Soil Water Infiltration Rate
Benchmark Value
Scoring Curve
This curve shows how a field measurement for this indicator would score across all available benchmark forms in this context. The scoring engine uses 7 benchmarks together — the OptimalRange form drives the primary score, while 6 guard(s) constrain the result.
Evidence & Context
The benchmark for soil water infiltration in a healthy, grazed tropical maritime island ecosystem must reflect the high infiltration capacity inherent in its dominant volcanic, karst, and atoll soils. This natural potential is realized and maintained through best-practice land stewardship—specifically, sustainable or regenerative grazing that promotes high levels of pasture biomass, litter cover, and soil organic matter. The most reliable quantitative data for such a system comes from analogous long-term grazing exclosures and regeneratively managed properties in tropical mainland Australia. These sites, representing the "best-on-offer" condition, exhibit the key drivers of high infiltration. While a precise value for the "very high infiltration rates" noted in the Fraser & Stone (2016) study is not provided, the principles of soil physics and comparative data from other studies suggest that rates in healthy, well-structured, and biologically active soils under permanent pasture are often in the order of >100 mm/hr. This contrasts sharply with rates below 20 mm/hr in degraded systems. Therefore, a value of >100 mm/hr is selected as the benchmark representing a state of high ecological function.
Soil Water Infiltration Rate (SWIR) representing a state of high ecological health for livestock grazing and pasture systems within Australia's Tropical and Subtropical Maritime Islands biome.
This benchmark defines the minimum soil water infiltration rate indicating high ecological health in livestock grazing and pasture systems in Australia's Tropical & Subtropical Maritime Islands biome. Rates above 100 mm/hr reflect well-structured soils under best-practice grazing management, promoting pasture health and drought resilience.
Derived from a weight-of-evidence approach synthesizing inherent soil properties, analogous tropical grazing system data, and universally accepted principles of soil physics and grazing ecology.
Sources (1)
Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health Technical Reference 1734-6 version 5 - Bureau of Land Management, accessed July 18, 2025,
View SourceSupporting Sources (2)
Additional references from the underlying research that informed this benchmark.
Ludwig, J.A., Bastin, G.N., Chewings, V.H., Eager, R.W., and Liedloff, A.C. (2005). Clearing savannas for use as rangelands in Queensland: Altered landscapes and water-erosion processes. Rangeland Journal, 27(2), 135-149.
View Source
Cattle : Norfolk Blue | RARE BREEDS TRUST OF AUSTRALIA | TidyHQ, accessed July 30, 2025,
View Source