The effect of air-drying of soil samples upon some physical soil properties.

Abstract

Air drying of mountain soils (weakly podzolized brown forest types) which developed under a humid tropical climate appreciably increased the coarser fractions and decreased the finer fractions and the consistency values (plastic number, sticky point, etc.) of the samples. It appears that silicic-acid gels in these soils underwent an irreversible dehydration and exerted a vigourous cementing action on the soil particles. By this mechanism, and possibly due to some change in the nature of the organic matter, the characteristics of air-dried soils changed from that of a plastic clay to a coarse to medium sand of considerably lower water-holding capacity. Results suggest that samples of tropical soils of humid climates in particular should be analysed in their original moist state. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)