Soil Mineralogy and Texture Effects on Crust Micromorphology, Infiltration, and Erosion

Chemical migration during soil water retention curve evaluation

“…In soils dominated by 2:1 clays (Vertisols), the aggregate stability is mainly affected by polyvalent metal-organic matter complexes that form bridges among the negatively charged clay platelets. In 1:1 clay-dominated soils, the stability is attributed to the binding capacity of the minerals themselves (Wakindiki and Ben-Hur 2002). Previous studies show that our studied soils are not composed by swelling clays that present large content of smectite clay minerals.…”

Soil mineralogy and slope effects on infiltration, interrill erosion, and slope factor

“…In contrast, the differences in soil loss between Neve Ya'ar and Netanya soils were small, but they were statistically significant on the 20 and 25% gradients. Lower soil losses from the kaolinitic soil compared with those from the smectitic soils were attributed to the higher aggregate stability (less detachment) [Wakindiki and Ben-Hur, 2002] and lower runoff rate (lower transport capacity) ( Table 2 and Figure 1) of the former soil.…”

“…These results suggest that the soil mineralogy had a dominant effect on seal formation and IR, and that, for the studied smectitic soils, the soil texture and organic matter content affected the rate of seal formation but not the final IR. The effects of soil mineralogy on aggregate stability, and on seal formation and micromorphology in the studied soils are discussed in more detail in a previous paper [Wakindiki and Ben-Hur, 2002]. The effects of slope steepness on the IR of the various soils is discussed below.…”

“…Simultaneously with the breakdown and dispersion of the aggregates by drop impact, a structural seal is formed at the soil surface [Morin et al, 1981]. This seal is characterized by greater density, finer pores, and lower saturated hydraulic conductivity than the underlying soil [Chen et al, 1980;Morin et al, 1981;Valentin and Bresson, 1992;Bielders et al, 1996;Wakindiki and Ben-Hur, 2002], and it simultaneously decreases the soil infiltration rate (IR) and increases runoff [Morin et al, 1981]. Ben-Hur et al [1985, 1987 indicated that seal formation is the dominant factor that controls soil IR under arid and semiarid conditions.…”

“…Singer [1994] reviewed the effects of clay min-eralogy on soil dispersivity, and concluded that smectitic soils were the most, and kaolinitic soils the least, dispersive with the dispersivity of illitic soils being intermediate but sometimes exceeding that of smectitic soils. Stern et al [1991], Ben-Hur et al [1992], Romkens et al [1995], Mermut et al [1995Mermut et al [ , 1997, Ben-Hur and Agassi [1997], and Wakindiki and Ben-Hur [2002] concluded that soil mineralogy has important effects on seal formation, runoff and soil loss, and Bradford and Blanchar [1999] reported on the effects of clay mineralogy on rill erosion. In spite of the above studies, the effect of soil mineralogy on these phenomena has received much less attention than those of other factors.…”