Advances in characterization of soil structure

https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-1987(88)90002-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Soil structure is defined as “the spatial heterogeneity of the different components or properties of soil”. Aspects of soil structure which are important for plant development, soil water balance and soil workability are reviewed briefly. The different types of soil structure which occur on different size scales are placed in a hierarchical order. Different mechanisms give rise to the different hierarchical orders. Similarly, different physical/chemical/biological processes are involved in the stabilization of the different hierarchical orders.

A number of methods for measuring soil structure are described. Preference is given to methods involving direct observation of structural features by scanning electron microscopy and by optical scanning of impregnated sections and fracture surfaces. These need to be supported by assessments of the stabilities of compound particles in water and of the mechanical strengths of compound particles as a function of water content.

“Good” soil structure is described as one where all the hierarchical orders are well-developed and stable. The greatest lack of knowledge appears to be in the 2–100 μm size range which is too large to have been studied by colloid chemists and too small to be visible to the naked eye. It is suggested that more observations of soil structure should be made in this size range, as it may hold many important clues on how to manage soil structure in the field.

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