THE INFLUENCE OF PEATS BOTANICAL COMPOSITION ON THEIR MOISTURE RETENTION

摘要

Soil moisture retention data are basic physical properties in many soil water flow studies. The main objective of this paper is to determine statistical relationship between parameters of the van Genuchten's model, which describes pF curve and basic fen peat soil properties. Water retention data of fen peat soils from the Biebrza River Valley located in North - East part of Poland were investigated. The undisturbed soil samples from 19 layers of seven representative peat soil profiles were collected. Soil water retention characteristics were measured in the laboratory using standard sand table and pressure chambers methods. For all investigated soil samples the basic physical properties represented by dry bulk density and botanical composition were measured. The obtained retention data were used to the van Genuchten's analytical model and all required parameters were optimised. The statistical relationship between parameters of the van Genuchten's model and soil properties were determined using multiple linear regression. The obtained results showed that the model parameters depend on peat bulk density and botanical composition.