Soil Hydrology Overview

This data reflects both the quality of the soil structure, the amount of water available for growth and the ease by which these soils are able to be irrigated. The data indicates how much water is available for vigorous tree and fruit growth, as well as how much water is available for tree maintenance and survival. This data can also be used to better schedule irrigation, and compare irrigation requirements between soils.

The topsoil (A1 horizon) appears to be compact having a bulk density of 1.50 g/cm³, a relatively low saturated hydraulic conductivity for a ferrosol of 53 mm/hr, and a drainable porosity of only 5.1 % compared to the desired level of 10 %. This indicates a general lack of macropores in the A1 horizon due to compaction which is likely to affect the aeration status of roots following large rainfall or irrigation events. The topsoil (A1 horizon) is relatively shallow so only holds a relatively small amount of moisture. The A1 horizon contains 23.3 % or 23.3 mm PAWC, of which 10 mm is readily available to support rapid growth, 13.3 mm is available to the tree but at a cost to growth, whilst 13.7 mm is not able to be extracted by trees. The two B2 horizons have similar amounts of unavailable and tightly held soil moisture. The B21 has lower bulk density than the A1 horizon at 1.38 g/cm³ and the highest proportion of drainable porosity at 11.1 %, which indicates it to be relatively free of compaction and well structured. Despite being well structured, the B21 only contains only 6.3 % or 15.7 mm readily available soil water.