Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

The role of vegetation in barriers and the prediction of soil water dynamics

Conference · · Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States)
OSTI ID:7163776
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States)
The Hanford Barrier Program was developed to design an earthen cover system to inhibit water infiltration, plant and animal intrusion, and wind and water erosion. Plants have a significant role in barrier function. Lysimeter studies indicate that a surface layer of fine soil with deep-rooted plants precludes drainage even with three times normal precipitation. Two simulation models, Soil Water Infiltration and Movement (SWIM) and Simulation of Production and Utilization of Rangelands (SPUR-91) were compared for their ability to predict soil water storage dynamics with and without plants in weighing lysimeters: These models adequately predicted soil water storage dynamics for the weighing lysimeters. The range of room mean square error values for the two models was 7.0 to 19.8.
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
7163776
Report Number(s):
CONF-940894--
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States) Journal Volume: 75:2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English