Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2010KY145B

Estimating impacts of land use and management on soil water and solute transport

Institute: Kentucky
Year Established: 2010 Start Date: 2010-03-01 End Date: 2011-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,000

Principal Investigators: Mark Coyne

Abstract: This field-based project will be performed at the University of Kentucky Research farm (Spindletop) in Fayette County. The intent is to evaluate the immediate impact of changing land use and management on soil water and solute transport. The specific objectives are to estimate the change in soil water fluxes immediately after land use change, to evaluate the effects of changing soil use and management on ground water recharge and discharge, and to use these data to simulate the long term impacts on soil water and solute transport using Hydrus-1D. Several hydraulic and physical soil properties will be evaluated: texture, bulk density, soil porosity, soil moisture content, saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, and water infiltration and percolation. These soil properties will be used for evaluating solute transport, ground water recharge and discharge, and for water balance model simulations for cropland and pastures.