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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Water Management and Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #314616
Title: Hydropedology – The last decade and the next decade

Author
item LIN, HENRY - Pennsylvania State University
item DROHAN, PATRICK - Pennsylvania State University
item Green, Timothy

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/21/2015
Publication Date: 3/13/2015
Citation: Lin, H., Drohan, P., Green, T.R. 2015. Hydropedology – The last decade and the next decade. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 79(2), 357-361. 2015.

Interpretive Summary: Hydropedology is an emerging interdisciplinary science that studies interactive pedologic (soil formation and development) and hydrologic processes and properties in the Earth’s Critical Zone. It emphasizes soils in the landscape, where distinct pedogenic features, environmental variables, and anthropogenic impacts interact and dictate the fluxes and pathways of energy and mass flow in the landscape. Considerable synergies are expected through bridging pedology with soil physics, hydrology, and other related biogeosciences to enhance the integrated understanding of soil-water-landscape-ecosystem relationships. This special section of the Soil Science Society of America Journal is derived from the symposium entitled, Hydropedology – 10 Years in the Past and 10 Years into the Future, held in 2013 at Tampa, FL. Eight peer-reviewed papers in this special section highlight the breadth and depth of current hydropedology research and applications. The core messages of these accepted papers illustrate intimate connections between soil and hydrologic processes in diverse landscapes.

Technical Abstract: Hydropedology is an emerging interdisciplinary science that studies interactive pedologic and hydrologic processes and properties in the Earth’s Critical Zone. It emphasizes in-situ soils in the landscape, where distinct pedogenic features (e.g., structure, macropore, and horizonation), environmental variables (e.g., climate, landforms, and organisms), and anthropogenic impacts (e.g., land use and management) interact and dictate the fluxes and pathways of energy and mass flow in the landscape. Considerable synergies are expected through bridging pedology with soil physics, hydrology, and other related biogeosciences to enhance the integrated understanding of soil-water-landscape-ecosystem relationships. There are two fundamental questions of hydropedology: 1) How does soil architecture (ranging from soil pore to landscape scales) control the partitioning of hydrologic fluxes (and related biogeochemical and ecological functions) in diverse and heterogeneous landscapes? 2) How does landscape hydrology (and associated transport of energy and mass) influence soil genesis, variability, and function across space and time? This special section of the Soil Science Society of America Journal is derived from the symposium, Hydropedology – 10 Years in the Past and 10 Years into the Future, held at the 2013 international annual meetings of the Tri-Societies (Soil-Agronomy-Crop Sciences) in Tampa, FL. Eight peer-reviewed papers in this special section highlight the breadth and depth of current hydropedology research and applications. The core messages of these accepted papers illustrate intimate connections between soil and hydrologic processes in diverse landscapes.