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Mayr and Jarvis (1999) modified Brooks-Corey water-retention parameter PTFs.

Source

Mayr, T., & Jarvis, N. J. (1999). Pedotransfer functions to estimate soil water retention parameters for a modified Brooks-Corey type model. Geoderma, 91(1-2), 1-9.

DOI: 10.1016/S0016-7061(98)00129-3

Scope

Territory: England and Wales

Dataset: Soil Survey and Land Research Centre soil physical properties database; regressions used 286 soil horizons retained from a 306-horizon subset after excluding fits with RMSE greater than 0.05 m^3/m^3, and validation used 1678 independent soil horizons.

Functions

calc_ptf_mayr1999

Estimate modified Brooks-Corey a, b, and saturated water content from texture, bulk density, and organic carbon.

Status: implemented

Prediction target: Hutson-Cass modified Brooks-Corey water-retention parameters a, b, and saturated volumetric water content.

Models: \(h(\theta)\) — Hutson-Cass modified Brooks-Corey water-retention model

Inputs

Name Type Unit Domain Description
sand number % 0 <= value <= 100 Sand content for particles 0.063-2.0 mm.
silt number % 0 <= value <= 100 Silt content for particles 0.002-0.063 mm.
clay number % 0 <= value <= 100 Clay content for particles 0-0.002 mm.
bulk_density number g/cm^3 value >= 0.9 Dry bulk density; the paper excludes application below 0.9 g/cm^3.
organic_carbon number % 0 <= value <= 5 Organic carbon content; the paper excludes application above 5%.

Outputs

Name Unit Domain Description
a_hc cm H2O value > 0 Hutson-Cass fitting parameter with pressure-head dimensions.
b_hc dimensionless value > 0 Hutson-Cass fitting parameter controlling retention-curve shape.
theta_s m^3/m^3 0 <= value <= 1 Volumetric soil water content at saturation.

Note

The particle-size inputs use the UK size boundaries stated by the paper; sand, silt, and clay are percentages.

Note

The source reports r^2 values of 0.34 for log(a), 0.74 for log(1/b), and 0.84 for theta_s.

Note

Human review resolved the source's unspecified log base as base 10; the implementation therefore interprets log(a) and log(1/b) as log10 values.

Warning

Do not apply the functions to organic soils with organic carbon above 5% or soils with dry bulk density below 0.9 g/cm^3.

Warning

Treat application outside the calibration particle-size distribution with great care; the paper provides that distribution only graphically.