Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A phase diagram of soil indicating the masses and volumes of air, solid, water, and voids. There are a variety of parameters used to describe the relative proportions of air, water and solid in a soil. This section defines these parameters and some of their interrelationships. [2] [6] The basic notation is as follows:
Stable stratification of fluids occurs when each layer is less dense than the one below it. Unstable stratification is when each layer is denser than the one below it. Buoyancy forces tend to preserve stable stratification; the higher layers float on the lower ones. In unstable stratification, on the other hand, buoyancy forces cause convection ...
At the next larger scale, soil structures called peds or more commonly soil aggregates are created from the soil separates when iron oxides, carbonates, clay, silica and humus, coat particles and cause them to adhere into larger, relatively stable secondary structures. [2] Soil bulk density, when determined at standardized moisture conditions ...
Soil formation, also known as pedogenesis, is the process of soil genesis as regulated by the effects of place, environment, and history. Biogeochemical processes act to both create and destroy order ( anisotropy ) within soils.
[1] [2] Depending on the characteristics of soil particles, their packing and porosity, the boundary of a saturated zone can be stable or instable, exhibiting fingering patterns known as Saffman–Taylor instability. Predicting the onset of stable vs. unstable drainage fronts is of some importance in modelling phreatic zone boundaries. [3]
Since the origin of agriculture, humans have understood that soils contain different properties which affect their ability to grow crops. [4] However, soil science did not become its own scientific discipline until the 19th century, and even then early soil scientists were broadly grouped as either "agro-chemists" or "agro-geologists" due to the enduring strong ties of soil to agriculture.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Hardsetting has been defined this way: "A hardsetting soil is one that sets to an almost homogeneous mass on drying. It may have occasional cracks, typically at a spacing of >0.1 m. Air dry hardset soil is hard and brittle, and it is not possible to push a forefinger into the profile face. Typically, it has a tensile strength of 90 kN –2 ...