Comparative Study of Infiltration in Soils under Forest Cover and Agriculture in Temperate Climate

Abstract

Under both the condition of this study, the forest land has higher initial infiltration rates of 46.8 cm/hr and 5 cm/hr and final infiltration rates of .1 cm/hr in 150 mts and .1 cm/hr in 120 mts from forest areas as compared to .1 cm/hr in 60 mts ond 0 cm/hr in 20 mts from agricultural land after snow removal and snow melt respectively, due to thick layer of humus(10 cm) beneath the forest cover; higher organic matter (7.27%), higher moisture equivalent (29.87%), higher pore space (61.60%) and hIgher water balding capacity (60.26%) forest soils hafe resulted in higher infiltration rates in comparison to the agritultural soils, with no humus, low organic matter content (2.68%), lower moistnre equivalent (29.8%), lesser pore space (56.6%) and lower water holding capacity (46.88%).