Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Pores (the spaces that exist between soil particles) provide for the passage and/or retention of gasses and moisture within the soil profile.The soil's ability to retain water is strongly related to particle size; water molecules hold more tightly to the fine particles of a clay soil than to coarser particles of a sandy soil, so clays generally retain more water. [2]
Water retention curve is the relationship between the water content, θ, and the soil water potential, ψ. The soil moisture curve is characteristic for different types of soil, and is also called the soil moisture characteristic. It is used to predict the soil water storage, water supply to the plants (field capacity) and soil aggregate stability.
The nominal definition of field capacity (expressed symbolically as θ fc) is the bulk water content retained in soil at −33 kPa (or −0.33 bar) of hydraulic head or suction pressure. The term originated from Israelsen and West [ 1 ] and Frank Veihmeyer and Arthur Hendrickson.
Soil chemistry is the study of the chemical characteristics of soil.Soil chemistry is affected by mineral composition, organic matter and environmental factors. In the early 1870s a consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society in England, named J. Thomas Way, performed many experiments on how soils exchange ions, and is considered the father of soil chemistry. [1]
Cation-exchange capacity (CEC) is a measure of how many cations can be retained on soil particle surfaces. [1] Negative charges on the surfaces of soil particles bind positively-charged atoms or molecules (cations), but allow these to exchange with other positively charged particles in the surrounding soil water. [2]
Soil texture affects soil behaviour, in particular, its retention capacity for nutrients (e.g., cation exchange capacity) [8] and water. Sand and silt are the products of physical and chemical weathering of the parent rock ; [ 9 ] clay, on the other hand, is most often the product of the precipitation of the dissolved parent rock as a secondary ...
The benefits of SOM result from several complex, interactive, edaphic factors; a non-exhaustive list of these benefits to soil function includes improvement of soil structure, aggregation, water retention, soil biodiversity, absorption and retention of pollutants, buffering capacity, and the cycling and storage of plant nutrients.
The fraction of water held back in the aquifer is known as specific retention. Thus it can be said that porosity is the sum of specific yield and specific retention. Specific yield of soils differ from each other in the sense that some soil types have strong molecular attraction with the water held in their pores while others have less.