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A Unifying Quantitative Analysis of Soil Texture: Improvement of Precision and Extension of Scale
Author(s) -
Shirazi Mostafa A.,
Boersma Larry,
Hart J. Warren
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1988.03615995005200010032x
Subject(s) - silt , soil water , soil texture , log normal distribution , standard deviation , soil science , scale (ratio) , texture (cosmology) , particle size distribution , particle (ecology) , particle size , mathematics , basis (linear algebra) , soil test , mineralogy , statistical physics , statistics , environmental science , geology , computer science , physics , geometry , artificial intelligence , geomorphology , paleontology , oceanography , quantum mechanics , image (mathematics)
This paper extends a procedure for transforming the standard textural triangle into a new diagram based on mean particle size, d g , and standard deviations of particle size, σ g . Values of d g and σ g , obtained from the mechanical analysis on percents of clay, silt, and sand, provide a unified basis for comparing soils and physical and chemical properties of the soils. It is shown that the procedure proposed earlier is valid for samples that do not have a lognormal distribution for the whole sample. Using this approach, samples with very different distributions of each fraction can be accurately described. Information from different classification systems (e.g., USDA, ISSS, and engineering) can be used to calculate d g and σ g , thus making it possible to unify the systems. The procedure further makes it possible to extend the scale to include particles with diameters > 2 mm. Mean particle size and standard deviates are correlated with soil properties. An application is shown in the from of a relationship between water retention and d g and σ g .