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Soil sieve nests with dry soil aggregates after removal from a laboratory drying oven. Soil aggregate stability is a measure of the ability of soil aggregates—soil particles that bind together—to resist breaking apart when exposed to external forces such as water erosion and wind erosion, shrinking and swelling processes, and tillage.
Soil structure affects aeration, water movement, conduction of heat, plant root growth and resistance to erosion. [26] Water, in turn, has a strong effect on soil structure, directly via the dissolution and precipitation of minerals, the mechanical destruction of aggregates [27] and indirectly by promoting plant, animal and microbial growth.
In geotechnical engineering, soil compaction is the process in which stress applied to a soil causes densification as air is displaced from the pores between the soil grains. When stress is applied that causes densification due to water (or other liquid) being displaced from between the soil grains, then consolidation , not compaction, has ...
Platy structure is usually found in subsurface soils that have been subject to leaching or compaction by animals or machinery. The plates can be separated with a little effort by prying the horizontal layers with a pen knife. Platy structure tends to impede the downward movement of water and plant roots through the soil.
Severe soil compaction may cause reduced microbial biomass. [30] Soil compaction may not influence the quantity, but the distribution of macro fauna that is vital for soil structure including earthworms due to reduction in large pores. [9] [31] All these factors affect plant growth negatively, and thus lead to reduced crop yields in most cases ...
This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms.It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions from sub-disciplines and related fields, see Glossary of cell biology, Glossary of genetics, Glossary of evolutionary biology, Glossary of ecology ...
Cementation may refer to: Cementation (biology) , the process whereby some sessile bivalve mollusks (and some other shelled invertebrates) attach themselves permanently to a hard substrate Cementation (geology) , the process of deposition of dissolved mineral components in the interstices of sediments
(pl.) aboiteaux A sluice or conduit built beneath a coastal dike, with a hinged gate or a one-way valve that closes during high tide, preventing salt water from flowing into the sluice and flooding the land behind the dike, but remains open during low tide, allowing fresh water precipitation and irrigation runoff to drain from the land into the sea; or a method of land reclamation which relies ...