Catena 131 (2015) 99–108

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Catena

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Coupling published pedotransfer functions for the estimation of bulk

density and saturated hydraulic conductivity in stony soils
Behzad Nasri a,b,⁎, Olivier Fouché a,b, Dino Torri c
a
LEESU-DR, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, Université Paris-Est, 6 et 8 avenue Blaise Pascal, Cité Descartes, 77455 Marne-la-Vallée, Cedex 2, France
b
Laboratoire Géomatique et Foncier (GeF), Ecole supérieure des Géomètres et topographes (ESGT), Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Le Cnam), 1 boulevard Pythagore, F-72000 Le Mans, France
c
CNR-IRPI, Perugia, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) is one of the key parameters in the design of engineering and environmen-
Received 17 November 2014 tal structures built in the unsaturated zone for infiltration purpose. Unfortunately, its field determination is labo-
Received in revised form 10 March 2015 rious and expensive and suffers non-uniqueness. Besides, pedotransfer functions (PTFs) have been established to
Accepted 30 March 2015
translate some measured soil matrix properties such as bulk density, organic matter and soil texture into Ks. Es-
Available online 7 April 2015
pecially when the soil is heterogeneous, these PTFs may exhibit large differences between the matrix-predicted
Keywords:
and in situ measured Ks. Moreover, there is no published PTF to predict Ks in stony soils. In this study, the objec-
Residual humidity tive is to estimate Ks in heterogeneous stony soils by combining already published PTFs. A methodology has been
Soil texture developed to evaluate the performance of the combinations of ten published PTFs predicting Ks from bulk density
Rock fragment in fine soil matrix (BDm0) with thirty two published PTFs predicting BDm0 from the soil matrix texture properties.
Guelph permeameter These 320 combined functions are likely to allow finding a correct estimation of Ks in most of fine soils but not in
Wastewater stony soils. To test this assumption, in situ Ks measurements with a Guelph permeameter and matrix texture and
Prediction performance organic matter determinations in laboratory were carried out in a stony soil (colluvium from limestone). The
magnitudes of measured Ks are much higher than the values predicted for the given texture of the matrix by
320 combined functions. This suggests that the rock fragment fraction in the soil plays an important role in accel-
erating the evacuation of water by increasing the cinematic porosity. Then, the empirical relation of Torri et al.
(1994) is used to take into account this additional porosity within the real bulk density of the soil matrix. The re-
tention capacity of the stony soil is controlled by the matrix content, which provides for a relation between rock
fragment content and residual water content. Finally, six combined functions transformed by the Torri's relation
are selected which predict Ks for a stony soil.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Saturated hydraulic conductivity denoted Ks (m/s) is an important
soil physical property, especially for modeling water flow and solute
transport in soil, irrigation and drainage design, groundwater modeling
and other engineering or environmental processes.
Due to the importance of Ks, many direct methods have been devel-
oped for its measurement in the field and laboratory (Libardi et al.,
1980; Klute and Dirksen, 1986). Comparative studies of the different
methods have shown that their relative accuracy varies among different
soil types and field conditions (Gupta et al., 1993; Paige and Hillel, 1993;
Mallants et al., 1997). No single method has been developed which
⁎ Corresponding author at: Laboratoire Géomatique et Foncier (GeF), Ecole supérieure
des Géomètres et topographes (ESGT), Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Le
Cnam), 1 boulevard Pythagore, F-72000, Le Mans, France.
E-mail address: behzad.nasri@cnam.fr (B. Nasri).
performs well in a wide range of circumstances and for all soil types
(Zhang et al., 2007). Moreover, direct measurement techniques of Ks
are costly and time consuming, and display large spatial variability
which is problematic in hydrological modeling (Christiaens and Feyen,
2001; Islam et al., 2006). Consequently, indirect methods have been
developed (Jabro, 1992; Schaap and Leij, 1998) allowing prediction of
Ks from more easily measured soil properties, such as texture classes
and organic matter content through empirical relations referred to as
pedotransfer functions (PTFs).
Bulk density BD (g/cm3) is an essential parameter in many calcula-
tions and models, and particularly BD is a predictor for estimating Ks
in some Ks-PTFs. However, measuring the bulk density of the soil
takes time and is difficult to achieve in some soils. As a confirmation,
Drew (1973) observed that measuring BD is avoided in many studies
where it should nevertheless be included. The BD of the soil is defined
as the ratio between the mass of the soil sample dried in the oven and
the apparent volume of the sample in situ. Values of BD are required
for calculating the porosity of the soil (Blake and Hartge, 1986). The

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0341-8162/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
100 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108
porosity n may be calculated by Eq. (1) that relates BD and particle den-
sity ρs of the soil.
BD
n ¼ 1− ð1Þ
ρs
Bulk density is a dynamic property and varies depending on the
structural conditions of the soil. It can be modified in a given soil
biota, vegetation and mechanical practices, trampling by livestock, agri-
cultural machinery, weather, season, etc. (Arshad et al., 1996; Hu et al.,
2012). In this study, we neglect the influence of the state of soil (varia-
tion in water content, temperature…) in bulk density and hydraulic
conductivity (Wösten and van Genuchten, 1988).
In situ experiments have shown that organic matter content (OM)
and soil texture (proportions of clay, silt and sand, or related textural
class) are the main determinants of the bulk density of homogenous
fine soil (Rawls et al., 2003; Sharma et al., 1993). Information on texture
and OM can be obtained on disturbed samples while BD needs undis-
turbed soil cores and the data of OM and texture are often available in
soil studies. Therefore, many attempts have been made to estimate
the bulk density of the soil through some pedotransfer functions (BD-
PTFs) based on OM and/or soil texture data.
Stones in soils play a role by modifying the pore space, the bulk den-
sity, and Ks of the soil. In the case of soils containing stones, the porosity
and the associated water properties (Ravina and Magier, 1984) are less
subjected to compaction if the number of stones is enough to form a
skeleton. Spomer (1980) suggested that drying the mixtures that con-
tain a clay soil leads to the formation of pores as a result of the shrinkage
of fine soil matrix between stones. Moreover, in a stony soil with clay
content greater than 30%, the aggregation and shrinkage of the fine ma-
trix lead to the formation of macropores by cracking (Towner, 1988;
Fiès et al., 2002). Shi et al. (2012) showed that the increase in the con-
tent of stones in the soil increases the average radius of the macropores
and the density of macropores, hence increasing the rate of infiltration.
Cousin et al. (2003), Verbist et al. (2009), Urbanek and Shakesby (2009)
and Zhou et al. (2009) showed that rock fragment content is related
with Ks, due to a positive correlation between stone content and coarse
lacunar pore space in the stony soil. But, following the literature review
done for this study, no PTF was found to predict Ks of the stony soils.
The stones in the soil are generally defined as all particles larger than
2 mm and the particles smaller than 2 mm are named as the fine earth
or soil matrix (Gee and Or, 2002; Soil Survey Staff, 2010). Stony soils are
soils containing over 35% in volume of soil particles larger than 2 mm
(Tetegan et al., 2011). About 30% of the land in Western Europe and
60% in the Mediterranean area are occupied by these soils (Cousin
et al., 2003). The wide distribution of this type of soil generated interest
in its functioning (Poesen and Lavee, 1994), but the characterization of
stony soils remains difficult. Measuring the bulk density of soils contain-
ing stones is problematic because the results depend on the ratio of the
maximum size of stones to the sample volume (need of a representative
elementary volume, non-uniform spatial distribution of stones). When
the notation BD is used for the bulk density of a stony soil, it is important
to remember that the bulk density, measured or estimated, relies on the
concept of a two-phase medium (matrix, stones) representing the het-
erogeneous stony soil.
In natural stony soils, an increase in the mass content Rw (g/g) of
rock fragments (N 2 mm) is correlated with a decrease in the bulk den-
sity of the soil matrix (b 2 mm) between the stones referred to as BDm
(Torri et al., 1994). This decrease is due to extra porosity at the contact
between the stones and the matrix which arises because the space be-
tween the stones is incompletely filled by soil matrix or because the
larger particles prevent the smaller ones from packing (Stewart et al.,
1970; Poesen and Lavee, 1994). This additional porosity is assigned to
the matrix and consequently affects BDm since BDm is the bulk density
of soil matrix (b2 mm) in a stony soil. To do this, they considered anoth-
er bulk density called BDm0 which is the bulk density of the same soil
matrix but in a fine homogenous soil without stones. To estimate this
parameter, Torri et al. (1994) use a group of algorithms proposed by
Rawls (1983). These algorithms allow the prediction of the bulk density
of soils containing no rock fragment using % clay, % sand and % organic
matter as input variables.
The algorithms are based on a nomogram derived from big data on
soil bulk densities for rock-free soils and on a relation between organic
matter content and bulk density that was proposed by Stewart et al.
(1970) and confirmed by Adams (1973). Using data collected by
Stewart et al. (1970) and Alberto (1971), Torri et al. (1994) calculated
a correlation between BDm and Rw in the soil. This ratio between BDm
and BDm0 is only a function of Rw:


BDm ¼ BDm0 1−1:67Rw
3:39
: ð2Þ
Eq. (2) is based on 2721 data on the bulk density of the soil matrix
(in stony soils and non-stony soils) and stone fragment content in forest
and agricultural soils.
In this research, the dominant influence of Rw on Ks is questioned
and a procedure is developed to demonstrate it. The published
pedotransfer functions for homogenous fine soils are used: ten PTFs to
predict Ks (Ks-PTFs), from which three depend on OM and soil texture
and seven depend on BD, OM and texture; and thirty two PTFs to esti-
mate the bulk density (BD-PTFs) based on measured data of soil texture
and OM. It is generally recommended that the PTFs should only be ap-
plied to land similar to the soil they were based on, and should not be
directly exported to other geological and soil environments unless
checking their validity or even calibrating them by direct measure-
ments. Here, a detailed methodology is developed for applying these
existing PTFs in the case of a stony soil. We don't calibrate any of them
but search for the better coupling with regard to a few (15) measure-
ments of Ks. Mainly, the combinations of 32 BD-PTFs with 7 Ks-PTFs
are tested by statistical criteria for the proximity of predicted Ks to mea-
sured Ks at each of 15 sampling points. The discrepancy put into evi-
dence the need of taking into account the rock fragment content.
Then, considering that the 32 BD-PTFs give possible values of BDm0 at
each point, the relation of Torri et al. (1994) is used to estimate 32
values of the bulk density BDm (Eq. (2)). Finally, some combinations
(Torri-BD-Ks-PTFs) are selected to be used in stony soils.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study site, and field and laboratory measurements
The field site of this study is located in a little valley in France
(03°26′28.3″ E, 47°39′52.8″ N) and it consists of a soil with a fine ma-
trix containing stone fragments. This heterogeneous soil developed
on calcareous parent material of the Upper Jurassic which is common
in the Paris Basin. In terms of lithology, the rock fragments of the site
are of the Portlandian limestone. Because of the relatively steep slope
at both sides of the valley (the site is located at the foot of this slope), it
seems that the soil is a colluvium which is the result of the movement
and accumulation of fragments issued from the Portlandian layer (J9)
deposited on Kimmeridgian marls. The colluvium made of a clay loam
soil with the calcareous fragments, has been accumulated at the surface
along the limit between the outcrops of the two geological units. Ac-
cording to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil classifi-
cation, it is an Entisoil. In this soil, the absence of pedogenic horizons
may be the result of an inert parent material, in which horizons do
not readily form; slowly soluble, hard rock such as limestone which
leaves little residue; insufficient time for horizons to form, as in recent
deposits of colluvium or alluvium; occurrence on slopes where the
rate of erosion exceeds the rate of formation of pedogenic horizons; re-
cent mixing of horizons by animals or by plowing to a depth of 1 or 2 m.
At the surface, there is an organic horizon, 20 to 30 cm thick.
 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108
The bottom of an excavation, 25 m2 in area, which was dug to build a
new undrained on-site sanitation system for wastewater treatment
(Brigand and Lesieur, 2008) in the yard of a house, offered the opportu-
nity to collect soil samples and to carry out in depth permeability tests.
The surface, 120 cm in depth, has been gridded into 25 square meshes of
1 m2 (Fig. 1). Then, 15 soil samples were collected from the first 15 m2 of
the grid (1 sample of 10 kg for each m2). From an engineering point of
view, this area was sufficient since the surface imposed by infiltration
to evacuate the treated wastewater is the first one-third of the sanita-
tion plate area. Simultaneously, in the middle of each m2, 15 permeabil-
ity tests were done with a Guelph permeameter device (Elrick et al.,
1989) in order to measure Ks (m/s) of the soil. This permeameter is clas-
sified in the family of well permeameters which impose a constant head
of water in a hole by using the Mariotte's law.
In the laboratory, the untreated 15 soil samples have been dried at
the laboratory temperature for 24 h and oven dried at 105 °C for 24 h.
Consequently, the residual humidity (HR) or residual soil water content
of each sample has been determined by dividing the mass of residual
water by the mass of 105 °C dried soil samples. The fine earth fraction
(i.e. soil matrix) was separated from the stone fragments by softly
brushing and grinding. Soil matrix has been passed through the
0.08 mm sieve. For each sample, according to the standards, the
sedimentometry has been done for the particles lower than 0.08 mm
and organic matter content has been measured by combustion. Follow-
ing the particle size distribution curve derived for each soil sample, tex-
ture class has been determined by using the USDA soil texture triangle.
The stone fragment content Rw has been measured by washing and
passing the samples through the 2 mm sieve.
2.2. Main assumption concerning the rock fragment content
Here, the assumption is made that the retention capacity of the stony
soil is controlled only by the matrix content, due to specific surface of
the fine earth and organic matter. Then, the stone-induced additional
porosity within the real bulk density of the soil matrix plays a cinematic
role but does not influence retention. In this study, based on a linear re-
lation assumed between residual water and fine earth mass content, an
Fig. 1. Plan of the 15 permeameter tests and associated soil samples. The distance between the drains of the on-site treatment system is 1 m.
101
analytic equation has been derived to relate Rw with the residual water
content of soil samples or residual humidity HR:
HR
Rw ¼ 1− : ð3Þ
P
Eq. (3) is a parametric relationship and it is applicable for any type of
soil. Physically, P is the mass ratio of residual water in the soil to the dry
soil matrix.
A linear correlation between measured Rw and HR has been verified
with P = 23.641 (Fig. 2) for the soil samples of the study site. With Rw
measured at only seven points covering the range of Rw on the study
site, the coefficient of variation is the same (13%) as the one of measured
HR and the residue of the linear correlation is sufficient to compute P. It
is not necessary to measure directly Rw everywhere. This analytic rela-
tionship between Rw and HR has been found and proposed to respond
to the difficulty of determining Rw in many soil samples. For future
work as well as in this study, we suggest measuring HR of the soil sam-
ples which is much easy than determination of Rw and then calculate
Rw with Eq. (3) to be inserted in Torri-BD-Ks-PTF combinations.
2.3. Ks-PTFs for predicting Ks and BD-PTFs for predicting BDm0
Generally, the PTFs were most often established by multiple step-
wise regressions. They are all empirical models, as ROSETTA (Schaap
et al., 2001) and SPAW (Saxton et al., 1986), which describe by contin-
uous functions the relationship between certain characteristics of soil
such as texture and hydraulic properties. Let denote by Ksp the Ks pre-
dicted by any pedotransfer function. Ks-PTFs are used to estimate Ksp
from predictor variables: granulometric fractions (clay % b 2 μm,
2 μm b silt % b 50 μm, sand % N 50 μm) and OM, BDm0 or porosity n of
the soil. In our study, the first two predictors are measured and the
third one is itself predicted empirically by 32 BD-PTFs.
Many Ks-PTFs were presented in the literature to predict Ks. For
this study, ten Ks-PTFs have been selected (Table 1) that have been
established in different countries for a diversity of soils without stones.
Each of them was derived from one regression for all textures of soils.
102 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108

Rw = 1-(HR/23.641) HR (%) vs. Rw (g/g)

R2 = 0.9251 Linear (HR (%) vs. Rw (g/g))
0.70

0.65

0.60

0.55
Rw (g/g)

0.50

0.45

0.40

0.35

0.30
6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00
HR (%)

Fig. 2. The empirical correlation obtained between the Rw and HR for 7 soil samples of the study site (here, P = 23.641 according to the theoretical relation).

The three Ks-PTFs of category I (Ks-PTFs of Cosby, Adhikary, Ferrer-
Julià) are independent of BD since only the soil texture takes part as a
predictor. The other seven Ks-PTFs forming the category II take BD as
a predictor, among others. In the case of Campbell (1985), the Ks-PTF
depends also on the geometric mean particle diameter (mm) and the
standard deviation of mean particle diameter, and Ks estimation is ac-
cording to the number of the selected granulometric fractions. In the
case of Saxton and Rawls (2006), the porosity is a predictor instead of
BD as allowed by Eq. (1).
In this study, we use thirty-two BD-PTFs established by previous au-
thors for the fine earth (matrix) of a diversity of soils, so excluding the
rock fragments, and BD is then denoted by BDm0. The following three
categories of BD-PTFs are distinguished according to their predictors
(Table 2).
The BD-PTFs of category 1 depend on both soil texture and organic
matter content of the soil. For category 2, only OM is used as the predic-
tor of BDm0. The theoretical equation of the BD-PTFs of category 3 was
developed by Federer et al. (1993), following the concept of “organic
density”:
BDbm  BDbo
BDm0 ¼
ðOM  BDbm Þ þ ð1−OMÞ  BDbo
where BDbm is the bulk density of “pure” mineral fraction, and BDbo is
the bulk density of “pure” organic fraction, both determined empirically.
This relation arises from two assumptions: (i) BDbo and BDbm are con-
stant, and (ii) in a mixture, the volume occupied by the organic mass
and mineral mass are additives (Federer et al., 1993), which is a strong
approximation.
2.4. Statistical criteria for evaluating the performance of PTF combinations
The Torri's relation (Eq. (2)) uses BDm0 and the rock fraction Rw to
predict BDm in a stony soil. The coupling of Eq. (2) with any BD-PTF
predicting a value of BDm0 will be referred to as TBD-PTF. The 32 TBD-
PTFs are then combined with 7 Ks-PTFs, leading to 224 combinations
referred to as TBD-Ks-PTFs. We order them by their relevance for
predicting Ks of a stony soil with regard to a few measured Ks. The as-
sessment procedure involves the application, in each of the 7 Ks-PTFs,
of the 32 values of BDm0 transformed into BDm at 15 sampling points
on the study site. The notation displayed in Table 3 is used for analyzing
the sample and average values of Ks from any combination of TBD-Ks-
PTF.
We use b defined in Eq. (4) as a criterion to compare the average of
the 15 Ksmi with the average of 15 predicted Ks for each combination of
ð4Þ
BD-Ks-PTF (not transformed by Torri's relation) or for any TBD-Ks-PTF:

Table 1
The predictors of ten saturated conductivity pedotransfer functions (Ks-PTF) used in the study. C: clay, Si: silt, S: sand, OM: organic matter, BD: bulk density, n: porosity. The first three have
no BD as a predictor and constitute category I of Ks-PTF. The seven others are from category II.

Ks-PTF name Predictors Source

Cosby et al. (1984): cat. I C, S Based on 1448 soil samples in Virginia, USA
Adhikary et al. (2008): cat. I C, Si Based on 564 soil samples in India
Ferrer-Julià et al. (2004): cat. I S Based on the soil database developed by Trueba et al. (2000)
Brakensiek et al. (1984) C, S, BD Based on several databases in USA
Vereecken et al. (1990) C, S, OM, BD Based on 127 soil samples in Belgium
Saxton et al. (1986) C, S, BD Based on 1300 soil samples in north USA
Saxton and Rawls (2006) C, S, OM, n Based on the USDA soil database (N6000 data)
Wösten (1997) C, S, OM, BD Based on the European soil database HYPRES
Wösten et al. (1999) C, Si, S, OM, BD Based on the European soil database HYPRES
Presence of topsoil (0 or 1)
Campbell (1985) The values of at least three fractions of particle Soil samples in Washington State
size distribution curve in any classification system
BD
 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108 103

" !0:5 #
1 X
Table 2 n
2
The names of bulk density pedotransfer functions (BD-PTF) used in the study, sorted into GSDERð j; kÞ ¼ exp ½ ln ðεi Þ− ln ðGMER ðn ¼ 15Þ
three categories. OM: organic matter, BDbm: bulk density of “pure” mineral fraction, BDbo: n−1 i¼1
bulk density of “pure” organic fraction.
ð8Þ
Category BD1 Category BD2 Category BD3
OM, Texture OM OM, BDbo, BDbm

Kaur et al. (2002) Curtis and Post (1964) Adams (1973) Each Kspi(j,k) predicted by one of the 7 Ks-PTFs crossed with one of
Linear the 32 BD-PTFs from the soil parameters at a sampling point i is com-
Kaur et al. (2002) Drew (1973) Rawls (1983) pared with the measured Ksmi at the same point thanks to the ratio εi.
2nd order polynomial
The GMER and GSDER criteria are calculated to evaluate the performance
Kaur et al. (2002) Alexander (1980) Federer et al. (1993)
3rd order polynomial A A of combinations of BD-Ks-PTFs or TBD-Ks-PTFs (Torri-transformed BD-
Kaur et al. (2002) Alexander (1980) Federer et al. (1993) Ks-PTFs).
Intrinsically linear B B GMER equal to 1 corresponds to an exact matching between mea-
Leonaviciute (2000) Federer (1983) Post and Kwon (2000) sured Ksmi and predicted Kspi(j,k) saturated hydraulic conductivity;
Horizon A
Leonaviciute (2000) Benites et al. (2007) Benites et al. (2007)
GMER b 1 indicates that predicted values of Ks are generally
Horizon E A B underestimated; GMER N 1 points to a general over-prediction.
Leonaviciute (2000) Prévost (2004) Prévost (2004) GSDER equal to 1 corresponds to a perfect matching and it grows
Horizon B A B with deviation from measured data. The best PTF will, therefore,
Leonaviciute (2000) Huntington et al. (1989) Saxton et al. (1986)
give a GMER close to 1 and a small GSDER.
Horizon BC-B A
Tomasella and Hodnett Huntington et al. (1989) Tremblay et al. (2002)
(1998) B 2.5. Methodology of evaluating the BD-Ks-PTF combinations
Bernoux et al. (1998) Périé and Ouimet (2008) Périé and Ouimet (2008)
A B The performance evaluation of the BD-Ks-PTFs and selection of the
Manrique and Jones (1991)
A
best combinations have been done through 4 phases.
Manrique and Jones (1991) Phase 0 is devoted to evaluate the relevance of each kth Ks-PTF (k =
B 1..3) of category I to predict an average of 15 Kspi(k) closed to average of
the 15 measured Ksmi by the Guelph permeameter in our stony soil.
That means using the criterion b and considering the study site as a
this ratio will indicate the combinations that predict better the average whole, without looking at the spatial variation of Ks. The 3 Ks-PTFs of
of measured Ks. category I are not used anymore hereafter and no comparison will be
The three following statistical criteria are used to evaluate the per- drawn with other Ks-PTFs. This phase 0 drives its own conclusion on
formance of TBD-Ks-PTFs in estimating Ks: geometric mean error ratio the lack of parameters accounted in category I and provides a reference
(GMER) and geometric standard deviation of the error ratio (GSDER) for the ratio b.
are calculated from the error ratio εi of measured Ks denoted Ksmi vs. During phase 1, each kth Ks-PTF (k = 4..10) of category II is evaluat-
predicted Ks denoted Kspi for 15 samples and a given couple of func- ed in two steps. In step 1-1, at each sampling point, each of the 7 Ks-PTFs
tions (Ks-PTF and TBD-PTF). Eqs. (6), (7) and (8) are to evaluate the takes as input 32 values of BDm0 directly given by the 32 BD-PTFs. Their
mean and standard deviation of the errors between the measured and ability to reproduce measured data was evaluated using the same
predicted Ks of each point, while Eq. (5) is to evaluate the ratio between criteria applied to the three Ks-PTFs of category I. This step assesses
arithmetic averages of measured and predicted Ks at the 15 points. As the variability of the results within a great number of BD-Ks-PTF combi-
far as we compare the errors, the geometric transformation is much ap- nations accounting for influence of the matrix texture and BDm0 on pre-
propriate than arithmetic mean. dicted Ks of a homogeneous soil without rock fragments or more
generally Ks of the fine earth of any soil.
Ksmi Then, for step 1-2, the Torri's relation is applied to the 32 BD-PTFs
bð j; kÞ ¼ ð5Þ with a constant stone content Rw = 50% in order to produce 32 values
Kspi ð j; kÞ
of BDm as an input for the 7 Ks-PTFs. This step, compared to step 1-1, as-
sesses the influence of the texture and the bulk density of the matrix, in-
Kspi ð j; kÞ
εi ¼ ði ¼ 1 ::nÞ ð6Þ cluding additive porosity due to the presence of stones, on the predicted
Ksmi
Ks of a soil with uniform rock fragment content. It allows quantifying
! how much the Torri's transformer improves the proximity of each com-
1X n
bination to the 15 Ksmi of our stony soil. In order to evaluate the sensi-
GMERð j; kÞ ¼ exp ln ðεi Þ ðn ¼ 15Þ ð7Þ
n i¼1 bility of a Ks-PTF of category II to the transformation of Torri, we define
the improvement rate (Taj) between step 1-1 (Rw = 0) and step 1-2
(Rw = 50%) for the TBD-PTFj where j = 1..32.
Table 3
Notation for the point and average Ks measured or predicted by transformed combina- b1‐1
tions of bulk density and saturated conductivity pedotransfer functions (TBD-Ks-PTF).
Ta ¼ if b1‐1 Nb1‐2 ≥1 and Ta ¼ b1‐1  b1‐2 if b1‐1 N1≥b1‐2
b1‐2
Parameter Notation
b1‐2 1
15 sampling points in the study site i = 1..15 Ta ¼ if 1≥b1‐2 Nb1‐1 and Ta ¼ if b1‐2 ≥1Nb1‐1 :
32 BD-PTFs to estimate BDm0 j = 1..32 b1‐1 b1‐1  b1‐2
7 Ks-PTFs of category II which depend on BDm0 k = 1..7
Ks measured at point i Ksmi
Ks predicted at point i by the PTF couple (j,k) Kspi(j,k)
According to the improvement rate Ta, an underestimation of Ks is as
Average measured Ks (15 points) Ksmi much significant as an overestimation of this parameter. Thus, Ta higher
Average predicted Ks (15 points) for Ks-PTF n°k of category I Kspi(k) than 1 reflects that the model becomes closer to the measurements, re-
(not BD-dependent) versely Ta less than 1 indicates increasing a distance, and Ta equal to 1
Average predicted Ks (15 points) for Ks-PTF n°k of category II Kspi(j,k) means that although the b ratio changed, nothing has been gained in
and BD-PTF n°j
the transformation (where b1-2 is inversion of b1-1).
104 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108

Phase 2 aims to evaluate the effect of Rw in the soil samples on the in the laboratory by the pycnometer method for the soil samples gave
spatial variation of Ksp. The same methodology as phases 1-2 is used an average of 2.58 g/cm3.
but Rw takes different values derived from HR measured in the samples.
It is applied in two steps. At step 2-1, using the Torri relation as a trans- 3.1. Phase 0: analysis of the 3 Ks-PTFs of category I, independent from BD
former of BDm0 to BDm, the performance of 32 TBD-Ks-PTFs is evaluated
at 6 points with different values of Rw chosen in order to cover the Table 5 shows the statistic criteria of Ksmi vs. Kspi(k) by the three
range of Rw among the 15 samples. To quantify the ability of the combi- Ks-PTFs of category I (Cosby et al., 1984; Adhikary et al., 2008; Ferrer-
nations to reproduce Ks variability in this type of soil is the purpose of Julià et al., 2004). Compared to the Ksmi, the Kspi(k) clearly underesti-
phase 2. Using the statistical criteria, we make a selection of the best mates Ks, not only in average but point to point. On the one hand, this
TBD-Ks-PTF combinations. At step 2-2, the same work is done with is consistent with the knowledge that Ks measured by using the Guelph
the 15 values of Rw in order to verify the robustness of the selection permeameter integrate the effects of both the soil matrix and coarse
method based on a little number of samples. elements greater than 2 mm (Lee et al., 1985). Therefore, Ks values
Finally, phase 3 is a parametric analysis of propagation of the mea- measured by Guelph represent global Ks of the soil and include the ef-
surement errors on organic matter and sand content through the com- fects of both the normal porosity of fine soil material and the additional
binations and their influence on the Kspi by each Ks-PTF, combined with porosity due to the presence of rock fragments embedded within the
BD-PTF or not (categories I and II of Ks-PTF). matrix, while the Kspi(k) only expresses the porosity of the fine parti-
The distribution of uncertainty was assumed to be independent cles in the soil matrix. In addition, the high heterogeneity observed
Gaussian. Uncertainties in predicting Ks by each coupling were estimat- (Ks max/Ks min = 60 and CV = 102%) among the 15 Ksmi (measured
ed using the Monte Carlo method (ISO/IEC, 2008). If X and σ are respec- by the Guelph permeameter) is not honored by the results of Ks-PTFs
tively the mean and standard deviation of the measured values of X, of category I. From this, we deduce that other parameters or soil proper-
then the coefficient of variation (CV) or relative error is: ties influence Ks which are not among the predictors of these three Ks-
PTFs, especially BDm0 and Rw.
σ   The use of Ks-PTF of Cosby et al. (1984) gives better b and GMER and
CV ¼ and Xi ¼ X þ XR  X  CV better GSDER values than the two other Ks-PTFs, probably due to Cosby
X
accounting for clay and sand content which cover the ends of the
granulometry range of the fine particles, while the others are based on
where XR is a given random variable of the Gaussian distribution. one half of the range: clay and silt together (Adhikary) or sand only
The sand and organic matter content percent (Xi) are the two very (Ferrer-Julià). The criteria GMER and GSDER are really offside and the
important parameters in the prediction of BD and Ks by PTFs. As a real- discrepancy is high between Ksmi and Kspi(k): thus, the ratio b appears
istic estimation, CV = 5% is chosen for the distribution of values of both to be more pertinent as a selection criterion of the admissible couplings.
sand and organic matter content. So, with b = 51, Cosby's Ks-PTF performs better to simulate an average
Ks in this type of soil and will be used as a reference for the evaluation
3. Results and discussion and selection of other Ks-PTFs, with b = 50 chosen to be the maximum
admissible ratio. Introduction of a BD dependency through BD-PTFs
Table 4 shows the results of the texture analysis of the soil samples within Ks-PTFs of category II should improve this ratio. Then, the trans-
in the laboratory and in the field. When the results of sand, silt and formation of the BD-PTF under the influence of Rw should improve the
clay content have been plotted on the triangle of soil texture, the points ratio b further.
were mostly gathered nearby in the clay loam limits. The parameters in
Table 4 show that this soil is poor in organic matter, typical clay loam
3.2. Phase 1: analysis of the 7 Ks-PTFs of category II, dependent on BDm0
with surprisingly quite high hydraulic conductivity. Normally in fine
soils the field measured hydraulic conductivity is much lower than the
Following the methodology of step 1-1, a total of 3360 values (i.e.
ones obtained in our study. It is clearly a stony soil with an average
Rw = 50% which is a good potential explanation for the high hydraulic 15 × 32 × 7) of Kspi(j,k) and 224 values (i.e. 32 × 7) of Kspi ð j; kÞ were
conductivity in this soil. Note that the rock fragments of the soil are of calculated. Based on the reference issued from phase 0, in phase 1 the
the Portlandian sublithographic limestone, thus with negligible internal criterion used to select the couplings is b b 50. At step 1-1, N = 103 of
porosity. Also, the results of determining the particle density ρs (Eq. (1)) 224 combinations of BD-Ks-PTF have b b 50, N = 37 from 224 have
b b 10, and only 2 combinations have b equal to 1, likely because the
32 BD-PTFs have been developed and adopted for non-stony soil sam-
Table 4
The properties of 15 stony soil samples measured in the laboratory, except Ks measured in ples (Fig. 3). At step 1-2, N = 167 of 224 combinations have b b 50,
the field with a Guelph permeameter. N = 82 from 224 combinations have b b 10, and 11 combinations
have b equal to 1 (Fig. 3). Thus, taking into account of the stone fraction
Soil sample Clay % Silt % Sand % Textural class OM % HR % Ks (m/s)
in soil modifies BDm towards increasing the Kspi.
1 37.5 38 24.5 Clay loam 4.35 0.67 3.20E−04
The average improvement rate Ta(k) of the 32 Taj is a measurement
2 41 37 22 Clay 4.48 0.51 3.20E−04
3 39 31 30 Clay loam 4.41 0.47 1.60E−05 of the effect of Torri's transformer on the results of the Ks-PTF n°k when
4 33 34 33 Clay loam 4.19 0.53 2.93E−04 crossed with the 32 BD-PTFs. By using Rw = 50%, which is the average
5 42.5 33,5 24 Clay 4.45 0.53 9.60E−06 of the measured Rw for the soil samples, Ta(k) is higher than 1 for the 7
6 34 42 24 Clay loam 4.21 0.48 3.13E−05
7 43 35 22 Clay 4.30 0.46 6.12E−05
Ks-PTFs of category II and is equal to 5.56, 5.06, 5.08, 7.58, 50.08, 2.03
8 36 38 26 Clay loam 4.26 0.46 6.41E−06
9 38 33 29 Clay loam 4.16 0.46 6.19E−05
10 39 37 24 Clay loam 3.37 0.56 1.58E−04 Table 5
11 37 48 15 Silty clay loam 4.02 0.50 8.54E−05 Statistical parameters b, GMER and GSDER, average and coefficient of variation for predict-
12 29 48 23 Clay loam 3.43 0.63 4.70E−05 ed Ks at 15 points, to compare (phase 0) the performance of the 3 Ks-PTFs of category I.
13 31 40 29 Clay loam 5.96 0.51 4.27E−05
Ks-PTF b GMER GSDER Average CV (%)
14 38 36 26 Clay loam 4.32 0.46 4.06E−05
15 37 35 28 Clay loam 4.30 0.64 5.55E−05 Cosby et al. (1984) 51 0.032 3.096 2.14E−06 15
Average Clay loam Clay loam 4.28 0.52 1.09E−04 Adhikary et al. (2008) 134 0.012 3.026 8.13E−07 8
CV % 11 15 17 – 13 13 102 Ferrer-Julià et al. (2004) 123 0.013 3.126 8.85E−07 20
 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108 105

500
b equal to 1.03 is the best combination when an average of Ks in a stony
450 soil is needed. At the same time, with regard to the spatial distribution of
Ks, this combination gives the lowest variability (GSDER = 1.81). Howev-
400 er, with GMER lower than 1 (GMER = 0.12) this TBD-Ks-PTF underesti-
mates Ks. The TBD-Ks-PTF of Torri-Tomasella_&_Hodnett-Campbell
350
results as the best combination with regard to the spatial variability of
300 error (GSDER = 1.97) as well as the average error (GMER = 1.29) but
not for the average Ks.
250 At step 2-2, the same methodology as step 2-1 but with 15 measured
Rw, by applying the same threshold of the criteria (b, GMER, GSDER) as
200
the previous step, 3 combinations are lost. The 6 other best combina-
150 tions stay the same ones as selected at step 2-1, while only the order
of the best combinations has changed (Table 7). The best combination
100 is illustrated by Fig. 5. The results of Table 7 demonstrate the robustness
of the TBD-BD-Ks-PTF selection: the best combinations do not depend
50
on the 6 points which were chosen more or less randomly among 15
0 points.
0 50 100 150 200 250 The robustness of the methodology validates the efficiency of the
number of the measurement points for HR and Rw. Also, the theoretical
Fig. 3. The distribution of b values (b500) for the 224 combinations of BD-Ks-PTFs in step linear relationship between HR and Rw, the control of Ks by Rw and fi-
1-1 (Rw = 0%, white circles) and step 1-2 (Rw = 50%, black diamonds).
nally, the best combinations of TBD-KS-PTF are confirmed.

and 6.39 respectively. Following these results, Ks-PTF of Wösten-1997
with Ta = 50.08 is by far the most sensitive to BDm and consequently
to Rw. In addition, it is observed that the Ks-PTF of Vereecken is as
much sensitive (Ta = 5.06) as the Ks-PTF of Saxton_1986 (Ta = 5.08)
to BDm and Rw. Contrarily, for 32 combinations of BD-Ks-PTFs of
Vereecken, the average of GSDER equal to 3.14 (worse than GSDER of
the Ks-PTFs of category I) is a sign of a non-appropriate simulation of
the spatial variation of Ks. It shows that the uniform distribution of Rw
just helps to improve the Kspi(j,k) to move closer to measured ones. It
is essential to allocate a variable Rw to better evaluate the predictive qual-
ity of TBD-Ks-PTFs. So, it is necessary to use as an input the measured
values of Rw or HR in the soil samples.
3.3. Phase 2: spatial variation of the prediction by 7 Ks-PTFs of category II
3.4. Phase 3: error propagation through the application of PTF combinations
Then, the best 9 combinations have CV = 7% to 37%. This intrinsic
variability of the model is small compared to the estimated measure-
ment variability (CV = 102%) in hydraulic conductivity due to the het-
erogeneity of the soil, which demonstrates again the robustness of our
methodology. The final relative error (CV) for the nine selected TBD-
Ks-PTF combinations (Table 6) shows that the combinations with Ks-
PTF of Vereecken are less sensible to uncertainty on S and OM than
the ones with Ks-PTF of Campbell. In addition, the combinations of
Torri-Saxton_1986-Vereecken with 7% and Torri-Manrique & Jones-
Vereecken with 12% of final relative error are the least sensitive combi-
nations. As a reference, in predicting Ks by the Ks-PTF of Cosby which is
independent of BD, the coefficient of variation after propagation of the
errors is 3%.

Following the methodology, the predicted Ks were first calculated 4. Discussion

using the combinations of TBD-Ks-PTFs for six points.
In phase 2, the ratio b2 becomes very close to 1 for many combina- Among nine selected couplings of TBD-Ks-PTFs, the 3 categories
tions, so GMER and GSDER have also to be used as criteria to select the of BD-PTFs are represented. Two of them are from category 1
best couplings. Applying to the three criteria (b, GMER and GSDER) (OM + Texture), five from category 2 (OM) and two from category
the thresholds 3.0, 1.5 and 4.0 respectively (Table 6), it has been conclud- 3 (OM + BDbo + BDbm). So, no conclusion can be drawn about a poten-
ed that nine TBD-Ks-PTFs predict Ks in the stony soil with a very good ap- tially better category in the fixed objective. The published PTFs applied
proximation. This good fitness is illustrated (Fig. 4) by the combinations in our study are from different types and countries, and were developed
of TBD-Ks-PTF of Torri-Federer B-Vereecken, Torri-Saxton_(1986)- for a large diversity of soils. The validity of these PTFs for the soils in
Vereecken, and Torri-Tomasella & Hodnett-Campbell. which they have been calibrated is our main assumption. Nevertheless,
According to the results, while this coupling was not satisfying at step direct coupling of BD-PTFs with Ks-PTFs gives results that are not satis-
1-2 (b1-2 = 17.93), the TBD-Ks-PTF of Torri-Saxton_1986-Vereecken with fying in a stony soil, i.e. a soil with high rock fragment content. Then, it is
hypothesized that a better prediction is possible by accounting for the
Table 6 effect of stoniness on BD. A crucial transformation step enriched the
Nine transformed combinations of TBD-Ks-PTFs which best predict Ks in a stony soil, se- methodology, by using the empirical relation of Torri et al. (1994) to
lected after the criteria (b, GMER and GSDER) with Rw data from 6 points (phase 2, step take into account the effect of rock fragments on the matrix porosity
2-1) on the study site. Here, CV is the final relative error after propagation of the measure- and, as a consequence, on the saturated hydraulic conductivity.
ment uncertainties of sand and organic matter content through Monte Carlo method
(phase 3).
The Ks-PTF of Saxton and Rawls (2006) has also been tested. Their
study presents equations that predict the effect of gravel content on
TBD-Ks-PTF GMER GSDER b2 b1-2 CV (%) the bulk density and saturated conductivity of the bulk soil. Interesting-
T-Federer B-Vereecken 0.85 2.60 1.51 3.06 20 ly, they assume that gravel reduces the conductivity because the space
T-Saxton-Vereecken 0.12 1.81 1.03 17.93 7 occupied by the gravel does not conduct water. Their approach does
T-Alexander A-Vereecken 0.96 2,26 1.39 2.93 17
not consider the common occurrence of additional macropores within
T-Manrique & Jones B-Vereecken 1.06 2.28 1.27 2.64 12
T-Périé B-Campbell 1.17 3.04 0.61 2.55 37 gravelly soils. They propose to represent this effect by a density reduc-
T-Tomasella & Hodnett-Campbell 1.29 1.97 0.62 2.82 16 tion to reflect additional porosity with increased conductivity, but with-
T-Huntington A-Campbell 0.96 3.15 0.79 3.30 33 out giving any ready solution different from Torri's one. There are
T-Huntington B-Campbell 1.01 3.26 0.73 3.04 30 clearly two opposite effects of gravel: (1) the gravel itself is not
T-Prévost A-Campbell 1.06 3.24 0.70 2.90 30
conducting water, which reduces Ks, and (2) gravel creates lacunar
106 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108

Point
1 3 8 10 11 14
1,00E-02

1,00E-03

Ks (m/s)

1,00E-04

1,00E-05

1,00E-06
measured Ks TBD-Ks-PTF 1
TBD-Ks-PTF 2 TBD-Ks-PTF 3

Fig. 4. Comparison of measured and predicted Ks at step 2-1 for the combinations of TBD-Ks-PTF: (1) Torri-Federer B-Vereecken; (2) Torri-Saxton_1986-Vereecken; (3) Torri-Tomasella &
Hodnett-Campbell.

pores increasing Ks. The question remains as to which of the two effects
is dominant and if this is the same for all soils. In spite of Saxton and
Rawls equation which considers the rock fragments as a reducing factor
of Ks, but according to what we measured in the field (high Ks values)
and in the laboratory (very fine soil texture) which is contractor, we
could not use their equation. So, the only equation that quantifies the di-
rect role of stones on Ks is Torri's one.
Grace to this relation, not only the effect of rock fragment content on
Ks has been clearly demonstrated but the control on Ks. Here, the spatial
variation coefficient of 11, 15, 17 and 13% in measured textural fractions
and OM (Table 4) could not explain, through combinations of BD-Ks-
PTF, the variability of Ks within 15 locations. At the same time, the
CV = 13% in measured rock fragment content Rw, not higher than the
variation coefficient of other fractions, greatly influences Ks in a stony
soil and can engender the observed spatial variability in measured Ks.
Could this demonstration be improved by measuring more Rw values
for the same soil? In principle, yes, but in fact, not so much: the robust-
ness of the methodology is clear when comparing results with respec-
tively 6 and 15 points. Then, increasing the number of measuring
points would simply over-determine the selection and eliminate some
more combinations from the head group. So, we can trust on it to con-
tinue the development of the methodology of PTF combinations. Now,
we can predict a parameter Ks which is very hard to measure in situ
with a high precision by a parameter Rw or HR which is possible to be
measured more precisely in the laboratory.
The rock fragment content Rw is the main parameter that controls
the result of the combinations. By using HR instead of Rw, the measure-
ment uncertainty remains. However, it is not actually useful to verify
this uncertainty. As we do not have a PTF that connects directly Rw to
Ks, it is still necessary to work with OM and C, Si, and S of the soil matrix
to estimate the sensitivity of Ks predictions to uncertainty of texture
measurements.
Table 7
Six final transformed combinations of TBD-Ks-PTFs which best predict Ks in a stony soil,
selected after the criteria (b, GMER and GSDER) with Rw deduced from HR data at the
15 points on the study site (phase 2, step 2-2).
TBD-Ks-PTF GMER GSDER b2
T-Manrique & Jones B-Vereecken 0.96 3.26 1.27
T-Périé B-Campbell 1.208 4.108 0.61
T-Tomasella & Hodnett-Campbell 1.13 4.06 0.62
T-Huntington A-Campbell 0.95 4.07 0.79
T-Huntington B-Campbell 1.01 4.04 0.73
T-Prévost A-Campbell 1.06 4.04 0.70
In this study, finally, six to nine combinations of TBD-Ks-PTF from
224 have been selected for the stony soil. Consequently, the methodol-
ogy of selection can be repeated, in any other soil, based on a tenth of in
situ Ks measurements, and texture, OM, HR and Rw for soil samples in
the laboratory, in order to find the best one(s) within the 224 combina-
tions for the targeted soil.
Soil water movement is usually described on a macroscopic scale.
Water moves through pores, the size and shape of which depend on
size, shape and arrangement of solid particles. For the quantitative de-
scription of water movement in pores throughout a microscopic ap-
proach, one would need to describe the geometry of porous pathways.
For instance, in a numerical study, Novák et al. (2011) showed that
the size and also the shape of the stones have some effect on the Ks.
But it has not been considered in this study since the literature on
PTFs appears to be rich enough to guarantee that a solution can be
found for any (stony) soil through combinations of PTFs and our meth-
odology of selection.
In addition to these statistical relationships which are pedotransfer
functions in the strict sense, other types of tools have been published
which are the class pedotransfer functions (CPTF) for estimating the hy-
draulic properties after grouping and classifying the soils according to
their composition (Wösten et al., 1999; Bruand et al., 2003, 2004). So,
the next step of this research would be to develop the CPTF for stony
soils using the combinations selected for different soil texture classes.
5. Conclusion
The Ks-PTFs which are independent on the BD of soil matrix are un-
able to predict the Ks of a stony soil, in magnitude as well as for spatial
variability. Combination of Ks-PTFs with BD-PTFs (based on predictors
easy to measure: OM and texture C, Si, S of the soil matrix) has been
tested, thus obtaining better results, but still insufficient. Considering
the rock fragment content Rw through the empirical Torri's relation
yielded very good results with some combinations (9 from 224). The
observed values of statistical criteria mean high ability of these combi-
nations to restore not only the average measured Ks, but also the spatial
heterogeneity of Ks mainly due to the structural heterogeneity (density
b1-2 of the stones) and not textural (matrix variations less influential) of the
soil. The results of two executions of this procedure by 6, then 15, mea-
2.64
2.55 sured or estimated Rw (using the HR vs. Rw correlation) demonstrate
2.82 the robustness of this selection procedure of TBD-Ks-PTF combinations.
3.30 Also, for these combinations, we made a calculation of measurement
3.04 error propagation by taking the assumption of CV = 5% on OM and S
2.90
(Table 6). In conclusion, evolution and heterogeneity of soil structure
 B. Nasri et al. / Catena 131 (2015) 99–108
1.00E-02
Points
1.00E-03
1.00E-04
1.00E-05
Measured Ks
1.00E-06
Fig. 5. Comparison of 15 measured and predicted Ks at step 2-2 for the combination of TBD-Ks-PTF of Torri-Manrique & Jones B-Vereecken.
(including macropores) modify the pore space which in turn influences
the saturated hydraulic conductivity. As the main result of this study, it
has been shown that bulk density modified by the stone content of
the soil controls the saturated hydraulic conductivity in stony soils
and it has been quantified to predict the proposed Torri-BD-KS-PTF
combinations.
Acknowledgments
For their financial support, the authors would like to thank the
GESSOL program (French Ministry of Ecology (MEEDDM-CDGDD-DRI
R-2011-8C-0028-A0) and ADEME) through the ANCRES project (On-
site sanitation — Retention and depuration in soils), and the French
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (756564K).
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