Water retention of the organic soil horizon in a central European deciduous forest

Abstract

The organic horizon of forest soil (OHFS) under deciduous forest is formed on the surface of the forest soil and is composed of a varied dead plant and animal material. This material gradually decomposes into recognizable layers of OHFS: litter, duff-1 and duff-2. Different soil water retention (SWR) can be expected from different layers of the OHFS. The determination of SWR was performed on the Tempe cells and pressure plate apparatus. We analyzed the SWR in the layers litter, duff-1, duff-2 of the OHFS. Statistically significant differences between all three examined layers of forest soil were examined. The analysis of the individually determined soil water retention curves (SWRC) proved that the litter layer of the OHFS had a maximal SWR at a water potential close to zero and a minimal value was estimated for the duff-2 layer. According to the results of our experiment the SWR decreases with the increasing depth of the organic horizon in the order litter>duff-1>duff-2. We determined potential areas with geographically similar conditions for the creation of the OHFS for SWR as in the study area.