HS8.3.4

Grassland is one of the most abundant biomes in the world and important for a variety of ecosystem services. Global climate change is causing a significant increase in temperature and a change in the seasonal distribution of precipitation. The resulting variation in nitrogen turnover is site-specific and long-term experiments are needed to study these changes.
The objective of this study was to investigate changing environmental variables on nitrogen cycling and water use efficiency of an extensively managed grassland site in a low mountain range. Data from the TERENO-SOILCan lysimeter network at the Rollesbroich and Selhausen sites were used. In a "time for space" approach, a total of nine lysimeters were filled at the initial Rollesbroich site and three of these lysimeters were moved to the Selhausen site. Compared to the initial site, the climate in Selhausen is warmer and drier, according to climate predictions.
The results show that climate change may increase the risk of gaseous nitrogen emissions, but that low nitrogen inputs from an extensively used grassland result in only low nitrogen discharges via leachate. In addition, water use efficiency and nitrogen nutrition index will decrease if the crop suffers from water stress, making the grassland more sensitive to drought.

How to cite: Puetz, T., Giraud, M., Groh, J., Gerke, H., and Brueggemann, N.: Effects of climate change on the nitrogen balance of a grassland ecosystem, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3012, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3012, 2022.

Rainfall infiltration is a significant trigger that lead to slope failures. The change of pore gas pressure caused by rainfall infiltration plays an important role in the slope stability. The purpose of this research is to examine the important effect of the pore gas and the gas permeability in the process of rainfall infiltration. Firstly, Water-air-two phase flow analysis were adopted as to analyze the movement of water and gas in the process of rainfall infiltration. In order  to evaluate stability of slope, the pore gas pressure could be considered as a external load variable to incorporate in the thrust residual method which is a traditional method to evaluate slope stability. The result showed that safety factor decreased over the time when adding pore gas pressure into slope stability method compared to not consider the gas pressure, this is mainly because the pore gas pressure gradient was formed and the pore gas pressure is an important factor in the infiltration of slope stability. In addition, a numerical soil column model with the finite element method has been established for examining the effects of pore gas pressure and gas boundary condition on the rainfall infiltration. After giving the same initial conditions, the soil column under various gas permeable conditions is simulated then the influence of gas boundary permeability on infiltration intensity, pore gas pressure were also analyzed. The result showed that there is a highly relevant relationship between infiltration intensity and gas permeability on the boundary. The stable infiltration intensity is sensitive and it decreases quickly when the gas boundary permeability is at lower stage. As gas boundary permeability going up, this sensibility is declined gradually. The relationship between the infiltration intensity and gas boundary permeability can be regressed to be logarithmic. Furthermore, with the increase of gas boundary permeability, the pore gas pressure increases nonlinearly and the movement  of wetting front slows down.

How to cite: Tian, W., Peiffer, H., and Malengier, B.: The influence of pore gas pressure and gas permeability on rainfall infiltration, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2490, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2490, 2022.

Increasing aquifers' recharge and storage is of great importance in addressing challenges posed by climate change and growing water demand. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) technologies may ensure water supply for agriculture and diminish impacts from groundwater overexploitation. The expansion of MAR solutions in Europe still requires the implementation of these waterworks at their maximum efficiency. Physical clogging is one of the main bottlenecks for these technologies. In spreading methods, during water recharge, eroded clays from surface runoff reach the infiltrating surface and intrude into the soil matrix, decreasing the basin infiltration capacity over time. The resulting loss in performance increases the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs and, in extreme cases, can lead to the MAR site's abandonment. Thus, it is vital to assess the risk of physical clogging during the MAR planning phase, extending the MAR scheme lifespan and minimising O&M costs. Our study aims to develop a comprehensive model for physical clogging transferable to multiple MAR sites, based on the characterisation of the sediment matrix and MAR operations. To achieve this, we built a semi-empirical 1D numerical model for physical clogging. Evolution in soil permeability via the Kozeny-Carman equation is computed in function of depth based on the input of fines into the soil matrix and the porous media characteristics. The vertical distribution of fines is derived through a general relationship from a systematic review of multiple studies in the literature. The model allows computing the evolution in infiltration rates over time for the MAR site and the depth of soil to be treated to restore infiltration efficiency. Preliminary validation at the field scale is conducted at a MAR infiltration basin in Suvereto, Italy. To spatially apply the model, zoning is performed through an electromagnetic induction (EMI) survey, defining areas with similar soil properties. Values of hydraulic conductivity near saturation and soil samples were collected to characterise the sediment matrix and fines content for the entire basin. Predictions of the expected decrease in infiltration capacity for spreading methods assists maintenance scheduling and reduce O&M costs for the specific site. The proposed model for physical clogging can serve as a tool for decision support when exploring a set of design alternatives prior to MAR construction.

How to cite: Lippera, M. C., Werban, U., Rossetto, R., and Vienken, T.: Development of a novel approach to assess the risk of physical clogging at managed aquifer recharge sites, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5036, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5036, 2022.

Metolachlor, terbuthylazine, nicosulfuron and prosulfuron are among the typical crop protection products used on maize plantations. Leaching of those lead to a decrease of groundwater and surface water quality. Often measured individual pesticides and their metabolite concentrations in drinking water are exceeding the limit established by the European Council in drinking water. In our work we investigate contamination potential of these four herbicides to groundwater bodies using lysimeter studies and numerical modelling with HYDRUS-1D. The four herbicides were applied at specific times in the vegetation phase over a period of three years on two lysimeters located in Wielenbach, Germany. The studied lysimeters contain soil cores dominated by sandy gravel (Ly1) and clayey sandy silt (Ly2) and are both vegetated with maize. To identify governing transport and fate processes in the unsaturated zone of the lysimeters and determining dynamics and rates of these, different model structural approaches were compared. In a first step we have characterized soil hydraulic and transport parameters of each soil core by investigating stable water isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δ²H). For Ly2, model performance was improved by considering immobile water in a dual-porosity approach whereas for Ly1 a single-porosity approached seemed to yield satisfying results. This might be explained by a higher fraction of fine particles in Ly2 which can be available for water storage. Based on these findings reactive transport parameters were fitted also for root water and chemical plant uptake, sorption, and biodegradation.

It was found that sorption plays a significant role in herbicide transport whereas root water uptake and chemical plant uptake is of minor influence. Metabolite formation was observed; however, biodegradation seems to show minor influence, only, which is also reflected by measured carbon isotopes (slight δ13C increase). Non-equilibrium and non-linear sorption were compared leading to no significant difference in model results. This was especially surprising for the charged herbicides prosulfuron and nicosulfuron. Measured herbicide concentration peaks in seepage water seemed to be connected in time with higher amounts of precipitation events indicating the influence of preferential flow. Such influences could be considered in a dual-permeability flow model setup which however was not available for stable water isotope modelling in HYDRUS-1D. Contrary to our expectations, the coarser soil of Ly1 did not lead to an increase in leached herbicides which might be explained by a higher organic matter content and thus higher sorption.

How to cite: Imig, A., Augustin, L., Groh, J., Pütz, T., and Rein, A.: Inverse modelling of herbicide transport during transient flow in vegetated weighable lysimeters, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5664, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5664, 2022.

Direct measurements of water flow can provide valuable information that is not always attainable through sensors alone, however, combining methods is crucial for unlocking their full potential. Water flow monitoring is critical for the successful detection of pollutant fate in intensive agricultural production as a substantial amount of fertilizer and pesticide products are commonly used. Wick lysimeters are a common technique used for water flow measurements, where a quantity of drainage volume is measured over time. For mentioned purposes, passive wick lysimeters that maintain tension in soil by using an inert wicking material were employed in this study. This study presents a link between self-constructed passive wick lysimeters, volumetric water content sensors (TDR) and soil-water potential sensors used at the newly (2020) established SUPREHILL vadose zone observatory in Croatia, located on a hillslope vineyard. At the observatory, a network of lysimeters (x36) is installed throughout the hillslope and is accompanied by an extensive sensor network. The data from 2021 shows variability between lysimeters in regard to their position on the hillslope, as well as variability between its repetitions, suggesting the influence of soil heterogeneity at the observatory that possibly triggers preferential flow. Along with the data, a methodology for lysimeter installation and construction is presented.

How to cite: Krevh, V., Defterdarović, J., Han, L., Filipović, L., Kovač, Z., Groh, J., He, H., and Filipović, V.: Linking lysimeter and field sensor data to investigate water flow in a heterogeneous setting at the SUPREHILL vadose zone observatory, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5968, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5968, 2022.

Spent fuel (SF) produced in the nuclear industry, requires long term disposal solutions for 10⁵-10⁶ years, to allow its decay in an isolated setting as means to reduce the environmental threat of radioactive contamination. The feasibility of locating SF repository within a fractured carbonate formation as the host rock in the unsaturated zone, requires better understating of radionuclide transport patterns under these specific conditions. An innovative system was developed to simulate conditions of unsaturated flow and transport in fractured chalk. The system consists of an artificially fractured chalk core, situated in a flow cell, which lays on top of a ceramic membrane. The membrane separates it from a lower sealed cell where constant negative pressure is forced. Subsequently, a pressure gradient along the rock core is being developed. The system is placed on a scale in order to monitor the degree of saturation in the core throughout the experiment. Uranine fluorescent dye is used as a conservative tracer to investigate the impact of: (1) the initial degree of saturation; (2) fracture aperture; and (3) flow rate, on the transport and recovery of conservative contaminants. Preliminary results show that a conservative tracer migrates faster through the fracture when the matrix is initially nearly saturated (s=99%) than when the matrix is undersaturated (s=75%). These results will be used for comparison with radionuclide and radionuclide-simulants transport in current studies.

How to cite: Weisbrod, N., Roded, S., Klein-BenDavid, O., and Turkeltaub, T.: Solute migration through unsaturated fractured chalk under variations in saturation degree, flow rate and aperture, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6463, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6463, 2022.

Solute transport in unsaturated porous media plays a crucial role in environmental processes affecting soils, the unsaturated zone, and aquifers lying below. These processes include nutrient and pesticide leaching in soils, contaminant migration to aquifers and degradation in the vadose zone, and nutrient exchange at the soil-river interface, to name a few. Natural porous media are characterized by structural heterogeneity in the pore sizes disorder and their spatial arrangements. The impact of pore size heterogeneity on the spreading and mixing of a solute plume, and the resulting reaction rates, are not well understood for unsaturated flow. In addition, these processes can be affected by incomplete mixing at the pore scale. Thus, direct pore-scale experimental measurements are needed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the mixing state of the system. Our goals are to 1) study the impact of structural heterogeneity on fluid phase distributions and 2) establish how the arrangement of fluid phases impacts solute spreading and mixing. We use micromodel experiments with two-dimensional porous media. The samples are created by placing an array of circular posts in a Hele-Shaw-type flow cell. We vary the heterogeneity by controlling the circular posts’ diameters disorder and correlation length of their spatial distribution. In the first stage of each experiment, we simultaneously inject liquid and air to establish an unsaturated flow pattern with a connected liquid phase cluster. Then, we introduce a conservative fluorescent solute pulse with the moving liquid phase. We track the solute concentration and gradients’ evolution by taking periodic images of the flow cell and analyzing their fluorescence intensity. In addition to unsaturated flow experiments, our system allows us to study the impact of pore size disorder and correlation on solute mixing in saturated porous media and even directly quantifying fast reaction products’ concentrations. Initial results confirm previous findings on the impact of desaturation on enhanced mixing rates for a single porous medium geometry. In addition, our use of a continuous solute pulse highlights regions that maintain a high mixing rate at the interface between mobile and stagnant liquid phase parts. Ongoing experiments explore the impact of increasing pore size disorder and correlation length on fluid phase distributions and mixing rates.

How to cite: Borgman, O., Gomez, F., Le Borgne, T., and Méheust, Y.: Impact of structural heterogeneity on solute transport and mixing in unsaturated porous media: An experimental study, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10554, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10554, 2022.

Geodiversity encompasses the natural heterogeneity of geologic, topographic, and pedogenic systems. It determines biodiversity and dictates a range of ecosystem services. Specifically, since geodiversity regulates hydrological connectivity and soil properties, it affects the soil-water dynamics. This feature is particularly relevant for drylands, where primary productivity is predominantly determined by soil-water availability. We present results and insights obtained in a set of recent and ongoing studies in shrublands of the semi-arid Negev region of southern Israel, revealing that hillslope-scale geodiversity dictates the vitality of shrubs. The region has experienced consecutive droughts and a substantial precipitation decrease over the past two decades. In high-geodiversity hillslopes – defined with a thin (~ 0.1 m thickness) and stony calcic xerosol layer that lies on highly-weathered calcareous bedrocks – shrubs are abundant, with high species richness and high vitality. At the same time, in low-geodiversity hillslopes, defined with a thick soil layer (> 1 m thickness) and no stoniness, shrubs are very sparse and dominated by one species (Noaea mucronata (Forssk.) Asch. & Schweinf.), of which the majority have not survived the recent prolonged droughts. These studies show that hillslope-scale geodiversity alleviates the water stress imposed on the shrubs, improving their durability under long-term droughts and climate change.

A complementary study that is currently being implemented along an aridity gradient (semi-arid, arid, and hyper-arid regions) in southern Israel reveals the substantial impact livestock trampling routes (also known as treading paths, livestock terracettes, cattle trails, migration tracks, cowtours, etc.) have on patch-scale geodiversity, consequently affecting geo-ecosystem functioning. Specifically, the extremely compacted routes minimize rainwater infiltration, thus increasing runoff-rainfall ratio. The generated runoff flows downslope, where it accumulates in shrubby patches. Thus, the shrubs experience higher soil-water availability, and are more resilient to drought episodes and climatic changes. The effect of the trampling routes is further amplified by accentuating the hillslopes’ characteristic ‘step-like profile’, which reduces hydrological connectivity at the hillslope scale, thus minimizes runoff leakage from the system. 

Note: the study is funded by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), grant number 602/21.

How to cite: Stavi, I., Argaman, E., Basson, U., and Yizhaq, H.: Patch- to hillslope-scale geodiversity: Implications for durability of dryland ecosystems under climatic changes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-681, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-681, 2022.

Understanding and predicting water flow and solute transport at the subsurface are important for agronomical, hydrological, and environmental applications. Nevertheless, due to the heterogeneous nature of soils, those predictions are subject to significant uncertainties. Although stochastic approaches have been proposed to cope with soil heterogeneity, uncertainties in model predictions remain high due to data scarcity and lack of spatially continuous measurements. Geo-electrical methods have the potential to significantly reduce models' uncertainties due to their ability to provide continuous, extensive, and non-invasive information of the subsurface. At the core of these methods, the obtained subsurface's electrical conductivity can be translated to hydrological state-variables via site-specific hydro-electrical relations calibrated with lab or field data. However, due to soil's heterogeneity, the hydro-electrical relations can be scale-dependent.

This work studied the impact of soil's heterogeneity at the sub-core level on the effective hydro-electrical relations scale dependency. For that purpose, synthetic soil samples with various geostatistical parameters were generated. Constant capillary pressure was applied, and water saturation maps were obtained using a van-Genuchten model and the Leverett J-function for retention and retention scaling. The water saturation maps were transformed to soil's electrical conductivity by adopting Archie's law with assumed "intrinsic" parameters. An electrical current was injected, and the corresponding electric potential was calculated. The soil's effective electrical conductivities at different spatial scales were estimated, and new effective hydro-electrical relations were calibrated for each measurement scale.

This forward approach had shown that each soil structure has a unique signature on the effective hydro-electrical relations calibrated at different measurement scales. Following those observations, a novel stochastic inversion technique, based on an iterative Bayesian approach and Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling, was used to confine the soil's geostatistical properties. The proposed inversion technique was tested on three different scenarios: two synthetic cases with a known structure, and one real data case based on CT images of a two-phase CO₂ and brine injection at altering fractional flows. Results have shown that the proposed approach was capable of confining the soil's geostatistical parameters with high accuracy and a narrow distribution around the actual values that were tested, by calibrating the effective hydro-electrical properties at only three different measurements scales.

How to cite: Moreno, Z.: Inferring soils' heterogeneous structure via hydro-electrical measurements at altering spatial scales , EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1051, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1051, 2022.

Subsurface stormflow (SSF) is a direct subsurface response to a precipitation event, contributing to streamflow generation. SSF is thus all subsurface flow reaching the stream during an event, including near-stream saturation-excess overland flow triggered by SSF and return flow. Generally, SSF develops in vertically structured soils where the bedrock or a less permeable soil layer is overlaid by a permeable soil layer and vertically percolating water is, at least partially, deflected in a lateral downslope direction. SSF can also occur if groundwater levels rise into more permeable layers and water flows laterally to the stream. SSF is an elusive yet prevalent component of the runoff processes, often underestimated because a general understanding based on systematic studies across scales and sites is still lacking. However, only a standardized methodical procedure can allow us to advance our understanding by reveal general principles of SSF functioning and to provide protocols and best practices for its assessment, both experimentally and with respect to modeling. As part of this, identifying and characterizing the soil heterogeneity and the subsurface setting of the hydrologically relevant structures are among the major challenges on the way towards understanding SSF processes. These involve a high variability, presumably in combination with strongly organized patterns.

With this contribution, we introduce the research project “Non-invasive identification and characterization of the subsurface structures and their control on SSF processes”, part of the Research Unit “Fast and invisible: conquering subsurface stormflow through an interdisciplinary multi-site approach”, recently funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

This 4-years project addresses the current limitations in linking the experimental identification of subsurface structures to their numerical parameterization as required by numerical models working at larger scales. It builds on the integration of classical pedology for soil mapping and non-invasive geophysical imaging of the subsurface, and it will develop a workflow capable of accounting for such multi-source information, supported by emerging theoretical concepts for up-scaling the physical parameters to the larger domain. The systematic experimental setup provided by the Research Unit will give us the opportunity to test our approach at selected hillslopes in four highly instrumented catchments hence to evaluate the experimental results in a wider context. The subsurface characterization and derived parameterization will support various numerical models.

The major goal of the project is to develop an operational framework for identifying and characterizing the soil heterogeneity and the subsurface structures locally and to extrapolate the physical parameters of the subsurface to the catchment scale, and ultimately gain insights into the subsurface controls on SSF generation processes and their threshold behavior.

How to cite: Martini, E. and Hergarten, S.: Introducing the project “Non-invasive identification and characterization of the subsurface structures and their control on subsurface stormflow processes”, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4299, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4299, 2022.

Nowadays there is an increasing need to improve the irrigation and fertilizer efficiency of processing tomatoes in California’s Central Valley, because they represent a major crop in this area. For agronomical and research purposes, agricultural soils are generally monitored and sampled before, during and after the season in order to establish water and fertilizer balances. However, sub-surface drip irrigation and fertigation techniques increase the already heterogeneous water and nutrient distribution in the soil, making representative measurements a challenge. In addition, the crop water status is a proxy that needs to be assessed for evaluating the response of the crop to water management.

In this study, we coupled multiple methodologies, including electrical resistivity imaging, 2D Hydrus modeling and proximal sensing techniques, for detecting the soil water redistribution, and characterizing the relative crop water status, in a sub-surface drip irrigated processing tomato field. Specifically, soil electrical resistivity was measured by electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) in two transects during an irrigation event in parallel and perpendicular to the subsurface drip irrigation line. The time-lapse ERT transects were compared to matching 2D-HYDRUS hydrological models and the relative differences were explained by local heterogeneities in electrical resistivity and water content changes. Water contents, measured with neutron probe and TDR techniques, were compared to the changes in resistivity during the irrigation event and the heterogeneity in the different root-zone locations described. In addition, surface temperature measured using infrared thermal thermometer (IRT) showed correlations with the ERT soil resistivity changes.

In this study, a combination between multi-dimensional soil modeling and minimally invasive techniques (geophysical and IRT) has provided specific information on local water distribution and its interaction with root water uptake. This analysis will be used to enrich TDR-measured water contents and 2D modeling of root zone soil water dynamics of processing tomatoes during the rest of the season when spatially distributed ERT data is not available.

How to cite: Raij Hoffman, I., Vanella, D., Ramirez Cuesta, J. M., Lennon, W., Harter, T., and Kisekka, I.: Detecting soil water distribution in subsurface irrigated tomato crops by coupling electrical resistivity imaging, 2D Hydrus modeling and proximal sensing techniques, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6417, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6417, 2022.

For an efficient integration of renewable energies, many transmission lines of the electrical power grid have to be extended or newly built. Besides the common overhead transmission lines, an increasing proportion of these grid expansions is conducted using underground power cables.

During the operation of buried cable systems, the mechanical and thermal properties of the cable’s surroundings need to meet certain requirements. To avoid insulation faults in the cables due to overheating, the ampacity is limited by specific conductor temperatures and the thermal energy resulting from the electric losses during transmission needs to be reliably dissipated. Thus, the actual performance of a buried power cable system depends strongly on the thermal properties of the cable bedding materials and soil.

In practice, buried power cable lines typically require the use of cable trenches. The pre-existing soil from the cable trench is usually replaced by sand or artificial fluidized backfill materials with well-known material properties, which may differ from the properties of the surrounding soil. Thus, heterogeneous structures are created in the shallow subsurface, which affect the heat and water transport around the power cables. With an installation depth of 0.5 - 2.5 m, the cables are typically located in the vadose zone, where the thermal properties of the bedding are affected by the varying water content by up to one order of magnitude. Therefore, precise knowledge of the influence of size and geometry of the cable trench on the water distribution around the cable is crucial for an adequate assessment of the cable’s ampacity ratings.

Within the scope of our research, the influence of cable trench geometry and size on heat and mass transfer around buried power cables were investigated with a coupled approach of laboratory experiments and numerical modeling.

How to cite: Schmid, M., Pham, H., Schedel, M., and Sass, I.: Investigation of Different Trench Geometries for Optimized Bedding of Buried Power Cables, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7569, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7569, 2022.

Laterite terrain overlying the charnockite bedrock system exhibits greater lateral movement of water as compared to its vertical infiltration into the soil profile due to partial water block. Furthermore, the topographic conditions in such areas play a crucial role in the movement of soil water. The variation in the precipitation pattern, increasing population and urbanization has contributed in reducing the infiltration opportunity time for rainwater. The present study was carried out at Malappuram district of Kerala in India. Though, the study area receives an average annual rainfall of 3 m, yet experiences high baseline water stress during post monsoon season. The research study involves analysis of lateral flow from three different soil profile depths i.e. 0-0.4 m, 0.4-0.8 m and 0.8-1.2 m under two different water inducement techniques. Lateral flow monitoring was carried out in two different experimental set ups in two different sites under simulated rainfall conditions and line source of water application. Variation in the lateral flow was assessed using capacitance based sensors which were calibrated and installed at all the three respective soil profile depths. The study revealed that though the infiltration capacity of laterite soil is quite high but, the major portion of infiltrated water moved as lateral flow without contributing to the groundwater table. It was found that of the total water applied as simulated rainfall about, 10 % accounted as lateral flow from a soil profile depth of 1.2 m. During line source application of water, out of the total lateral flow recorded, the soil profile depths of 0-0.4 m, 0.4-0.8 m and 0.8-1.2 m contributed portions of 52.3 %, 43.78 % and 3.8 % as lateral flow. It was found from the study that the soil physical properties including bulk density, effective porosity and soil texture governed lateral flow in the study area. Thus, the research study emphasizes on enhancing preferential flow in vertical direction through deep rooted flora in the study area.  

How to cite: Narayanan, J.: Lateral flow assessment in laterite terrain for better interventions in sustainable groundwater management, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7015, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7015, 2022.