Analysing catchment soils

Research Coordinator Luke Peel has been working closely with French intern student, François Villain, who is undertaking an 8 week internship with us during June and July. The placement has been organised as part of his studies by the Institut supérieur d'agriculture de Lille where he is a student of Agricultural Engineering.

Luke and François have been revisiting around 14 Land Function Analysis monitoring sites in the Mulloon catchment, conducting soil infiltrometer assessments and taking soil samples down to 1m. Their aim is to characterise the soil and subsoil layers for each site and conduct field analysis (pH, colour texture) of these soil horizons.

The infiltrometer results at the surface and subsurface were very interesting with regard to how the floodplain soil functions and its productivity.