Using soil physical properties to estimate hydraulic conductivity [Wisconsin]

The easily measured soil properties strongly correlated with the hydraulic conductivity of a particular soil type were identified. A simple empirical equation for calculating the soil water potential from selected nonhydraulic soil properties was developed. For the coarse-textured soil, there were several physical properties which correlated significantly with measured values of the soil water potential. A prediction equation, based only on the percentage of sand in the horizon, adequately described the soil water potential curve for each site. The equation appeared to be applicable to other similar soils but not to finer soils.