Lateral saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, K_s,l, is the soil property governing subsurface water transfer in hillslopes, and the key parameter in many numerical models simulating hydrological processes at the hillslope and catchment scales. Likewise, the hydrological connectivity of the lateral flow paths plays a significant role in determining the rate of the subsurface flow at various spatial scales. This study investigates the relationship between K_s,l and hydrological connectivity at the hillslope spatial scale. K_s,l was determined by the subsurface flow rates intercepted by drains and water table depths observed in a well network. The hydrological connectivity was evaluated by the synchronicity among water table peaks, and between these and the peaks of the drained flow. Rainfall and soil moisture were used to investigate the influence of the transient hydrological soil condition on connectivity and K_s,l. As the synchronicity of the water table response between wells increased, the lag times between the peaks of water levels and those of the drained subsurface flow decreased. Moreover, the most synchronic water table rises determined the highest drainage rates. The relationships between K_s,l and water table depths were highly non-linear, with a sharp increase in the values for water table levels close to the soil surface. Estimated K_s,l values for the full saturated soil were in the order of thousands of mm h^-1, suggesting the activation of macropores in the root zone. The K_s,l values determined at the peak of the drainage events were correlated with the indicators of synchronicity. The sum of cumulative rainfall and antecedent soil moisture was correlated with the connectivity indicators and K_s,l. We suggest that, for simulating realistic processes at the hillslope scale, the hydrological connectivity could be implicitly considered in hydrological modeling through an evaluation of K_s,l at the same spatial scale.

中文翻译：

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大尺度横向饱和土壤导水率作为山坡尺度地下流动路径连通性的度量

横向饱和土壤导水率 K _s,l是控制山坡地下水传输的土壤特性，也是许多模拟山坡和流域尺度水文过程的数值模型中的关键参数。同样，横向流动路径的水文连通性在确定各种空间尺度下的地下流动速率方面起着重要作用。本研究探讨了山坡空间尺度上K _s,l与水文连通性之间的关系。K _s,l由排水管截获的地下流速和井网中观察到的地下水位深度决定。水文连通性通过地下水位峰值之间的同步性以及这些与排水流峰值之间的同步性来评估。降雨和土壤水分用于研究瞬时水文土壤条件对连通性和 K _s,l的影响。随着井间地下水位响应的同步性增加，水位峰值与排水地下水流峰值之间的滞后时间减少。此外，最同步的地下水位上升决定了最高的排水率。_{K s,l}之间的关系和地下水位深度是高度非线性的，接近土壤表面的地下水位水平值急剧增加。完全饱和土壤的估计 K _s,l值约为数千 mm h ^-1，表明根区大孔的激活。在排水事件高峰期确定的K _{s,l值与同步性指标相关。}累积降雨量和前期土壤水分的总和与连通性指标和 K _s,l相关。我们建议，为了模拟山坡尺度的实际过程，可以通过评估 K _{s,l在水文建模中隐含地考虑水文连通性}在相同的空间尺度上。