PREDICTING INFILTRATION AND MICRO-RELIEF SURFACE STORAGE FOR CULTIVATED SOILS.

The paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature on the factors that influence water movement in soils. The object of the study described was to develop a model capable of predicting transient infiltration into tillage affected soils and to test the proposed model against field data. The model consists of three main parts. The first part considers erosion, sedimentation and consolidation of the plow layer, the second, surface storage, and the third, infiltration. The surface relief and the physical properties of the soil are modified by the effects of raindrop impact, which in turn affects the surface storage and infiltration properties of the soil (i. e. surface sealing). In the model runoff is treated as the residual after surface storage and infiltration demands have been satisfied.