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Title: Soil Structure and Soil Hydrologic Functioning: A Hydropedological Framework

Author
item Pachepsky, Yakov
item GIMENEZ, DANIEL - RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
item LILLY, ALLAN - MACAULAY INST.,SCOTLAND
item NEMES, ATTILA - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/27/2008
Publication Date: 7/28/2008
Citation: Pachepsky, Y.A., Gimenez, D., Lilly, A., Nemes, A. 2008. Soil Structure and Soil Hydrologic Functioning: A Hydropedological Framework. International Hydropedology Conference, Penn State, University Park, PA, July 28-31, 2008.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Studies of relationships between structure and function are ubiquitous and proven to be useful. In most cases, such studies are multidisciplinary. The purpose of this talk is to illustrate the thesis that the emergence of the hydropedology as the interdisciplinary science creates an excellent opportunity to focus on and benefit from structure-function studies in hydrology of the Earth critical zone. The soil hydrologic functions and their parameterization are scale specific. Status and perspectives will be reviewed for revealing relationships between hydrologic functions of soils and soil structure at the aggregate/ped scale, the horizon/pedon scale, field/hillslope scale, and at the watershed/basin scale. The case will be made for the search of a small number of informative structural parameters to be related to hydrologic parameters at different scales. Addressing soil hydrologic functioning at societally important scales can be achieved by using and fusing data from geophysical, biophysical, and remote sensing methods, developing pedotransfer relationships, and applying concurrently different conceptual and pedotransfer models. Relationships between soil structure and soil hydrologic functions at different scales can be viewed as one of trademarks of hydropedology that can make it a desirable development for its parent disciplines and a timely response to the mounting challenges to sustainability of soil and water resources.