MODIFIED FALLING HEAD PERMEAMETER ANALYSES OF SOILS FROM TWO SOUTH FLORIDA WETLANDS1

ABSTRACT: The vertical hydraulic conductivity for upward and downward flow conditions was investigated under controlled laboratory conditions for intact cores of organic sediments from two south Florida wetlands ‐ one cypress dome and one emergent marsh. A modified falling head permeameter apparatus was constructed for this effort; the methodology for analyzing the data from the apparatus was generalized and simplified from a previously published version. For the two study wetlands, the hydraulic conductivity in the downward flow direction varied from 77 to 89 percent of that in the upward flow direction.