Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ESTIMATING SOIL CHARACTERISTICS AND MODELING WATER MOVEMENT UNDER SPRINKLER IRRIGATION SYSTEM USING HYDRUS -1D

Ebrahim Afiat Doust and Amirpouya Sarraf

Abstract

Soil and water resources are of great importance to the mankind. As the world population grows and increasing incidences of pollution of soil and groundwater are discovered, prudent management and protection of these resources becomes increasingly important. Most subsurface pollution problems stem from activities involving the unsaturated zone between the soil surface and the groundwater table. As natural systems are extraordinarily complicated and the understanding and management of these resources cannot be accomplished effectively using heuristic means, mathematical modelling has played a critical role in the investigation and management of soil and water resources for the last three decades. In the present study, how water moves in soils under the sprinkler irrigation system has been considered by using HYDRUS-1D model. According to preliminary soil and water information, soil physical and experimental parameters, cumulative amounts of input flow in upstream, Cumulative amounts absorbed by the roots and values of the cumulative output flow in downstream, have been estimated. Suction changes, moisture, hydraulic conductivity and flow depth at different times during the simulation have been determined by HYDRUS-1D Software modeling. Consequently, the soil moisture characteristics curve and Suction relationship with hydraulic conductivity related to the under studied soil in order to soil management for future experiences are also determined and their mentioned graphs are presented and shown.