Hydropedological grouping of South African soil forms

Abstract

The science of hydropedology has progressed significantly in the past two decades, especially with regards to the interpretation of soil morphology and relating these interpretations to the hydrological behaviour of horizons, profiles, hillslopes and catchments. Soil classification is pivotal to hydropedological interpretation and several studies have attempted to relate soil forms (as in the South African soil classification) to hydropedological behaviour. Here we present a cohesive grouping of the soil forms into four main hydropedological types, namely recharge, interflow, responsive and stagnating soils. This grouping will improve the efficiency of hydropedological assessments of soils, hillslopes and catchments for hydrological and ecological purposes.