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COARSE PARTICLE DISTRIBUTION IN THE SKELETON OF SOME COARSE‐ TO MEDIUM‐TEXTURED SOILS 1
Author(s) -
SWANSON C. L. W.,
RITCHIE A.,
DOEHNE H. A.
Publication year - 1955
Publication title -
journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 0022-4588
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1955.tb00844.x
Subject(s) - soil water , compaction , organic matter , environmental science , acre , hydrology (agriculture) , soil science , agronomy , geotechnical engineering , geology , biology , ecology , agroforestry
In New England many of the soils are predominantly sandy and gravelly. Because of the intensive agriculture practised, costing as much as $2,000 per acre to produce some crops, obtaining quantitative data on the content and distribution of coarse particles in the profiles of these soils is useful in predicting their behaviour in the growing of highly specialized crops. For example, the highest quality cigar tobacco is grown on the coarser‐textured soils. A quantitative study of the coarse particles in ten profiles each of the Hinckley and Merrimac series and four profiles each of the Cheshire and Enfield series has been made. The Hinckley was outstanding in containing more than 60 per cent. gravel in the D 1 ; the Merrimac was intermediate with 25 per cent. in the D 2 ; the Cheshire and Enfield next in order with about 20 per cent. in the substratum. For the Cheshire and Enfield soils, the gravel content was about 2 per cent. greater in the A p , horizon of the cultivated soil than in the forested counterpart. Organic matter losses and compaction decreased their total porosity 25 per cent. These factors plus removal of stones for cultivation are thought to account for about one‐half of the reduction in thickness of the solum; the remainder probably is due to soil removal by erosion.