An Index for Soil Pore Size Distribution

Cary, J.W. and Hayden, C.W. (1973) An Index for Soil Pore Size Distribution. Geoderma. 9:249-256.

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Abstract

An index for classifying soil pore size distribution is proposed. The arithmetic mean change in
percent soil water content by weight as the tension changes from zero to 1.5 bars is used as the index.
This number characterizes the size distribution of pores with a radius of one micron or greater. A simple
equation is presented to calculate the index from soil water contents at pressure plate settings of zero,
0.2, and 1.5 bars. Moisture release curves from 3 different soils show that the index does tend to
characterize the shape of the release curve and that it is sensitive to past management which affects the
distribution of large soil pores. When all other conditions are optimum, it appears that there exists a
specific value of the index which indicates when the soil pore size distribution may be expected to
limit plant growth. It is further suggested that the index, together with penetrometer measurements
made at the 1.5-bar water content, may be used as "soil test values" for making practical management
decisions and for predicting the stability of soils under varying field conditions.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0263
Subjects:	Soil Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:51
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2017 22:13
Item ID:	244
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/244