Soil texture

Soil texture refers to the composition of the soil in terms of the amounts of small (clays),
medium (silts), and large (sands) size particles. The primary particles of sand, silt, and clay
make up the inorganic solid phase of the soil.

In general, the size of soil particles and their spacing determine how much water can flow
through the soil. The larger the spacing, or pore size, the greater the infiltration rate. Thus,
sandy soils will have high infiltration rates because pore sizes are large and there are no finer
materials to block the pores. This soil texture is so important because it influence water-
holding capacity, water infiltration, nutrients retention and erodibility of the soil.

Hydrometer Method.

The most common method for determining soil texture is the hydrometer method.

In this method, the soil particles are dispersed with a sodium metaphosphate (calgon) and

then agitated. After dispersion, the amount of each particle group (sand, silt, clay) are
determined by using a hydrometer (see picture). The hydrometer measures the number of
particles in suspension. The principal of Stokes law, which states that particles will fall out of
suspension at different rates over time, based on particle size, is used to determine the amount
of each particle size present in a soil. The amount of each particle fraction, sand, silt and clay,
determines the soil texture.
 Dispersed suspension is poured into a tall cylinder with a hydrometer

 Hydrometer reading is noted at 40 seconds for sand (quantity of silt + clay can be
determined)
  Reading noted after 1 hour for silt and after 2 hours for clay

pipet method

The pipet method is used when the quantity of a sample is too small to be analysed by the
hydrometer method. The pipet method also uses particle settling rate to determine the
percentage of sand, silt and clay in each soil sample. 

 Dispersed solution is poured into a cylinder

 A given volume of the suspension is drawn off

 Withdrawn portion is evaporated and sediment is weighed

 Density of the suspension is determined

 Percentage of particles settled is determined

Soil colour

Soil colour is produced by the minerals present and by the organic matter content.
Yellow or red soil indicates the presence of oxidized ferric iron oxides. Dark brown or black
colour in soil indicates that the soil has a high organic matter. Wet soil will appear darker
than dry soil.

However, the presence of water also affects soil colour by affecting the oxidation rate.

 Soil that has a high-water content will have less air in the soil, specifically
less oxygen. In well drained (and therefore oxygen rich) soils.

 red and brown colours caused by oxidation are more common, as opposed to in wet
(low oxygen) soils where the soil usually appears grey or greenish by the presence of
reduced iron oxide.

The presence of other minerals can also affect soil colour.

manganese oxide causes a black colour, gluconate makes the soil green, and calcite can make
soil in arid regions appear white.

Organic matter tends to make the soil colour darker. Humus, the final stage of organic matter
breakdown, is black. Throughout the stages of organic matter breakdown, the colour imparted
to the soil varies from browns to black. Sodium content influences the depth of colour of
organic matter and therefore the soil. Sodium causes the organic matter (humus) to disperse
more readily and spread over the soil particles, making the soil look darker (blacker). Soils
which accumulate charcoal exhibit a black colour.

Soil porosity

Soils are made of particles of different types and sizes. The space between particles is
called pore space. Pore space determines the amount of water that a given volume of soil can
hold. Porosity refers to how many pores, or holes, a soil has. The porosity of a soil is
expressed as a percentage of the total volume of the soil material. Porosity is an important
measurement in areas where drinking water is provided by groundwater reserves.

The first equation uses the total volume and the volume of the void.
porosity = (volume of voids / total volume) * 100%
The second equation uses the total volume and the volume of the solid.

Porosity = (( thotal volume – volume of the solid) / total volume) * 100%

Medium sand

According to the magnitude of the particle size, divide collected materials into coarse and
fine style, and different functions of particle sizes are used different sizes. The boundary
dimension of the coarse and fine collected materials for cement concrete is 4.75 millimeters;
While when it used in bituminous mixture, its boundary dimension is 2.36 millimeters. The
particle size is larger than the boundary size are coarse collected materials, and the rest are
fine collected materials.

Medium sand’s Particle size > 4.75 mm are coarse aggregates, it can also called “stone“; The
aggregates with particle sizes > 0.15mm and < 4.75 mm are fine aggregates, also known as
“sand“.

Its fineness modulus is 3.0—2.3, the average particle size is 0.5—0.35 mm.
Besides, in the areas of Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Chittagong, Noakhali, Comilla and Sylhet
districts medium soils are largely seen.

Being a solid, medium sand can sustain shear stresses at rest but it can also undergo large
plastic deformations without considerable change of its properties, behaving thus like a fluid.
As a product of erosion, sand cannot be broken into parts because it is already a broken
('clastic') material.

How to measure medium sands: Medium Sands are most generally measured by sieving.

The basic principle of this technique is as follows. A sand sample of known weight is passed
through a set of sieves of known meshsizes. The sieves are arranged in downward decreasing
mesh diameters.

Unit weigh of Medium sands: The approximate unit weights may be taken as. Cement :
1,400 Kg per m^3. Sand: 1,600 Kg per m^3. It varies much depending on moisture content
and compaction level. Coarse aggregate : 1,800 Kg per m^3.
Submitted To:

Yeasna Shanjana (YSH)

Lecturer, Department of Environmental Science

North South University

Submitted By:
Course: ENV107L Group: 3 Section: 24
Name ID
Ahamed Jubaer 1620270030

Dewan Tangil 1620151030

Shejuti Roy 1620010030

Mohammad Ahsan Habib 1620459030
Rajesh Paul 1620132030
Syed Mohamood Tanim Partho 1611818630