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This video does a great job explaining the concept of water absorption versus run-off. It also starts to delve into how the presence of crops influences these processes. Topography affects water flow - in other words, where water sheds and where it collects. Soil texture and organic matter affect the total soil water holding capacity as well as actual plant available water (which are two different things!), so all three are working simultaneously to affect water and crop variability. The table below approximates the amount of available water by soil type. The gas tank metaphor used in this article is also helpful in understanding why different soil types have different amounts of available water.
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Viewing this Shown another way, as a table with easy to access, hard to access, and impossible to access categories:
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Viewing the table and diagram, we can understand why loamy soils - with their relatively wide range of available water are so valued in agriculture while sandy soils are notsandy soils are less desirable for many types of agriculture than loamy, silty, and clay soil types.
Putting water in the bucket
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