Hydrologic-Process-Based Soil Texture Classifications for Improved Visualization of Landscape Function.

ABSTRACT: Soils lie at the interface between the atmosphere and the subsurface and are a key component that control ecosystem services, food production, and many other processes at the Earth's surface. There is a long-established convention for identifying and mapping soils by texture. These readily available, georeferenced soil maps and databases are used widely in environmental sciences. Here, we show that these traditional soil classifications can be inappropriate, contributing to bias and uncertainty in applications from slope stability to water resource management. We suggest a new approach to soil classification, with a detailed example from the science of hydrology. Hydrologic simulations based on common meteorological conditions were performed using HYDRUS-1D, spanning textures identified by

SUBMITTER: Groenendyk DG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488316 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature