Soil Water Infiltration Rate

AUS-TSR-CON-SWI General High confidence

Benchmark Value

10 mm/hr

Thresholds: Lower: 10, Upper: —

Direction: Lower is desirable ↓

Form: MinimumOnly

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.

Contributing Benchmarks

OptimalRange Primary Point Guard OptimalRange Guard LowerThreshold Guard Point Guard OptimalRange Guard MinimumOnly Guard

Evidence & Context

A Critical Failure Threshold can be defined at < 10 mm/hr.

Metric Definition:

Soil water infiltration rate below which the soil is effectively sealed, promoting massive runoff and erosion.

Benchmark Definition:

This benchmark defines the critical failure threshold for soil water infiltration rate below which the soil is effectively sealed, leading to severe runoff and erosion in tropical and subtropical rainforest soils under conservation management in Australia.

Justification:

Research on agricultural soils shows that infiltration rates below this level generate significant runoff and erosion, indicating severe degradation.

Sources (2)

Chapter 5 Soil crusting and sealing - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GreyLiterature

Chapter 5 Soil crusting and sealing - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

View Source

Soil challenge - Method guides collection - v04 - partner ...

Soils with low infiltration capacity - Minnesota Stormwater Manual

View Source

Supporting Sources (6)

Additional references from the underlying research that informed this benchmark.

(PDF) Impacts of soil damage by grazing livestock on crop productivity

Direct Evidence Journal

Early Response of Soil Properties and Function to Riparian Rainforest Restoration | PLOS One - Research journals

View Source

Bioregions and EVC benchmarks - Environment, accessed August 5, 2025,

Direct Evidence Government

Eastern NSW Plant Community Type Percentage Cleared Calculation Technical Notes - Environment and Heritage

View Source

Early Response of Soil Properties and Function to Riparian Rainforest Restoration - PMC, accessed August 2, 2025

Direct Evidence Journal

Early response of soil properties and function to riparian rainforest restoration - UQ eSpace

View Source

Early response of soil properties and function to riparian rainforest restoration - PubMed, accessed August 2, 2025

Direct Evidence Journal

Early response of soil properties and function to riparian rainforest restoration - PubMed

View Source

Preview of Gageler, R., et al. (2014). Restoring soil carbon, nitrogen and functionality in an Australian tropical catchment: a chronosequence approach. PLOS ONE, 9(8), e104198.

Gageler, R., et al. (2014). Restoring soil carbon, nitrogen and functionality in an Australian tropical catchment: a chronosequence approach. PLOS ONE, 9(8), e104198.

Direct Evidence Journal

Early Response of Soil Properties and Function to Riparian Rainforest Restoration - PMC

View Source

Runoff generation in tropical forests (Chapter 14) - Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics - Cambridge University Press

Contextual Support GreyLiterature

Soil erosion as a resilience drain in disturbed tropical forests

View Source

Context

Region Australia
Biome Tropical & Subtropical Rainforests
Land Use Conservation / Protected Natural Areas
Assessment Conservation Target
Evidence Type DegradationThreshold

Lifecycle

Status Active
Version 1
Effective From 22 Mar 2026

Notes

At this level, the soil is effectively sealed, promoting massive runoff and erosion, and is on a trajectory that can lead to irreversible land degradation. ConsistencyResolver applied 2026-03-23 00:15 UTC: UpperThreshold 10 → (check: MaxBelowPointValue, rationale: Clearing UpperThreshold removes the misclassification as MaximumOnly, allowing auto-correction to MinimumOnly form.) ConsistencyResolver applied 2026-03-23 00:15 UTC: LowerThreshold → 10 (check: MaxBelowPointValue, rationale: The Notes state 'A Critical Failure Threshold can be defined at < 10 mm/hr' indicating this is a lower threshold. Moving the value to LowerThreshold will auto-correct the form to MinimumOnly, resolving the contradiction.) [Auto-corrected BenchmarkForm: MaximumOnly → MinimumOnly] ConsistencyResolver applied 2026-03-23 00:15 UTC: UpperThreshold 10 → (check: MaxBelowOptimalLow, rationale: Clearing UpperThreshold after moving the value to LowerThreshold to avoid duplicate threshold values and allow form auto-correction.) ConsistencyResolver applied 2026-03-23 00:15 UTC: LowerThreshold → 10 (check: MaxBelowOptimalLow, rationale: The Notes state that infiltration rates below 10 mm/hr indicate severe degradation, so the threshold is a lower limit. Moving the value from UpperThreshold to LowerThreshold will correct the form to MinimumOnly, resolving the contradiction.)

Related Benchmarks

Other benchmarks in the AUS-TSR-CON-SWI family.