Soil sealing and crusting effects on infiltration rate: a critical review of shortfalls in prediction models and solutions

Abstract

Soil sealing and crusting is a common feature in most arid and semi-arid soils with severe agricultural and environmental implications. One of the main effects of soil sealing and crusting is a marked reduction in hydraulic conductivity and infiltration rate (IR), which triggers run-off and erosion. However, measurement of crust IR in the field is cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive. The extremely dynamic nature of processes involved in crusting and crust characteristics makes it very difficult to measure and predict infiltration. Resultantly, many researches aimed at identifying alternative indices of soil sealing and crusting or at improving the methods used to measure IR on crusted soils directly or indirectly have been conducted. Of particular importance is the use of models developed for estimating IR and hydraulic conductivity, but most of them do not account for the presence of a crust layer and therefore fall short on crusted soils. These methods and in particular models and their suitability in estimating IRs on crusted soils are discussed in this article. Trends and perspectives, gaps and conflicts relating to soil sealing and crusting effects on infiltration are also described.

Keywords:

• aggregate breakdown
• Green-Ampt
• hydraulic conductivity
• infiltration models

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Govan Mbeki Centre for Research and Development of the University of Fort Hare through postdoctoral grant to the first author.