Freezing effects on aggregate stability affected by texture, mineralogy, and organic matter

Lehrsch, G.A. and Sojka, R.E. and Carter, D.L. and Jolley, P.M. (1991) Freezing effects on aggregate stability affected by texture, mineralogy, and organic matter. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 55:1401-1406.

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Abstract

Aggregate stability, an important property influencing a soil's response
to erosive forces, is affected by freezing. The objectives of
this laboratory study were to determine how constrainment, number
of freeze-thaw cycles, and water content at freezing affect the aggregate
stability of six continental USA soils differing in texture,
mineralogy, and organic-matter content. Moist aggregates, after
being frozen and thawed either zero, one, three, or five times, were
vapor wetted to 0.30 kg kg-1 and analyzed by wet sieving. Soils with
clay contents of 17% or more and organic-matter contents >3% were
the most stable after freezing. Aggregate stability for fine- and medium-textured
soils generally decreased linearly with increasing
water content at freezing. This linear decrease in stability was more
rapid for constrained samples than for unconstrained samples. The
stability of field-moist aggregates generally increased from zero to
one or three freeze-thaw cycles. For at least one low-organic-matter
soil, stability increased from one to three freeze-thaw cycles, but
then decreased at five cycles. After thawing, aggregates at water
contents of 0.15 kg kg-1 or more that were constrained when frozen
were always significantly less stable than aggregates that were unconstrained
when frozen.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0755
Subjects:	Soil > Chemistry Soil Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Users 6 not found.
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:53
Last Modified:	06 Dec 2016 23:48
Item ID:	564
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/564