The effects of infiltrometer type and water application rate on infilt
ration were studied for a crust-forming soil at the University of Jord
an Research Station near Al-Muwaqqar village. The total amount of wate
r applied in all cases was 38 mm. The highest infiltration rate values
occurred in basin infiltrometers followed by sprinkler and furrow inf
iltrometers. The infiltration rate at the end of water application dec
reased significantly by 41-57% with decreasing application rate from 2
8.4 to 6.2 mm/h regardless of infiltrometer type. Increasing the initi
al soil oar moisture content decreased the infiltration rate by about
4-11% in all infiltrometer types and application rates. In the basin i
nfiltrometer, lateral water movement occurred all around the basin bor
ders, thus increasing the measured basic infiltration rate. In the fur
row infiltrometer, the for formation of a sedimentary crust on the fur
row bottom reduced the basic water infiltration rate to 3.6 mm/h. The
wetted zone formed with the sprinkler infiltrometer reduced lateral wa
ter movement, and the measured basic infiltration rate was close to th
e basic infiltration rate measured by the double-ring infiltrometer. T
he measurements were used to establish infiltration rate curves and eq
uations. In a second experiment, the Stirk correction significantly re
duced the water lateral divergence factor by 27.1% in single-ring infi
ltrometers. The Stirk correction factor was different in single- and d
ouble-ring infiltrometers. Thus, the basic infiltration rate was 4.8 a
nd 3.5 mm/h using the single and the double infiltrometers, respective
ly, while the corresponding correction factors were 0.67 and 0.91, res
pectively. The corrected infiltration rate was only 3.2 mm/h, which co
nfirms the tendency of these crusted soils to generate huge runoff at
even small application rates.