End of Project ReportSoil moisture tension was monitored, for three years, at three sites
representing different natural soil drainage classes that were defined
morphologically.
The soils comprised:
• Gley, poorly drained, loam
• Brown Earth, well drained, loam
• Brown Earth, somewhat excessively drained, sandy loam.
The main features of the moisture regime were:
• Average annual soil water tension was analogous to the
natural drainage classification and followed the sequence:
somewhat excessively drained > well drained > poorly drained.
• Some horizons that lacked visible evidence of reduction, in the
subsoil of the Brown Earths, were saturated for long periods.
• The Brown Earths were unsaturated, at 15 cm depth,
throughout the three-year period.
• The Gley was saturated at 15 cm depth for up to nearly four
months per year.
This implies that the risk of overland flow, due to saturation excess,
differs among soil types. The risk is probably significant on Gleys,
which occupy 25 percent of the land area; it is probably small or
negligible on Brown Earths and analogous soils, which comprise over
forty percent and account for virtually all of the intensive agriculture in
the country.European Union Structural Funding (EAGGF
