A simple method for measuring the spatial distribution of soil hydraulic properties.

A method to calculate the statistical distribution of a scaling factor from soil-water retention curves consists of measuring the particle-size distribution by laser scattering, computing soil water retention curves using the Arya and Paris model, and calculating a scale factor for each function. The method was tested by comparing measured and predicted soil-water retention curves. The advantage of this method is in its simplicity and ease of use. The applicability of the method to a given soil texture depends on the verification of the calculated soil-water retention functions.