5: Soil Physical Properties & Soil-Water Relations
- Page ID
- 14450
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Learning Objectives
- Define soil texture and understand its influence on water infiltration, percolation and soil water holding capacity
- Understand the relationship between soil texture and structure
- Describe the relationships between bulk density and porosity and particle density and porosity
- Learn to calculate bulk density, particle density, and porosity of a soil sample
- Measure soil moisture to examine the influence of density and texture on water holding capacity
- Identify conditions under which soil is most susceptible to erosion by water and wind
GOAL: To understand soil texture and structure and their influence on soilwater relations
Additional resources:
- Chapter 17 (Soil Erosion and its Control) of the Brady and Weil: Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils textbook
- Raindrop impact on a sandy surface video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmRY...nel=APSPhysics
- Wind erosion video by M&M Divide RC&D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQmon7Rj6ns (length 3:03)
- Soil data explorer available from UC Davis: https://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/