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Clay is generally considered undesirable for agriculture, although some amount of clay is a necessary component of good soil. Compared to other soils, clay soils are less suitable for crops due to their tendency to retain water, and require artificial drainage and tillage to make suitable for planting.
For freshwater aquaria, gravel is the most common substrate. To prevent damage to fish, gravel should not be sharp. Aquarium gravel can be as coarse as pea-sized or as fine as 1–2 mm. [1] It is available in a number of colors, and may be naturally colored or dyed, and may have a polymer seal to ensure it does not affect water chemistry. [1]
When clay is deposited in the ocean, the presence of excess ions in seawater causes a loose, open structure of the clay particles to form, a process known as flocculation. Once stranded and dried by ancient changing ocean levels, this open framework means that such clay is open to water infiltration.
But it is the clay content of soil, with its very high specific surface area and generally large number of negative charges, that gives a soil its high retention capacity for water and nutrients. [11] Clay soils also resist wind and water erosion better than silty and sandy soils, as the particles bond tightly to each other, [14] and that with ...
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]
In soils, clay is a soil textural class and is defined in a physical sense as any mineral particle less than 2 μm (8 × 10 −5 in) in effective diameter. Many soil minerals, such as gypsum , carbonates, or quartz, are small enough to be classified as clay based on their physical size, but chemically they do not afford the same utility as do ...
In the horticultural practice of hydroponics, LECA is a favored medium for growing plants within; the round shape provides excellent aeration at the root level, while the LECA clay pieces themselves become saturated with water and plant food, thus giving the roots a consistent supply of both. So-called semi-hydroponics or passive hydroponics ...
The dominant material is the montmorillonite clay material which has a high swell and shrinks characteristics depending on the soil water content. In the dry season, evaporation moves water from the deep horizon toward the soil surface through capillary action. The water removal results in shrinkage of clay, and the soil becomes dry and hard.