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 compacted having a bulk density of 1.40 g/cm³, a moderate saturated hydraulic conductivity for a ferrosol of 105 mm/hr, and a drainable porosity of 9.7 which is just below the ideal level of 10 %, yet is somewhat low for a Ferrosol. The A1 horizon contains 19.4 % or 38.81 mm plant available water (PAWC), of which 7.6 % or 15.2 mm is readily available to support rapid growth (Green in Figure 3), an additional 11.8 mm soil moisture is available to the tree but at a cost to growth (Orange in Figure 3), whilst 16.1 mm is not able for use by trees (Red in figure 2). The B21 horizon is similar to the A1 horizon, with similar bulk density, However the B21 has higher unavailable soil moisture at 21.4 % and lower readily available soil water at 5.7% compared to the A1 horizon. Unusually the B21 has higher drainable porosity than the A1 horizon, which supports the notion that the A1 horizon is slightly compact. The B22 horizon is similar to that of the B21 horizon except that the proportion of unavailable soil water is higher than the other horizons at 28.6 %. Despite the low hydraulic conductivity at 0.78 mm/hr the moderate drainable porosity for a subsoil of 6.2 % suggests the soil profile is well drained providing an ideal environment for root growth throughout the subsoil.