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Slaking characteristics of some Australian and British soils
Author(s) -
CHAN K.Y.,
MULLINS C.E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
european journal of soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.244
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2389
pISSN - 1351-0754
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1994.tb00510.x
Subject(s) - soil water , wetting , soil science , vertisol , particle size distribution , mineralogy , environmental science , chemistry , particle size , materials science , composite material
Summary Aggregates (9.5–12.7 mm) from ten soils were equilibrated at a range of matric suctions (Ψ a ) between 1 kPa and 100 MPa before immersion in water or wetting on a porous plate at zero suction. The soils were from cultivated and grassland sites and included hardsetting and non‐hardsetting Australian and British soils as well as a Vertisol. The initial rate of wetting of each aggregate, and the composition and size distribution of the slaked fragments were measured. There was a significant inverse linear relation between the amount of slaking produced by plate wetting air‐dry soil (Ψ a =100 MPa) and its organic carbon content ( r = 0.82***). The three cultivated hardsetting soils shared several common features. Their slaking was the most pronounced after plate wetting and occurred at the smallest Ψ a (10 kPa). Their slaking also increased linearly with rate of wetting and the particle‐size distribution of their slaked fragments varied significantly and considerably with Ψ a . This last observation demonstrates that it is not always helpful to call the fragments produced by slaking, microaggregates. Possible explanations for our results and their agricultural implications are discussed.