Near-saturated hydraulic conductivity and water retention in coarse podzolprofiles

There is little information available about the hydraulic conductivity of c oarse podzol profiles where the vertical variation of the structure is cons iderable. The near-saturated conductivity of two coarse podzol profiles was measured by tension infiltrometer. The extrapolated saturated conductivity was 106.9 cm h(-1) in the very coarse sand and 16.7 cm h(-1) in the medium coarse sand parent soil, and decreased steadily upward, being between 0.7 and 1.3 cm h(-1) in the two top horizons of these profiles. The unsaturated conductivities measured by the instantaneous profile method were in good a ccordance with the results of the tension infiltrometer, but the measuremen t range of the instantaneous profile method was rather narrow. The near-sat urated hydraulic conductivity and water retention changed in both profiles in a systematic way, which agrees with the differences in matrix scale of s tructure as reflected in the measured soil textural and pedogenic propertie s.