9.
SOIL PERMEABILITY
9.0 Why is it important to determine soil permeability?
Soil permeability is the property of the soil to
transmit water and air and is one of the
most important qualities to consider for fish
culture.
A pond built in impermeable soil will lose
little water through seepage.
The more permeable the soil, the greater
the seepage. Some soil is so permeable
and seepage so great that it is not possible
to build a pond without special construction
techniques. You will learn about these
techniques in a later volume in this series.
Soils are generally made up of layers and
soil quality often varies greatly from one
layer to another. Before pond construction, it
is important to determine the relative
position of the permeable and impermeable
layers. The design of a pond should be
planned to avoid having a permeable layer
at the bottom to prevent excessive water
loss into the subsoil by seepage.
The dikes of the pond should be built with soil which will ensure a good water
retention. Again, soil quality will have to be checked with this in mind.
9.1 Which factors affect soil permeability?
Many factors affect soil permeability. Sometimes they are extremely localized, such
as cracks and holes, and it is difficult to calculate representative values of
permeability from actual measurements. A goodstudy of soil profiles provides an
essential check on such measurements. Observations on soil texture, structure,
consistency, colour/mottling, layering, visible pores and depth to impermeable layers
such as bedrock and claypan* form the basis for deciding if permeability
measurements are likely to be representative.
Note:
you have already learned that soil is made up of a number of horizons, each of
them usually having different physical and chemical properties. To determine the
permeability of soil as a whole, each horizon should be studied separately.
9.2 Soil permeability relates to soil texture and structure
The size of the soil pores is of great importance with regard to the rate
of infiltration (movement of water into the soil) and to the rate
of percolation (movement of water through the soil). Pore size and the number of
pores closely relate to soil texture and structure, and also influence soil permeability.
Permeability variation according to soil texture
Usually, the finer the soil texture, the slower the permeability, as shown below:
Soil
Texture
Clayey
soils
Fine
Loamy
soils
Sandy
soils
Permeability
Moderately fine
From very slow to
Moderately
very rapid
coarse
Coarse
Example
Average permeability for different soil textures in cm/hour
Sand
5.0
Sandy loam
2.5
Loam
Clay loam
Silty clay
Clay
1.3
0.8
0.25
0.05
Permeability variation according to soil structure
Structure may greatly modify the permeability rates shown above, as follows:
Structure type
Platy
- Greatly
overlapping
- Slightly
overlapping
Blocky
Prismatic
Granular
Permeability1
From very slow to
very rapid
This may vary according to the degree to which the structure is developed.
It is common practice to alter the soil structure to reduce permeability, for example, in
irrigated agriculture through the puddling of rice fields and in civil engineering through the
mechanical compaction*of earthen dams. Similar practices may be applied to fish-ponds to
reduce water seepage.
9.3 Soil permeability classes
Permeability is commonly measured in
terms of the rate of water flow through the
soil in a given period of time. It is usually
expressed either as a permeability rate in
centimetres per hour (cm/h), millimetres per
hour (mm/h), or centimetres per day (cm/d),
or as a coefficient of permeability k in
metres per second (m/s) or in centimetres
per second (cm/s).
Example
For agriculture and conservation uses, soil permeability classes are based on
permeability rates, and for civil engineering, soil permeability classes are based
on the
coefficient of permeability (see Tables 15 and 16).
For fish culture, two methods are generally used to determine soil permeability. They
are:
The coefficient of permeability;
The seepage rate.
For the siting of ponds and the construction of dikes, the coefficient of permeability is
generally used to qualify the suitability of a particular soil horizon:
Dikes without any impermeable clay core may be built from soils having a coefficient of
permeability less than
K = 1 x 10-4 m/s;
Pond bottoms may be built into soils having a coefficient of permeability less than K = 5 x 10 6
m/s.
For pond management, the seepage rate is generally used:
In commercial pond culture, an average seepage rate of 1 to 2 cm/d is considered
acceptable, but corrective measures should be taken to reduce soil permeability when higher
values exist, particularly when they reach 10 cm/d or more.
9.4 Measurement of soil permeability in the laboratory
When you take an undisturbed sample to a testing laboratory, to measure permeability,
a column of soil is placed under specific conditions such as water saturation and
constant head of water. The result will be given to you either as a permeability
rate (see Table 15), or as a coefficient of permeability (see Table 16).
TABLE 15
Soil permeability classes for agriculture and conservation
Permeability rates1
cm/hour
cm/day
Less than 0.13
Less than 3
0.13 - 0.3
3 - 12
0.5 - 2.0
12 - 48
2.0 - 6.3
48 - 151
6.3 - 12.7
151 - 305
12.7 - 25
305 - 600
More than 25
More than 600
Soil permeability classes
Very slow
Slow
Moderately slow
Moderate
Moderately rapid
Rapid
Very rapid
1
Saturated
samples
under
constant
water
head
of
1.27
cm
