| Percolation passage of a liquid
through a porous body. In pedology, downward movement through soil
of the water from rainfall or irrigation
and the substances carried by it. Field data on the Ganges River Floodplain
show that percolation rates of medium textured soils vary between 0.2
and 2 cm per hour, and those of silty clay and clay soils between 1 and
8 cm per hour.
The low rates in medium textured soils are attributed
to the ease with which silty topsoils slake when wetted. The high rates
measured in some clay soils are attributed to surface cracking and strong
structural development in lower soil layers. The low rates for medium
textured soils probably hold true for medium textured soils on other floodplains
and for many cultivated terrace soils (forested terrace soils may have
much higher infiltration rates). The high rates measured for clay soils
on the Ganges River Floodplain may be higher than those occurring in basin
clays on other floodplains where the soils have less pronounced shrink-swell
properties.
[Md Khurshid Alam]
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