Methods for Measuring the Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Tills

The texture of tills excludes many of the traditional methods for measurement of the saturated hydraulic conductivity. The hydraulic conductivity is scale dependent and for massive relatively homogeneous till a representative sample volume of 10⁴-10⁵ cm³ is suggested. There are no ideal methods for measuring the saturated hydraulic conductivity in till and type of method and equipment should be carefully selected. Studies comparing and evaluating different methods for use in till are few. Comparative studies should be carried out. In the unsaturated zone a variant of the inverse auger hole method using a constant head and a lined pit is recommended. In the saturated zone measurements in dug wells are considered as the most representative method. Correlative methods can only be used for very approximate predictions of the saturated hydraulic conductivity in till.