Soil-water behaviour of sandy soils under semi-arid conditions in the Duero Basin (Spain)

This paper examines the soil-water behaviour of sandy soils representative of a broad area in the Duero river basin (Spain), with semi-arid bioclimatic characteristics. Soil-moisture measurements of the first 25 cm of soil profile were taken using time domain reflectometry (TDR) methodology. The infiltration process was studied by means of field experiments combining rainfall simulations and TDR techniques. Finally, a set of hydrodynamic variables was calculated in the laboratory (i.e. available soil-water content, soil-water-retention curves and hydraulic conductivity). The average available soil-water content is 0•07 cm3 cm−3, in accordance with the predominance of the sandy textural fraction ( 85%). The rainfall simulation experiments show that infiltration prevails over overland flow, with a steady-state infiltration rate higher than rainfall application (40mmh−1) in most cases; a low water-retention capacity was also observed. The evolution of soil-moisture over time indicates a close dependence on intra-annual rainfall variability due to the low water-retention capacity of sandy soils. With a maximum water-storage capacity of around 0•18 cm3 cm−3, the soils studied show high sensitivity to dry spells and may remain with <50% of the available soil-water content for several months during the year.