J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 205 - 208, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0036
Information, English

Massimo Iovino, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Vincenzo Bagarello, Horst H. Gerke, Jay Jabro, Laurent Lassabatere: Thematic Issue on Soil Water Infiltration

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• Data not available
  
  KEY WORDS: Data not available
  
  Address:
  - Massimo Iovino, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
  - Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Université de Lyon, UMR5023 Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés, CNRS, ENTPE, Université Lyon 1, 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France.
  - Vincenzo Bagarello, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
  - Horst H. Gerke, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Institute of Soil Landscape Research, Müncheberg, Brandenburg, Germany.
  - Jay Jabro, Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab., United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Sidney, Montana, USA.
  - Laurent Lassabatere, Université de Lyon, UMR5023 Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés, CNRS, ENTPE, Université Lyon 1, 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 209 - 221, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0004
Scientific Paper, English

Erij Ben Slimene, Laurent Lassabatere, Jiří Šimůnek, Thierry Winiarski, Remy Gourdon: The role of heterogeneous lithology in a glaciofluvial deposit on unsaturated preferential flow – a numerical study

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• An understanding of preferential flow in the vadose zone is crucial for the prediction of the fate of pollutants. Infiltration basins, developed to mitigate the adverse effects of impervious surfaces in urban areas, are established above strongly heterogeneous and highly permeable deposits and thus are prone to preferential flow and enhanced pollutant transport. This study numerically investigates the establishment of preferential flow in an infiltration basin in the Lyon suburbs (France) established over a highly heterogeneous glaciofluvial deposit covering much of the Lyon region. An investigation of the soil transect (13.5 m long and 2.5 m deep) provided full characterization of lithology and hydraulic properties of present lithofacies. Numerical modeling with the HYDRUS-2D model of water flow in the transect was used to identify the effects of individual lithofacies that constitute the deposit. Multiple scenarios that considered different levels of heterogeneity were evaluated. Preferential flow was studied for several values of infiltration rates applied after a long dry period. The numerical study shows that the high contrast in hydraulic properties of different lithofacies triggers the establishment of preferential flow (capillary barriers and funneled flow). Preferential flow develops mainly for low water fluxes imposed at the surface. The role of individual lithofacies in triggering preferential flow depends on their shapes (layering versus inclusions) and their sizes. While lenses and inclusions produce preferential flow pathways, the presence of the surface layer has no effect on the development of preferential flow and it only affects the effective hydraulic conductivity of the heterogeneous transect.
  
  KEY WORDS: Preferential flow; Heterogeneity; Lithology; Numerical modeling; Soil hydraulic properties; Boundary conditions; HYDRUS-2D.
  
  Address:
  - Erij Ben Slimene, Université de Lyon, Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés, LEHNA, UMR 5023 CNRS, ENTPE, UCB-Lyon-1, Rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France.
  - Laurent Lassabatere, Université de Lyon, Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés, LEHNA, UMR 5023 CNRS, ENTPE, UCB-Lyon-1, Rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: laurent.lassabatere@entpe.fr)
  - Jiří Šimůnek, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
  - Thierry Winiarski, Université de Lyon, Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés, LEHNA, UMR 5023 CNRS, ENTPE, UCB-Lyon-1, Rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France.
  - Remy Gourdon, Université de Lyon, INSA-Lyon, LGCIE-DEEP, 20 Av. Albert Einstein, F-69621 Villeurbanne cedex, France.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 222 - 233, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0010
Scientific Paper, English

Sébastien Loizeau, Yvan Rossier, Jean-Paul Gaudet, Aurore Refloch, Katia Besnard, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Laurent Lassabatere: Water infiltration in an aquifer recharge basin affected by temperature and air entrapment

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• Artificial basins are used to recharge groundwater and protect water pumping fields. In these basins, infiltration rates are monitored to detect any decrease in water infiltration in relation with clogging. However, miss-estimations of infiltration rate may result from neglecting the effects of water temperature change and air-entrapment. This study aims to investigate the effect of temperature and air entrapment on water infiltration at the basin scale by conducting successive infiltration cycles in an experimental basin of 11869 m2 in a pumping field at Crepieux-Charmy (Lyon, France). A first experiment, conducted in summer 2011, showed a strong increase in infiltration rate; which was linked to a potential increase in ground water temperature or a potential dissolution of air entrapped at the beginning of the infiltration. A second experiment was conducted in summer, to inject cold water instead of warm water, and also revealed an increase in infiltration rate. This increase was linked to air dissolution in the soil. A final experiment was conducted in spring with no temperature contrast and no entrapped air (soil initially water-saturated), revealing a constant infiltration rate. Modeling and analysis of experiments revealed that air entrapment and cold water temperature in the soil could substantially reduce infiltration rate over the first infiltration cycles, with respective effects of similar magnitude. Clearly, both water temperature change and air entrapment must be considered for an accurate assessment of the infiltration rate in basins.
  
  KEY WORDS: Aquifer recharge; Unsaturated/saturated modeling; Infiltration test; Air entrapment; Temperature dependence.
  
  Address:
  - Sébastien Loizeau, Université de Grenoble, LTHE UMR5564 Laboratoire d'étude des Transferts en Hydrologie et Environnement, Grenoble 1, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble-INP, BP53 38041 Grenoble Cedex 09, France. Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, 10 rue Jacques Daguerre, 92500 Rueil-Malmaison, France.
  - Yvan Rossier, Université de Grenoble, LTHE UMR5564 Laboratoire d'étude des Transferts en Hydrologie et Environnement, Grenoble 1, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble-INP, BP53 38041 Grenoble Cedex 09, France.
  - Jean-Paul Gaudet, Université de Grenoble, LTHE UMR5564 Laboratoire d'étude des Transferts en Hydrologie et Environnement, Grenoble 1, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble-INP, BP53 38041 Grenoble Cedex 09, France.
  - Aurore Refloch, Université de Grenoble, LTHE UMR5564 Laboratoire d'étude des Transferts en Hydrologie et Environnement, Grenoble 1, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble-INP, BP53 38041 Grenoble Cedex 09, France.
  - Katia Besnard, Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, 10 rue Jacques Daguerre, 92500 Rueil-Malmaison, France.
  - Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Université de Lyon, LEHNA UMR5023 Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés, Université Lyon 1, ENTPE, CNRS, INRA, Campus de Vaulx-en-Velin, 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France.
  - Laurent Lassabatere, Université de Lyon, LEHNA UMR5023 Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés, Université Lyon 1, ENTPE, CNRS, INRA, Campus de Vaulx-en-Velin, 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France. (Corresponding author. Tel.:+33 6 71 83 87 21 Fax.: Email: laurent.lassabatere@entpe.fr)

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 234 - 243, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0029
Scientific Paper, English

Martina Sobotková, Michal Sněhota, Eva Budínová, Miroslav Tesař: Isothermal and non-isothermal infiltration and deuterium transport: a case study in a soil column from a headwater catchment

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• Isothermal and non-isothermal infiltration experiments with tracer breakthrough were carried out in the laboratory on one intact column (18.9 cm in diameter, 25 cm in height) of sandy loam soil. For the isothermal experiment, the temperature of the infiltrating water was 20°C to the initial temperature of the sample. For the two non-isothermal experiments water temperature was set at 8°C and 6°C, while the initial temperature of the sample was 22°C. The experiments were conducted under the same initial and boundary conditions. Pressure heads and temperatures were monitored in two depths (8.8 and 15.3 cm) inside the soil sample. Two additional temperature sensors monitored the entering and leaving temperatures of the water. Water drained freely through the perforated plate at the bottom of the sample by gravity and outflow was measured using a tipping bucket flowmeter. The permeability of the sample calculated for steady state stages of the experiment showed that the significant difference between water flow rates recorded during the two experiments could not only be justified by temperature induced changes of the water viscosity and density. The observed data points of the breakthrough curve were successfully fitted using the two-region physical non-equilibrium model. The results of the breakthrough curves showed similar asymmetric shapes under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions.
  
  KEY WORDS: Isothermal infiltration; Non-isothermal infiltration; Column leaching; Breakthrough curve; Deuterium; Viscosity; Capillary trapping; Entrapped air; Permeability.
  
  Address:
  - Martina Sobotková, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Drainage and Landscape Engineering, Thákurova 7, Prague 6, 166 29, Czech Republic. (Corresponding author. Tel.:+420 224354775 Fax.: Email: martina.sobotkova@fsv.cvut.cz)
  - Michal Sněhota, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Drainage and Landscape Engineering, Thákurova 7, Prague 6, 166 29, Czech Republic. Czech Technical University in Prague, University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings, Třinecká 1024, Buštěhrad, 273 43, Czech Republic.
  - Eva Budínová, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Drainage and Landscape Engineering, Thákurova 7, Prague 6, 166 29, Czech Republic.
  - Miroslav Tesař, Institute of Hydrodynamics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Pod Paťankou 30/5, 166 12 Prague 6, Czech Republic.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 244 - 253, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0015
Scientific Paper, English

Jana Votrubova, Michal Dohnal, Tomas Vogel, Miroslav Tesar, Vladimira Jelinkova, Milena Cislerova: Ponded infiltration in a grid of permanent single-ring infiltrometers: Spatial versus temporal variability

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• Temporal variability of the soil hydraulic properties is still an open issue. The present study deals with results of ponded infiltration experiments performed annually in a grid of permanent measurement points (18 spatial and 14 temporal replicates). Single ring infiltrometers were installed in 2003 at a meadow site in the Bohemian Forest highlands, the Czech Republic. The soil at the plot is coarse sandy loam classified as oligotrophic Eutric Cambisol. Soil water flow below infiltration rings has distinctly preferential character. The results are marked with substantial interannual changes of observed infiltration rates. Considering just the results from the initial four years of the study, the temporal variability did not exceed the spatial variability detected in individual years. In later years, a shift to extremely high infiltration rates was observed. We hypothesize that it is related to structural changes of the soil profile possibly related to combined effect of soil biota activity, climatic conditions and experimental procedure. Interestingly, the temporal changes can partly be described as fluctuations between seemingly stable infiltration modes. This phenomenon was detected in the majority of rings and was found independent of the initial soil moisture conditions.
  
  KEY WORDS: Soil infiltrability; Infiltration instability; Infiltration modes; Burrowing animals; Preferential flow.
  
  Address:
  - Jana Votrubova, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic. (Corresponding author. Tel.:+420 22435 4355 Fax.: Email: jana.votrubova@fsv.cvut.cz)
  - Michal Dohnal, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
  - Tomas Vogel, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
  - Miroslav Tesar, Institute of Hydrodynamics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Pod Paťankou 5, 166 12 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
  - Vladimira Jelinkova, Czech Technical University in Prague, University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings, Třinecká 1024, 273 43 Buštěhrad, Czech Republic.
  - Milena Cislerova, Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 254 - 263, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0009
Scientific Paper, English

Vincenzo Alagna, Massimo Iovino, Vincenzo Bagarello, Jorge Mataix-Solera, Ľubomír Lichner: Application of minidisk infiltrometer to estimate water repellency in Mediterranean pine forest soils

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• Assessment of soil water repellency (SWR) was conducted in the decomposed organic floor layer (duff) and in the mineral soil layer of two Mediterranean pine forests, one in Italy and the other in Spain, by the widely-used water drop penetration time (WDPT) test and alternative indices derived from infiltration experiments carried out by the minidisk infiltrometer (MDI). In particular, the repellency index (RI) was calculated as the adjusted ratio between ethanol and water soil sorptivities whereas the water repellency cessation time (WRCT) and the specifically proposed modified repellency index (RIm) were derived from the hydrophobic and wettable stages of a single water infiltration experiment. Time evolution of SWR and vegetation cover influence was also investigated at the Italian site. All indices unanimously detected severe SWR conditions in the duff of the pine forests. The mineral subsoils in the two forests showed different wettability and the clay-loam subsoil at Ciavolo forest was hydrophobic even if characterized by organic matter (OM) content similar to the wettable soil of an adjacent glade. It was therefore assumed that the composition rather than the total amount of OM influenced SWR. The hydraulic conductivity of the duff differed by a factor of 3.8– 5.8 between the two forested sites thus influencing the vertical extent of SWR. Indeed, the mineral subsoil of Javea showed wettable or weak hydrophobic conditions probably because leaching of hydrophobic compounds was slowed or prevented at all. Estimations of SWR according to the different indices were in general agreement even if some discrepancies were observed. In particular, at low hydrophobicity levels the SWR indices gathered from the MDI tests were able to signal sub-critical SWR conditions that were not detected by the traditional WDPT index. The WRCT and modified repellency index RIm yielded SWR estimates in reasonable agreement with those obtained with the more cumbersome RI test and, therefore, can be proposed as alternative procedures for SWR assessment.
  
  KEY WORDS: Pine forest; Soil water repellency; Minidisk infiltrometer; Modified repellency index.
  
  Address:
  - Vincenzo Alagna, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 4 Ingr. E, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
  - Massimo Iovino, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 4 Ingr. E, 90128 Palermo, Italy. (Corresponding author. Tel.:+39 091 23897070 Fax.: +39 091 484035 Email: massimo.iovino@unipa.it)
  - Vincenzo Bagarello, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 4 Ingr. E, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
  - Jorge Mataix-Solera, Departamento de Agroquímica y Medio Ambiente, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Edificio Alcudia, Avda de la Universidad, 03202 Elche Alicante, Spain.
  - Ľubomír Lichner, Institute of Hydrology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 841 04 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 264 - 275, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0017
Scientific Paper, English

Isabelle Braud, Jean-François Desprats, Pierre-Alain Ayral, Christophe Bouvier, Jean-Pierre Vandervaere: Mapping topsoil field-saturated hydraulic conductivity from point measurements using different methods

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• Topsoil field-saturated hydraulic conductivity, Kfs, is a parameter that controls the partition of rainfall between infiltration and runoff and is a key parameter in most distributed hydrological models. There is a mismatch between the scale of local in situ Kfs measurements and the scale at which the parameter is required in models for regional mapping. Therefore methods for extrapolating local Kfs values to larger mapping units are required. The paper explores the feasibility of mapping Kfs in the Cévennes-Vivarais region, in south-east France, using more easily available GIS data concerning geology and land cover. Our analysis makes uses of a data set from infiltration measurements performed in the area and its vicinity for more than ten years. The data set is composed of Kfs derived from infiltration measurements performed using various methods: Guelph permeameters, double ring and single ring infiltrotrometers and tension infiltrometers. The different methods resulted in a large variation in Kfs up to several orders of magnitude. A method is proposed to pool the data from the different infiltration methods to create an equivalent set of Kfs. Statistical tests showed significant differences in Kfs distributions in function of different geological formations and land cover. Thus the mapping of Kfs at regional scale was based on geological formations and land cover. This map was compared to a map based on the Rawls and Brakensiek (RB) pedotransfer function (mainly based on texture) and the two maps showed very different patterns. The RB values did not fit observed equivalent Kfs at the local scale, highlighting that soil texture alone is not a good predictor of Kfs.
  
  KEY WORDS: Infiltration methods; Topsoil field-saturated hydraulic conductivity; Land cover; Geology; Mapping.
  
  Address:
  - Isabelle Braud, Irstea, UR HHLY (Hydrology Hydraulics), BP 32108, 69616 Villeurbanne Cedex, France. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: isabelle.braud@irstea.fr)
  - Jean-François Desprats, BRGM D3E NRE, 1039 Rue Pinville, 34000 Montpellier, France.
  - Pierre-Alain Ayral, LGEI – Institut des Sciences des Risques and UMR ESPACE (UMR7300 CNRS, “Antenne Cévenole”, Université de Nice-Sophia- Antipolis, Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse), Ecole des mines d’Ales, 6 avenue de Clavieres, 30319 Ales cedex, France.
  - Christophe Bouvier, Hydrosciences, UMR5569 CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier, Maison des Sciences de l’Eau, 34095 MONTPELLIER, France.
  - Jean-Pierre Vandervaere, Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), (CNRS, Grenoble-INP, IRD, University of Grenoble-Alpes), UGA, CS40700, F-38058 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 276 - 286, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0016
Scientific Paper, English

Simone Di Prima, Vincenzo Bagarello, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Inmaculada Bautista, Artemi Cerda, Antonio del Campo, María González-Sanchis, Massimo Iovino, Laurent Lassabatere, Federico Maetzke: Impacts of thinning of a Mediterranean oak forest on soil properties influencing water infiltration

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• In Mediterranean ecosystems, special attention needs to be paid to forest–water relationships due to water scarcity. In this context, Adaptive Forest Management (AFM) has the objective to establish how forest resources have to be managed with regards to the efficient use of water, which needs maintaining healthy soil properties even after disturbance. The main objective of this investigation was to understand the effect of one of the AFM methods, namely forest thinning, on soil hydraulic properties. At this aim, soil hydraulic characterization was performed on two contiguous Mediterranean oak forest plots, one of them thinned to reduce the forest density from 861 to 414 tree per ha. Three years after the intervention, thinning had not affected soil water permeability of the studied plots. Both ponding and tension infiltration runs yielded not significantly different saturated, Ks, and unsaturated, K–20, hydraulic conductivity values at the thinned and control plots. Therefore, thinning had no an adverse effect on vertical water fluxes at the soil surface. Mean Ks values estimated with the ponded ring infiltrometer were two orders of magnitude higher than K–20 values estimated with the minidisk infiltrometer, revealing probably soil structure with macropores and fractures . The input of hydrophobic organic matter, as a consequence of the addition of plant residues after the thinning treatment, resulted in slight differences in terms of both water drop penetration time, WDPT, and the index of water repellency, R, between thinned and control plots. Soil water repellency only affected unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity measurements. Moreover, K–20 values showed a negative correlation with both WDPT and R, whereas Ks values did not, revealing that the soil hydrophobic behavior has no impact on saturated hydraulic conductivity.
  
  KEY WORDS: Soil water repellency; Forest soils; Saturated and near saturated hydraulic conductivity.
  
  Address:
  - Simone Di Prima, Department of Geography, University of Valencia, Blasco Ibánez, 28, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Agricultural Department, University of Sassari, Viale Italia, 39, 07100 Sassari, Italy. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: sdiprima@uniss.it)
  - Vincenzo Bagarello, Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
  - Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Université de Lyon; UMR5023 Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés; CNRS ; ENTPE ; Université Lyon 1; 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France.
  - Inmaculada Bautista, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering - Re-Forest, Valencia, Spain.
  - Artemi Cerda, Department of Geography, University of Valencia, Blasco Ibánez, 28, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
  - Antonio del Campo, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering - Re-Forest, Valencia, Spain.
  - María González-Sanchis, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering - Re-Forest, Valencia, Spain.
  - Massimo Iovino, Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
  - Laurent Lassabatere, Université de Lyon; UMR5023 Ecologie des Hydrosystemes Naturels et Anthropisés; CNRS ; ENTPE ; Université Lyon 1; 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France.
  - Federico Maetzke, Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 287 - 296, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0033
Scientific Paper, English

Nicola Pastore, Claudia Cherubini, Concetta I. Giasi: Kinematic diffusion approach to describe recharge phenomena in unsaturated fractured chalk

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• When dealing with groundwater resources, a better knowledge of the hydrological processes governing flow in the unsaturated zone would improve the assessment of the natural aquifer recharge and its vulnerability to contamination. In North West Europe groundwater from unconfined chalk aquifers constitutes a major water resource, therefore the need for a good hydrological understanding of the chalk unsaturated zone is essential, as it is the main control for aquifer recharge. In the North Paris Basin, much of the recharge must pass through a regional chalk bed that is composed of a porous matrix with embedded fractures. The case study regards the role of the thick unsaturated zone of the Cretaceous chalk aquifer in Picardy (North of France) that controls the hydraulic response to rainfall. In order to describe the flow rate that reaches the water table, the kinematic diffusion theory has been applied that treats the unsaturated water flow equation as a wave equation composed of diffusive and gravitational components. The kinematic diffusion model has proved to be a convenient method to study groundwater recharge processes in that it was able to provide a satisfactory fitting both for rising and falling periods of water table fluctuation. It has also proved to give an answer to the question whether unsaturated flow can be described using the theory of kinematic waves. The answer to the question depends principally on the status of soil moisture. For higher values of hydraulic Peclet number (increasing saturation), the pressure wave velocities dominate and the preferential flow paths is provided by the shallow fractures in the vadose zone. With decreasing values of hydraulic Peclet number (increasing water tension), rapid wave velocities are mostly due to the diffusion of the flow wave. Diffusive phenomena are provided by matrix and fracture-matrix interaction. The use of a kinematic wave in this context constitutes a good simplified approach especially in cases when there is a lack of information concerning the hydraulic properties of the fractures/macropores close to saturation.
  
  KEY WORDS: Unsaturated; Recharge; Rainfall; Chalk; Kinematic; Diffusive.
  
  Address:
  - Nicola Pastore, DICATECh - Politecnico di Bari, via E. Orabona, 70125 Bari, Italy. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: nicola.pastore@poliba.it)
  - Claudia Cherubini, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace & Civil Engineering - Brunel University London, Uxbridge, United Kingdom. School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
  - Concetta I. Giasi, DICATECh - Politecnico di Bari, via E. Orabona, 70125 Bari, Italy.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 297 - 306, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0006
Scientific Paper, English

Mario Pirastru, Vincenzo Bagarello, Massimo Iovino, Roberto Marrosu, Mirko Castellini, Filippo Giadrossich, Marcello Niedda: Subsurface flow and large-scale lateral saturated soil hydraulic conductivity in a Mediterranean hillslope with contrasting land uses

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• The lateral saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ks,l, is the soil property that mostly governs subsurface flow in hillslopes. Determinations of Ks,l at the hillslope scale are expected to yield valuable information for interpreting and modeling hydrological processes since soil heterogeneities are functionally averaged in this case. However, these data are rare since the experiments are quite difficult and costly. In this investigation, that was carried out in Sardinia (Italy), large-scale determinations of Ks,l were done in two adjacent hillslopes covered by a Mediterranean maquis and grass, respectively, with the following objectives: i) to evaluate the effect of land use change on Ks,l, and ii) to compare estimates of Ks,l obtained under natural and artificial rainfall conditions. Higher Ks,l values were obtained under the maquis than in the grassed soil since the soil macropore network was better connected in the maquis soil. The lateral conductivity increased sharply close to the soil surface. The sharp increase of Ks,l started at a larger depth for the maquis soil than the grassed one. The Ks,l values estimated during artificial rainfall experiments agreed with those obtained during the natural rainfall periods. For the grassed site, it was possible to detect a stabilization of Ks,l in the upper soil layer, suggesting that flow transport capacity of the soil pore system did not increase indefinitely. This study highlighted the importance of the experimental determination of Ks,l at the hillslope scale for subsurface modeling, and also as a benchmark for developing appropriate sampling methodologies based on near-point estimation of Ks,l.
  
  KEY WORDS: Subsurface runoff; Drain; Pore connectivity; Sprinkling experiments; Land use change; Maquis.
  
  Address:
  - Mario Pirastru, Dipartimento di Agraria, Universita degli Studi di Sassari, Viale Italia 39, 07100, Sassari, Italy. (Corresponding author. Tel.:+39 079229342 Fax.: Email: mpirastru@uniss.it)
  - Vincenzo Bagarello, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy.
  - Massimo Iovino, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Universita degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy.
  - Roberto Marrosu, Dipartimento di Agraria, Universita degli Studi di Sassari, Viale Italia 39, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
  - Mirko Castellini, Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria – Unita di ricerca per i sistemi colturali degli ambienti caldo-aridi (CREA–SCA), Via Celso Ulpiani 5, 70125, Bari, Italy.
  - Filippo Giadrossich, Dipartimento di Agraria, Universita degli Studi di Sassari, Viale Italia 39, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
  - Marcello Niedda, Dipartimento di Agraria, Universita degli Studi di Sassari, Viale Italia 39, 07100, Sassari, Italy.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 307 - 320, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0020
Scientific Paper, English

Andry Rustanto, Martijn J. Booij, Henk Wösten, Arjen Y. Hoekstra: Application and recalibration of soil water retention pedotransfer functions in a tropical upstream catchment: case study in Bengawan Solo, Indonesia

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• Hydrological models often require input data on soil-water retention (SWR), but obtaining such data is laborious and costly so that SWR in many places remains unknown. To fill the gap, a prediction of SWR using a pedotransfer function (PTF) is one of the alternatives. This study aims to select the most suitable existing PTFs in order to predict SWR for the case of the upper Bengawan Solo (UBS) catchment on Java, Indonesia. Ten point PTFs and two continuous PTFs, which were developed from tropical soils elsewhere, have been applied directly and recalibrated based on a small soil sample set in UBS. Scatter plots and statistical indices of mean error (ME), root mean square error (RMSE), model efficiency (EF) and Pearson’s correlation (r) showed that recalibration using the Shuffled Complex Evolution-University of Arizona (SCE-UA) algorithm can help to improve the prediction of PTFs significantly compared to direct application of PTFs. This study is the first showing that improving SWR-PTFs by recalibration for a new catchment based on around 50 soil samples provides an effective parsimonious alternative to developing a SWR-PTF from specifically collected soil datasets, which typically needs around 100 soil samples or more.
  
  KEY WORDS: Soil-water retention; Pedotransfer function recalibration; Tropical upstream catchment; Java Island.
  
  Address:
  - Andry Rustanto, Department of Water Engineering and Management, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5 7522 NB Enschede, the Netherlands. Department of Geography, University of Indonesia, Depok 16424 Jawa Barat, Indonesia. (Corresponding author. Tel.:+62 21 7888 6680 Fax.: +62 21 786 6819 Email: rustanto@ui.ac.id)
  - Martijn J. Booij, Department of Water Engineering and Management, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5 7522 NB Enschede, the Netherlands.
  - Henk Wösten, Alterra Wageningen UR, Droevendaalsesteeg 3 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands.
  - Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Department of Water Engineering and Management, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5 7522 NB Enschede, the Netherlands. Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, 469A Bukit Timah Road, 259770 Singapore.

J. Hydrol. Hydromech., Vol. 65, No. 3, 2017, p. 321 - 324, doi: 10.1515/johh-2017-0019
Technical note, English

Aurore Réfloch, Jean-Paul Gaudet, Laurent Oxarango, Yvan Rossier: Estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity from ring infiltrometer test taking into account the surface moisture stain extension

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• A large single-ring infiltrometer test was performed in order to characterize the saturated hydraulic conductivity below an infiltration basin in the well field of Lyon (France). Two kinds of data are recorded during the experiment: the volume of water infiltrated over time and the extension of the moisture stain around the ring. Then numerical analysis was performed to determine the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil by calibration. Considering an isotropic hydraulic conductivity, the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the alluvial deposits is estimated at 3.8 10–6 m s–1. However, with this assumption, we are not able to represent accurately the extension of the moisture stain around the ring. When anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity is introduced, experimental data and simulation results are in good agreement, both for the volume of water infiltrated over time and the extension of the moisture stain. The vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity in the anisotropic configuration is 4.75 times smaller than in the isotropic configuration (8.0 10–7 m s–1), and the horizontal saturated hydraulic conductivity is 125 times higher than the vertical saturated hydraulic conductivity (1.0 10–4 m s–1).
  
  KEY WORDS: Ring infiltrometer test; Infiltration basin; Numerical modeling; Saturated hydraulic conductivity; Anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity.
  
  Address:
  - Aurore Réfloch, Université de Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France. Direction de l’Eau de la Métropole de Lyon – Le Triangle, 117 boulevard Marius Vivier Merle, 69003 Lyon, France. (Corresponding author. Tel.: Fax.: Email: aurore.refloch@eaudugrandlyon.com)
  - Jean-Paul Gaudet, Université de Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
  - Laurent Oxarango, Université de Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
  - Yvan Rossier, Université de Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France.