A Study of Factors Affecting the Stability of Soil Aggregates

Rost, C. O.; Rowles, C. A.

doi:10.2136/sssaj1941.036159950005000c0077x

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Conflicting reports have been made concerning the effect of climatic factors on the formation and destruction of soil aggregates. Several workers (Rost & Rowles, 1941;Slater & Hopp, 1949;Chepil, 1954) found that freezing and thawing did not influence aggregate stability, but the action of frost on the soil did cause breakdown of larger aggregates into smaller, though not necessarily stable, entities. Some workers (Bouyoucos, 1924;McHenry & Russell, 1943;Richardson, 1976;Utomo & Dexter, 1982) reported that wetting and drying of the soil caused aggregate formation.…”

Section: R E S U L T S a N D Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studies on aggregate stability. I. Re‐formation of soil aggregates

Chaney

Swift

1986

Journal of Soil Science

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When natural soil aggregates were destroyed by crushing, techniques traditionally used for re-forming aggregates, such as wetting/drying and freezing/thawing cycles, did not produce any stable re-formed aggregates. Incubation without amendment, was similarly unsuccessful, whereas incubation with glucose amendment did produce stable aggregates, and their stability was related both to the natural soil organic matter levels and to the original stability of the natural aggregates. However, the stability induced by incubation with glucose was of a transient nature and declined over a period of 12 weeks. This behaviour was attributed to the production of microbial, extracellular polysaccharides and their subsequent decomposition. Addition of microbial polysaccharides of known structure confirmed that such polymers were capable of producing stable re-formed aggregates without the assistance of further microbial activity. Longer term incubation showed that the stability of the re-formed aggregates also declined as soil microorganisms broke down the polysaccharide material.Neither the glucose incubation nor addition of extracellular polysaccharide was very successful in producing stable aggregates when used with soil which had been washed with salt solutions, and dialysed, to form mono-ionic soils.

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Section: R E S U L T S a N D Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studies on aggregate stability. I. Re‐formation of soil aggregates

Chaney

Swift

1986

Journal of Soil Science

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“…The susceptibility of the crumbs to mechanical dis ersion when the tance. I t is generally recognized that applying lime to heavy clay soils improves their structure, but water stability tests have failed to ick up any beneficial effect (Rost and Rowles, 1940;Baver, 1936). %his is because the soil sample is immersed in about IOO times its volume of distilled water, so that, in effect, it is the stability in distilled water which is measured.…”

Section: 52mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Determination of the Stability of Soil Crumbs

Emerson

1954

Journal of Soil Science

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I. LIMITATIONS OF EXISTING METHODS THE stability of soil crumbs has frequently been characterized by determining their resistance to breakdown in water. This may be done in two ways. In the first, originated by Tiulin (1928), the dry crumbs are placed on top of a bank of sieves, wetted, and the size distribution of the wetted crumbs determined after agitating the sieves under water. Modifications designed to prevent further breakdown when separating the wetted crumbs have been devised by Childs (1940) and by Zeller (195 I ) .The second way, due to Middleton (1930), instead of reducing mechanical breakdown after wetting to a minimum, measures the degree of dispersion roduced by a given amount of mechanical action. This is usually done ! y shaking the crumbs in water in an end-over-end shaker for a fixed time.During the last 20 years, many attempts have been made to correlate the water stability of crumbs determined by either of the above methods with the amounts of organic matter and clay present in the crumbs and the cropping history of the fields from which the crumbs were taken. The results are very variable; but there appear to be two distinct situations according to whether the crumbs come from arable soil or grassland. For grassland, a good correlation has been found between organic carbon and water stability by Ackerman and Myers (1943)~ Low ( I~s o ) , and by Russian workers under Williams. For other crops, several authors, Stauffer et al. (1940), Rogers (1939), Retzer and Russell (1941), and Ackerman and Myers (1943), have shown that the effect of the cropoutweighs any effect of organic matter on aggregate stability, and lucerne appears to be particularly effective in promoting water stability. Regarding clay content, there seems to be general agreement that it is a major factor in determining crumb stability (Puri et aZ. 1939; HCnin, 1938;and Sideri, 1938).The following pa er is an attempt to elucidate the various factors method as a whole to the problem of soil structure in the British Isles.influencing the resu Y ts obtained, and to consider the relevance of the Causes of Crumb BreakdownThe factors governing the breakdown of dry aggregates when wetted by a liquid can be broadly grouped under two main headings: slaking of the aggregates and dispersion of the clay in the aggregates. For simplicity it has been assumed that the crumbs are effectively calciumsaturated, as is normal in the British Isles. Under these conditions, breakdown due to swelling of the clay has been shown to be unimportant (Emerson and Grundy, 1953).In the following diagram the various factors are subdivided into those

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“…A study of this kind has been previously reported by Rost and Rowles [1941]. They found positive correlations between aggregation and organic matter, and between aggregation and total cation exchange capacity (defined as exchangeable H +, Mg ++, and Ca++).…”

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confidence: 75%

Erodibility of some California wildland soils related to their metallic cation exchange capacity

Wallis¹,

Stevan²

1961

J. Geophys. Res.

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The inherent erodibility of twenty soils was indexed using Middleton's dispersion ratio and Anderson's surface‐aggregation ratio. These indices were then used as dependent variables for several regression analyses. The milliequivalents per 100 grams of oven‐dried soil for the four most plentiful soil cations (Ca, Mg, K, and Na) were determined and then used as independent variables in the regressions. The best fit to the data was found to be an equation of the type: Both the linear and the curvilinear terms were significant at the arbitrarily selected 5 per cent level.

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A Study of Factors Affecting the Stability of Soil Aggregates

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Studies on aggregate stability. I. Re‐formation of soil aggregates

Studies on aggregate stability. I. Re‐formation of soil aggregates

The Determination of the Stability of Soil Crumbs

Erodibility of some California wildland soils related to their metallic cation exchange capacity

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