soil map units. Can J Soil Sci 60:497–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Groenigen JW, Siderius W, Stein A (1999) Constrained optimisation of soil sampling for minimisation of the kriging variance. Geoderma 87:239–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Schilfgaarde J (1970) Theory of flow to drains. In: Chow VT (ed) Advances in hydroscience, vol 6. Academic, London, pp 43–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanmarcke E (1983) Random fields: analysis and synthesis. The MIT Press, Cambridge, p 382

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang YQ, Shao MA, Gao L (2010) Spatial variability of soil particle size distribution and fractal features in Water-Wind Erosion Crisscross Region on the Loess Plateau of China. Soil Sci 175:579–589

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang YQ, Shao MA, Zhu YJ, Liu ZP (2011) Impacts of land use and plant characteristics on dried soil layers in different climatic regions on the Loess Plateau of China. Agr Forest Meteorol 151:437–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Western AW, Blöschl G (1999) On the spatial scaling of soil moisture. J Hydrol 217:203–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang JL, Zhang GL (2011) Water infiltration in urban soils and its effects on the quantity and quality of runoff. J Soils Sediments 11:751–761

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmermann B, Elsenbeer H (2008) Spatial and temporal variability of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity in gradients of disturbance. J Hydrol 361:78–95

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the innovation team project of the Ministry of Education, China (No. IRT0749), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41071156). The authors are indebted to the editor and reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. We also thank Mr. David Warrington for his zealous help in improving the manuscript. Special thanks to the staff of Shenmu Erosion and Environment Station of the Institute of Soil and Water Conservation of CAS.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Gao

  2. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Mingan Shao

  3. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Gao

  4. Ning Xia University, Yinchuan, 7500021, People’s Republic of China

    Youqi Wang

Authors
  1. Lei Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mingan Shao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Youqi Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mingan Shao.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Rainer Horn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gao, L., Shao, M. & Wang, Y. Spatial scaling of saturated hydraulic conductivity of soils in a small watershed on the Loess Plateau, China. J Soils Sediments 12, 863–875 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-012-0511-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-012-0511-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation