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Soil Water Absorption by Mountain and Piedmont Forests¹

ABSTRACT

Absorption of soil water by forest from the top 20 feet of Southern Appalachian and South Carolina piedmont soil was compared through moisture and matric potential measurements under 50- by 50-foot plastic-covered plots. As predicted by others, early absorption from uniformly moist soil is related primarily to root concentration. However, later absorption from drier soil tended toward uniform extraction even beyond 20 feet in depth. Nonhomogeneous soil horizons (piedmont) led to irregular early absorption, but still tended toward uniform extraction later on. The data indicate that where soil matric potential is kept low by frequent rainfall, most transpired water comes from densely rooted surface soil, whereas soil water well beyond rooting depths returns to the surface during long periods without rain. The mobility of soil water in humid areas, and to a lesser extent in drier areas, needs particular attention in water use studies.

¹ Contribution from Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Southeastern Forest Exp. Sta., Forest Service, USDA, Asheville, North Carolina. Presented before Division S-7, Soil Science Society of America, Denver, Colo., Nov. 27, 1963.

² Research Foresters and Project Leader, respectively, Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory.

Received for publication August 10, 1964. Accepted for publication January 27, 1965.