Infiltration Characteristics of Some Inceptisols

Infiltration characteristics of clay, clay loam and sandy loam soils of the central Gujarat region have been evaluated. Due to the presence of deep cracks, the clay and the clay loam soils had high initial infiltration rates (2.933 X 10⁻⁴ and 3.350 x 10⁻⁴m s⁻¹) but the steady state infiltration rate reached after 328 minutes were 1.666 x 10⁻⁶ and 5.0 x 10⁻⁶ m s⁻¹ for clay and clay loam soils, respectively. While sandy loam soil had higher rates of 1.333 x 10⁻⁵ m s⁻¹. Cumulative infiltration for these soils after 328 minutes were 0.332, 0526 and 1.098 m for clay, clay loam and sandy loam soil, respectively. Wetting front movement was least in clay soil, highest in sandy loam soil and intermediate in clay loam soil being 0.68, 2.91 and 1.12 m, respectively after 540 minutes. The model I =at α + β for cumulative infiltration and i = a^α t^{α - 1} for infiltration rate based on empirical parameters wasfound to satisfactorily predict cumulative infiltration and infiltration rate for the three soils. This model is very much similar to Philip, Kostiakov and modifled Kostiakov models.