Linking Surface Water Content to Groundwater Levels in Tropical Peatlands: Insights from the van Genuchten Approach
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Submitted
June 30, 2025
Accepted
November 14, 2025
Published
February 9, 2026
Keywords:
-
carbon, groundwater level, peat hydrology unit, soil water content, van genunchten
Abstract
Tropical peatland in Indonesia have always been characterized by Peat Hydrology Units which have a function as a large amount of carbon storage and are able to regulate the hydrological cycle naturally. This study has two objectives, namely to analyze the variability of SWC, GWL, and rainfall parameters, to be able to understand the patterns of hydrological interactions in peatland
ecosystems and to explain the quantitative relationship between SWC and GWL parameters using the van Genuchten Equation (VG) approach. The study also uses a VG based soil hydraulic curve modeling approach to describe groundwater retention and its impact on groundwater surface dynamics. The results showed that the SWC value was significantly influenced by the depth of the
GWL and the intensity of rainfall, this underlined that the relationship between the two parameters is reciprocal. In addition, understanding the relationship between these parameters is very important, since the SWC value greatly determines the moisture status of the peat surface, in addition to directly the SWC value also affects the susceptibility of peat fires, while the GWL
regulates the long-term hydrological balance and carbon emission potential. Therefore, conducting this study can improve understanding of hydrological feedback in peatlands. The results of the correlation analysis between parameters in this study showed that there was a strong relationship between SWC and GWL (R² = 0.6–0.8), while the correlation between GWL and Rainfall was weak
(R² = 0.1–0.2). This suggests that SWC variation is primarily influenced by groundwater fluctuations rather than precipitation.
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References
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19. Liu,H; Janssen,M; Lennartz,B; Changes in flow and transport patterns in fen peat following soil degradation; European Journal of Soil Science, 2016, 1-11.
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21. Cooper, H. V; Vane, C. H; Evers, S; Aplin, P; Girkin, N. T; & Sjögersten, S. 2019. From peat swamp forest to oil palm plantations: The stability of tropical peatland carbon. Geoderma, 342, 109-117.
22. Page, S. E; Rieley, J. O; & Banks, C. J. 2011. Global and regional importance of the tropical peatland carbon pool. Global change biology, 17(2), 798-818.
23. Wösten, J. H. M; Clymans, E; Page, S. E; Rieley, J. O; & Limin, S. H. 2008. Peat–water interrelationships in a tropical peatland ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Catena, 73(2), 212-224.
24. Huijnen, V; Wooster, M. J; Kaiser, J. W; Gaveau, D. L; Flemming, J; Parrington, M; ... & van Weele, M. 2016. Fire carbon emissions over maritime southeast Asia in 2015 largest since 1997. Scientific reports, 6(1), 26886.
25. Van Genuchten, M. T. 1980. A closed‐form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil science society of America journal, 44(5), 892-898.
26. Shao, M; & Horton, R. 1998. Integral method for estimating soil hydraulic properties. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 62(3), 585-592.
27. Han, X. W; Shao, M. A. and Horton, R; Estimating van Genuchten model parameters of undisturbed soils using an integral method. Pedosphere. 20(1), (2010), 55–62.
28. Yang, X; & You, X. 2013. Estimating parameters of van Genuchten model for soil water retention curve by intelligent algorithms. Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences, 7(5), 1977.
29. Putra,R; Zurfi,A; Nufutomo,T.K; Lisafitri,Y; Sari,N.K; Spatial analysis of 2019 peat fire in South Sumatra convervation area. IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 830, 2021, 012038.
30. Irfan, M.; Koriyanti, E.; Saleh, K.; Hadi; Safrina, S.; Awaludin; Sulaiman, A.; Akhsan, H.; Suhadi; Suwignyo, R.A.; et al. Dynamics of Peatland Fires in South Sumatra in 2019: Role of Groundwater Levels. Land, 2024, 13, 373. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/land13030373.
31. Nurhayati,A.D; Saharjo,B.H; Sundawati,L; Syartinilia; Cochrane,M.A; Forest and Peatland Fire Dynamics in South Sumatra Province; Forest and Society, 5 (2), 2021, 591-693. http://dx.doi.org/10/24259/fs.v5i2.14435.
32. Saharjo, B.H; Research for fire prevention management in Indonesia (smoke, haze, GHG emission reduction, and Deforestation), Journal of Tropical Silviculturem 13 (1); (2022), 1-13.
33. Syaufina,L; Saharjo,B.H; Nurhayati,A.D; Putra,E.I; Wardana,W; Soil responses on peatland fire: case studies in Jambi and central Kalimantan, Journal of Tropical Silviculture, 13 (1), 2022, 66-71.
34. Saharjo; B.H; Zulkarnain, M.R.P; Fire forest and land control by community in pematang Rahim village, Jambi Province, Journal of Tropical Silviculture, 15 (2), 2024, 169-176.
35. Schwarzel,K; Simunek,J; Stoffregen,H; Wessolek,G; van Genuchten, M.Th; Estimation of the Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Peat Soils: Laboratory versus Field Data; Vadose Zone Journal, 5, 2006, 628-640.
36. Touma,J; Comparison of the soil hydraulic conductivity predicted from its water retention expressed by the equation of van Genuchten and different capillary models; European Journal of Soil Science, 60, 2009, 671–680.
37. Rudiyanto; Minasny,B; Shah,B.M; Setiawan, B.I; van Genuchten,M.T; Simple functions for describing soil water retention and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity from saturation to complete dryness; Journal of Hydrology 588. 2020. 125041.
38. Wosten, J.H.M; Clyman,E; Page,S.E; Rieley, J.O; Limin, S.H; Peat-water interrelationship in a tropical peatland ecosystem in Southeast Asia, Catena, 73 .2008, 212-224.
39. Menberu, M. W; Marttila, H; Ronkanen, A.-K; Haghighi, A. T; & Kløve, B. 2021. Hydraulic and physical properties of managed and intact peatlands: Application of the van Genuchten-Mualem models to peat soils. Water Resources Research, 57, e2020WR028624. https://doi. org/10.1029/2020WR028624
40. Szatylowicz,J; Papienrowska,E; Gnatokwski,T; Szejba,D; Lacharcz, A; Effect of vegetation cover and soil moisture on water repellency persistence of drained peat soils; Biologia, July 2024; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-024-01735-0
41. Hooijer, A; Page, S; Jauhiainen, J; Lee, W. A; Lu, X. X; Idris, A; & Anshari, G. 2012. Subsidence and carbon loss in drained tropicalpeatlands. Biogeosciences, 9(3), 1053-1071.
42. Page, S. E; & Baird, A. J. (2016). Peatlands and global change: response and resilience. Annual review of environment and resources, 41(1), 35-57.
43. Taufk M, Widyastuti MT, Sulaiman A et al; An improved drought-fire assessment for managing fire risks in tropical peatlands. Agric for Meteorol, 312(15), 2022, 108738.
44. Wösten, J. H. M; Clymans, E; Page, S. E; Rieley, J. O; & Limin, S. H. 2008. Peat–water interrelationships in a tropical peatland ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Catena, 73(2), 212-224.
2. Dohong, A; Aziz, A.A; Dargusch, P. A review of the drivers of tropical peatland degradation in South-East Asia, Land Use Policy, 69, 2017, 349-360. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.09.035.
3. Mishras; Page,S.E.; Cobb,A;Lee, J.S.H;Sancho,A.J.J., Sjorgersten,S., Jaya,A., Aswandi., Wardle, D.A.,
Degradation of Southeast Asian tropical peatlands and integrated strategies for their better
and restoration, J. Applied Ecology, 58, 2021, 1370-1387. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13905
4. Brown, C; Boyd, D.S; Sjo¨gersten S; Vane, C.H. Detecting tropical peatland degradation: Combiningremote sensing and organic geochemistry. PLoS ONE, 18 (3), 2023, e0280187. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280187.
5. Leifeld, J; Wüst-Galley, C; Page, S. Intact and managed peatland soils as a source and sink of GHGs from 1850 to 2100. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9, 2019, 945–947. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0615-5
6. Osaki, M; Tsuji, N; Foead,N; Rieley, J. Tropical Peatland Eco-management, Springer 2021.
7. Taufik,M; Widyastuti,M.T; Sulaiman,A; Murdiyarso,D; Santikayasa,I.P; Minasny,B. An improved drought-fire assessment for managing fire risks in tropical peatlands., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 312, (15), 2022, 108738-108743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108738.
8. Irfan, M; Koriyanti, E; Saleh, K; Hadi; Safrina, S; Awaludin; Sulaiman, A; Akhsan, H& Suhadi, & Suwignyo, Rujito & Choi, Eunho & Iskandar, Iskhaq. Dynamics of Peatland Fires in South Sumatra in 2019: Role of Groundwater Levels. Land. 13. 2024, 373. 10.3390/land13030373.
9. Hamdi, Saipul, Syahril Rizal, Takashi Shibata, Arief Darmawan, Muhammad Irfan, and Albert Sulaiman. "The dispersion of smoke haze from peatland fires over South Sumatra during the moderate El Niño of 2023." Natural Hazards 121, no. 1 (2025): 1095-1116.
10. Sulaiman, A; Osaki, M; Takahashi, H. et al. Peatland groundwater level in the Indonesian maritime continent as an alert for El Niño and moderate positive Indian Ocean dipole events. Sci Rep 13, (2023), 939. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-27393-x.
11. Hirano, T; Segah,H; Harada, T; Limin,S; June,T; Hirata,R; Osaki,M; Carbon dioxide balance of a tropical peat swamp forest in Kalimantan, Indonesia., Global Change Biology., 13, 2007, 412–425, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01301.x.
12. Hirano,T; Segah,H; Kusin,K; Limin,S; Takahashi,H and Osaki,M; Effects of disturbances on the carbon balance of tropical peat swamp forests, Global Change Biology 2012, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02793.
13. Sundari, S; Hirano,T; Yamana,H; Kusin,K; Limin, S; Effect of groundwater level on soil respiration in tropical peat swamp forest, J. Agric. Meteorol, 68 (2), 2012, 121-134.
14. Camporese, M; S. Ferraris, M. Putti, P. Salandin, and P. Teatini; Hydrological modeling in swelling/shrinking peat soils, Water Resour. Res; 42, 2006 W06420, doi:10.1029/2005WR004495.
15. Tian, Z; Gao, W; Kool, D; Ren, T; Horton, R; & Heitman, J. L; Approaches for estimating soil water retention curves at various bulk densities with the extended van Genuchten model. Water Resources Research, 54, 2018, 5584–5601. https://doi. org/10.1029/2018WR022871.
16. Weber, T. K; Finkel, M; da Conceição Gonçalves, M; Vereecken, H; & Diamantopoulos, E. (2020). Pedotransfer function for the Brunswick soil hydraulic property model and comparison to the van Genuchten‐Mualem model. Water resources research, 56(9), e2019WR026820.
17. Holden, J; Wallage, Z. E; Lane, S. N; & McDonald, A. T. 2011. Water table dynamics in undisturbed, drained and restored blanket peat. Journal of Hydrology, 402(1-2), 103-114.
18. Boonman, J; Hefting, M. M; van Huissteden, C. J; van den Berg, M; van Huissteden, J; Erkens, G; ... & van der Velde, Y. 2022. Cutting peatland CO 2 emissions with water management practices. Biogeosciences, 19(24), 5707-5727.
19. Liu,H; Janssen,M; Lennartz,B; Changes in flow and transport patterns in fen peat following soil degradation; European Journal of Soil Science, 2016, 1-11.
20. Lennartz, B; & Liu, H. 2019. Hydraulic functions of peat soils and ecosystem service. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 7, 92.
21. Cooper, H. V; Vane, C. H; Evers, S; Aplin, P; Girkin, N. T; & Sjögersten, S. 2019. From peat swamp forest to oil palm plantations: The stability of tropical peatland carbon. Geoderma, 342, 109-117.
22. Page, S. E; Rieley, J. O; & Banks, C. J. 2011. Global and regional importance of the tropical peatland carbon pool. Global change biology, 17(2), 798-818.
23. Wösten, J. H. M; Clymans, E; Page, S. E; Rieley, J. O; & Limin, S. H. 2008. Peat–water interrelationships in a tropical peatland ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Catena, 73(2), 212-224.
24. Huijnen, V; Wooster, M. J; Kaiser, J. W; Gaveau, D. L; Flemming, J; Parrington, M; ... & van Weele, M. 2016. Fire carbon emissions over maritime southeast Asia in 2015 largest since 1997. Scientific reports, 6(1), 26886.
25. Van Genuchten, M. T. 1980. A closed‐form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil science society of America journal, 44(5), 892-898.
26. Shao, M; & Horton, R. 1998. Integral method for estimating soil hydraulic properties. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 62(3), 585-592.
27. Han, X. W; Shao, M. A. and Horton, R; Estimating van Genuchten model parameters of undisturbed soils using an integral method. Pedosphere. 20(1), (2010), 55–62.
28. Yang, X; & You, X. 2013. Estimating parameters of van Genuchten model for soil water retention curve by intelligent algorithms. Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences, 7(5), 1977.
29. Putra,R; Zurfi,A; Nufutomo,T.K; Lisafitri,Y; Sari,N.K; Spatial analysis of 2019 peat fire in South Sumatra convervation area. IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 830, 2021, 012038.
30. Irfan, M.; Koriyanti, E.; Saleh, K.; Hadi; Safrina, S.; Awaludin; Sulaiman, A.; Akhsan, H.; Suhadi; Suwignyo, R.A.; et al. Dynamics of Peatland Fires in South Sumatra in 2019: Role of Groundwater Levels. Land, 2024, 13, 373. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/land13030373.
31. Nurhayati,A.D; Saharjo,B.H; Sundawati,L; Syartinilia; Cochrane,M.A; Forest and Peatland Fire Dynamics in South Sumatra Province; Forest and Society, 5 (2), 2021, 591-693. http://dx.doi.org/10/24259/fs.v5i2.14435.
32. Saharjo, B.H; Research for fire prevention management in Indonesia (smoke, haze, GHG emission reduction, and Deforestation), Journal of Tropical Silviculturem 13 (1); (2022), 1-13.
33. Syaufina,L; Saharjo,B.H; Nurhayati,A.D; Putra,E.I; Wardana,W; Soil responses on peatland fire: case studies in Jambi and central Kalimantan, Journal of Tropical Silviculture, 13 (1), 2022, 66-71.
34. Saharjo; B.H; Zulkarnain, M.R.P; Fire forest and land control by community in pematang Rahim village, Jambi Province, Journal of Tropical Silviculture, 15 (2), 2024, 169-176.
35. Schwarzel,K; Simunek,J; Stoffregen,H; Wessolek,G; van Genuchten, M.Th; Estimation of the Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Peat Soils: Laboratory versus Field Data; Vadose Zone Journal, 5, 2006, 628-640.
36. Touma,J; Comparison of the soil hydraulic conductivity predicted from its water retention expressed by the equation of van Genuchten and different capillary models; European Journal of Soil Science, 60, 2009, 671–680.
37. Rudiyanto; Minasny,B; Shah,B.M; Setiawan, B.I; van Genuchten,M.T; Simple functions for describing soil water retention and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity from saturation to complete dryness; Journal of Hydrology 588. 2020. 125041.
38. Wosten, J.H.M; Clyman,E; Page,S.E; Rieley, J.O; Limin, S.H; Peat-water interrelationship in a tropical peatland ecosystem in Southeast Asia, Catena, 73 .2008, 212-224.
39. Menberu, M. W; Marttila, H; Ronkanen, A.-K; Haghighi, A. T; & Kløve, B. 2021. Hydraulic and physical properties of managed and intact peatlands: Application of the van Genuchten-Mualem models to peat soils. Water Resources Research, 57, e2020WR028624. https://doi. org/10.1029/2020WR028624
40. Szatylowicz,J; Papienrowska,E; Gnatokwski,T; Szejba,D; Lacharcz, A; Effect of vegetation cover and soil moisture on water repellency persistence of drained peat soils; Biologia, July 2024; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-024-01735-0
41. Hooijer, A; Page, S; Jauhiainen, J; Lee, W. A; Lu, X. X; Idris, A; & Anshari, G. 2012. Subsidence and carbon loss in drained tropicalpeatlands. Biogeosciences, 9(3), 1053-1071.
42. Page, S. E; & Baird, A. J. (2016). Peatlands and global change: response and resilience. Annual review of environment and resources, 41(1), 35-57.
43. Taufk M, Widyastuti MT, Sulaiman A et al; An improved drought-fire assessment for managing fire risks in tropical peatlands. Agric for Meteorol, 312(15), 2022, 108738.
44. Wösten, J. H. M; Clymans, E; Page, S. E; Rieley, J. O; & Limin, S. H. 2008. Peat–water interrelationships in a tropical peatland ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Catena, 73(2), 212-224.
Authors
Putri, A.I. (2026) “Linking Surface Water Content to Groundwater Levels in Tropical Peatlands: Insights from the van Genuchten Approach”, Jurnal Pengelolaan Sumberdaya Alam dan Lingkungan (Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Management), 16(1), p. 65. doi:10.29244/jpsl.16.1.65.
Copyright (c) 2026 Atfi Indriany Putri, Projo Danoedoro, Albertus Sulaiman, Andung Bayu Sekaranom
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How to Cite
Putri, A.I. (2026) “Linking Surface Water Content to Groundwater Levels in Tropical Peatlands: Insights from the van Genuchten Approach”, Jurnal Pengelolaan Sumberdaya Alam dan Lingkungan (Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Management), 16(1), p. 65. doi:10.29244/jpsl.16.1.65.
