Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.

Hydraulic conductivity (Kψ) is one of the most important soil properties that influences water and chemical movement within the soil and is a vital factor in various management practices, like drainage, irrigation, erosion control, and flood protection. Therefore, it is an essential component in soi...

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Main Authors: Hasan Mozaffari, Ali Akbar Moosavi, Mohammad Amin Nematollahi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296933&type=printable
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author Hasan Mozaffari
Ali Akbar Moosavi
Mohammad Amin Nematollahi
author_facet Hasan Mozaffari
Ali Akbar Moosavi
Mohammad Amin Nematollahi
author_sort Hasan Mozaffari
collection DOAJ
description Hydraulic conductivity (Kψ) is one of the most important soil properties that influences water and chemical movement within the soil and is a vital factor in various management practices, like drainage, irrigation, erosion control, and flood protection. Therefore, it is an essential component in soil monitoring and managerial practices. The importance of Kψ in soil-water relationship, difficulties for its measurement in the field, and its high variability led us to evaluate the potential of stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR), and multilayer perceptron (MLPNNs) and radial-basis function (RBFNNs) neural networks approaches to predict Kψ at tensions of 15, 10, 5, and 0 cm (K15, K10, K5, and K0, respectively) using easily measurable attributes in calcareous soils. A total of 102 intact (by stainless steel rings) and composite (using spade from 0-20 cm depth) soil samples were collected from different land uses of Fars Province, Iran. The common physico-chemical attributes were determined by the common standard laboratory approaches. Additionally, the mentioned hydraulic attributes were measured using a tension-disc infiltrometer (with a 10 cm radius) in situ. Results revealed that the most of studied soil structure-related parameters (soil organic matter, soluble sodium, sodium adsorption ratio, mean weight diameter of aggregates, pH, and bulk density) are more correlated with K5 and K0 than particle-size distribution-related parameters (sand, silt, and standard deviation and geometric mean diameter of particles size). For K15 and K10, the opposite results were obtained. The applied approaches predicted K15, K10, K5, and K0 with determination coefficient of validation data (R2val) of 0.52 to 0.63 for SMLR; 0.71 to 0.82 for MLPNNs; and 0.58 to 0.78 for RBFNNs. In general, the capability of the applied methods for predicting Kψ at all the applied tensions was ranked as MLPNNs > RBFNNs > SMLR. Although the SMLR method provided easy to use pedotransfer functions for predicting Kψ in calcareous soils, the present study suggests using the MLPNNs approach due to its high capability for generating accurate predictions.
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spelling doaj.art-5867abd23d9e4fd39266f722cbca237a2024-01-15T05:31:26ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01191e029693310.1371/journal.pone.0296933Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.Hasan MozaffariAli Akbar MoosaviMohammad Amin NematollahiHydraulic conductivity (Kψ) is one of the most important soil properties that influences water and chemical movement within the soil and is a vital factor in various management practices, like drainage, irrigation, erosion control, and flood protection. Therefore, it is an essential component in soil monitoring and managerial practices. The importance of Kψ in soil-water relationship, difficulties for its measurement in the field, and its high variability led us to evaluate the potential of stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR), and multilayer perceptron (MLPNNs) and radial-basis function (RBFNNs) neural networks approaches to predict Kψ at tensions of 15, 10, 5, and 0 cm (K15, K10, K5, and K0, respectively) using easily measurable attributes in calcareous soils. A total of 102 intact (by stainless steel rings) and composite (using spade from 0-20 cm depth) soil samples were collected from different land uses of Fars Province, Iran. The common physico-chemical attributes were determined by the common standard laboratory approaches. Additionally, the mentioned hydraulic attributes were measured using a tension-disc infiltrometer (with a 10 cm radius) in situ. Results revealed that the most of studied soil structure-related parameters (soil organic matter, soluble sodium, sodium adsorption ratio, mean weight diameter of aggregates, pH, and bulk density) are more correlated with K5 and K0 than particle-size distribution-related parameters (sand, silt, and standard deviation and geometric mean diameter of particles size). For K15 and K10, the opposite results were obtained. The applied approaches predicted K15, K10, K5, and K0 with determination coefficient of validation data (R2val) of 0.52 to 0.63 for SMLR; 0.71 to 0.82 for MLPNNs; and 0.58 to 0.78 for RBFNNs. In general, the capability of the applied methods for predicting Kψ at all the applied tensions was ranked as MLPNNs > RBFNNs > SMLR. Although the SMLR method provided easy to use pedotransfer functions for predicting Kψ in calcareous soils, the present study suggests using the MLPNNs approach due to its high capability for generating accurate predictions.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296933&type=printable
spellingShingle Hasan Mozaffari
Ali Akbar Moosavi
Mohammad Amin Nematollahi
Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.
PLoS ONE
title Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.
title_full Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.
title_fullStr Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.
title_full_unstemmed Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.
title_short Predicting saturated and near-saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils.
title_sort predicting saturated and near saturated hydraulic conductivity using artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression in calcareous soils
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296933&type=printable
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AT mohammadaminnematollahi predictingsaturatedandnearsaturatedhydraulicconductivityusingartificialneuralnetworksandmultiplelinearregressionincalcareoussoils