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 moderately compact having a bulk density of 1.40 g/cm³, and a moderate to low saturated hydraulic conductivity for a ferrosol of 88 mm/hr. The drainable porosity is 9.8% is close to the ideal level of 10 %, yet this is also a bit low for a Ferrosol. The A1 horizon contains 20.5 % or 41 mm plant available water (PAWC), of which 8.0 % or 15.9 mm is readily available to support rapid growth (green Figure 3), an additional 25.0 mm soil moisture is available to the tree but at a cost to growth (Orange Figure 3), whilst 30.8 mm is not able for use by trees (Red figure 2). The B1 horizon appears to be better structured than the A1 horizon. The B1 horizon has lower bulk density 1.32 g/cm³ compared to 1.40 g/cm³ and higher drainable porosity at 13.6 % compared to 9.8% in the A1 horizon. This provides further evidence that the A1 horizon has a moderate degree of compaction. The B2 horizon is similar to that of the A1 horizon except that the proportion of unavailable soil water is higher than the other horizons. Soil colour and the moderate drainable porosity in the B1 and B2 indicates the whole soil profile is well drained providing an ideal environment for root growth throughout the subsoil.