1867-7

College of Soil Physics

22 October - 9 November, 2007

Soil surface sealing and crusting 1

Marcello Pagliai
Istituto Sperimentale per lo Studio e la Difesa del Suolo
Firenze
Italy
The soil pore system as indicator
of soil quality and as an indicator
to quantify soil physical
degradation

FACTORS AFFECTING
ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

• Soil erosion
• Soil structural degradation
• Soil compaction
• Soil sealing and crusting
• Desertification
• Salinization
• Sodification
• Acidification
• Leaching
• Volatilization
 Soil functions
Ecological functions

• Production of biomass
• Filtering, buffering and transforming
• Gene reserve and protection of flora and fauna

Socio-economic functions

• Support to human settlement (housing and infra-

structure, recreation) and waste disposal
• Source of row materials, including water
• Protection and preservation of cultural heritage

SOIL QUALITY INDICATORS

DPSIR assessment framework applied to soil
• Driving forces – agriculture, industry, tourism,
natural events, climate change, etc.
• Pressure – emissions to air, water and land;
urban expansion (soil uptake); infrastructure
construction; deforestation; forest fires
• State – soil degradation, soil loss
• Impact – direct: changes in soil functions,
desertification; indirect: loss of biodiversity,
changes in crop yields, climate changes, etc.
• Responses – development of a soil protection
policy, CAP reform, Nitrate directive, sewage
sludges directive, etc.
According to the micromorphometric method, a
soil can be classified as follows where the total
porosity represents the percentage of area
occupied by pores larger than 50 Pm per thin
section:
Soil very compact when total porosity is <5%
Soil compact when total porosity is 5-10%
Soil moderately porous when total porosity is 10-25%
Soil porous when total porosity is 25-40%
Soil highly porous when total porosity is >40%

Soil very compact

POROSITY = 3.1%
 Soil compact

POROSITY = 7.5%

Soil moderately porous

POROSITY = 16.9%
 Soil porous

POROSITY = 28%

Soil highly porous

POROSITY = 42%
A total macroporosity of 10% is
considered to be the lower limit for
good soil structural condition,
anyway, only the complete evaluation,
both quantitative and qualitative, of
the soil pore system can produce
exhaustive information on actual soil
quality.

Soil crusting
 • Soil crusts are specific modifications in
the top soil caused by natural events
such as raindrop impact and the
following drying process.
• They consist in the formation of hard
thin layers at the soil surface and are
widespread especially in the soils of
arid and semiarid regions.
• Their thickness usually ranges from
less than 1 mm to 5 cm.

MECHANISMS OF CRUST
FORMATION
• mechanical destruction of soil surface aggregates
by raindrop impact;
• leaching of fine particles and their subsequent
deposition in the underlying pores ("washing in");
• compaction of the soil surface to form a thin film
which restricts both the further entry of water and
the movements of fine particles in the soil pores;
• cementation of the slaked soil at the soil surface
due to the drying and reorientation. Upon drying,
in fact, the orientation of the particles would
contribute to the rigidity of the soil crusts.
SOIL PROPERTIES RELATED TO
CRUST FORMATION
The susceptibility of soils to crusting not
only depends on the external factors such as
raindrop impact, but also on the following
intrinsic soil factors:
• Soil texture
• Clay mineralogy
• Organic matter content
• Sesquioxide content
• Exchangeable cations
• Soil water content

METHOD USED IN SOIL

CRUSTING INVESTIGATION
Scale of observation
• Optical and electron microscope
• Image analysis
• Penetration resistance
• Water infiltration rate
• Soil sodicity and electrolyte
concentration
• Organic polymers
EFFECT OF SOIL MANAGEMENT
ON THE FORMATION,
PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF
SURFACE CRUSTS

Soil tillage

Soil structure before (left) and after (right) a

rainfall event. Frame length 3 cm.
Field conditions after the formation of
surface crusts

Surface crust in a cultivated sandy

loam soil. Frame length 5 mm.
Sealing crust in a cultivated sandy loam
soil. Frame length 5 mm.

Cultivated loam soil. Frame length 3 cm.

 Cultivated loam soil. Frame length 3 cm.

Cultivated clay loam soil. Frame length 5 cm.

 Soil tillage

0-10 c d
c
DEPTH (cm) 10-20 b d
c MT
20-30 cc
c RS
30-40 c d
c
c CP
40-50 a d
50-60 c c
b
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
STORAGE PORES (%)

Effects of tillage systems on storage pores inside the

aggregates measured by mercury intrusion
porosimetry along soil profile (MT: minimum tillage;
RS: ripper subsoiling; CP: conventional deep
ploughing).

0-10
10-20
DEPTH (cm)

MT
20-30
RS
30-40
CP
40-50
50-60

0 5 10 15 20 25
POROSITY (%)

Effects of tillage systems on soil porosity along soil

profile expressed as a percentage of total area
occupied by pores larger than 50 Pm per thin section
(MT, minimum tillage; RS, ripper subsoiling; CP:
conventional deep ploughing).
 0-10 c d
b
b

DEPTH (cm)
10-20 c d
c MT
20-30 c d
c RS
30-40 c d
c CP
40-50 a d
50-60 c d
b

0 2 4 6 8 10
ELONGATED TRANSMISSION PORES (%)

Effects of tillage systems on elongated transmission

pores along soil profile expressed as a percentage of
total area occupied by pores ranging from 50-500 Pm
per thin section (MT, minimum tillage; RS, ripper
subsoiling; CP: conventional deep ploughing).

0-10
DEPTH (cm)

10-20
MT
20-30
RS
30-40
CP
40-50
50-60

0 10 20 30 40 50
SATURATED HYDRAULIC
CONDUCTIVITY (mm/h)
 RIPPER SUBSOILING

REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED

POROSITY (%)
2

0
50-100 100-200 200-300 300-400 400-500 500-1000 >1000
SIZE CLASSES (Pm)

CONVENTIONAL DEEP PLOUGHING

REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED

4
POROSITY (% )

0
50-100 100-200 200-300 300-400 400-500 500-1000 >1000
SIZE CLASSES (P m)

Pore size distribution of pores >50 Pm in the

surface layer (0-10 cm).

CLAY LOAM SOIL LOAM SOIL

REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED

40 c 40
POROSITY (%)

POROSITY (%)

30 30
b b c
20 20 b bc
a
10 10 a

0 0
NT-SL NT-L CT-SL CT-L NT-SL NT-L CT-SL CT-L

Effects of different management practices

(NT: no-tillage; CT: conventional tillage) on
soil porosity in the surface layer (0-2 cm)
(SL) and in the layer below 5 cm (L).
Loam soil under minimum tillage (left) and
conventional tillage (right). Frame length 3 cm.

Cultivated loam soil. Frame length 3 cm.

Mechanical mass movement
Land levelling and scraping

175.7 r 14.9 t/ha

Catastrophic erosion after land leveling

Irrigation management
• Irrigation management can also
strongly influence crust formation.
The chemical composition of
irrigation water and the kinetic
energy of water applied by
overhead irrigation are the most
important factors to consider in the
case of irrigation of soils
susceptible to crusting.
 Applications of manures

REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED

M I C R O P O R O S IT Y (% )

M A C R O P O R O S IT Y
25 b c 30
b b d
25 c c c
20 a b
20
15 a

(% )
15
10
10
5 5
0 0
C AS ANS CAS CANS FYM C AS ANS CAS CANS FYM
TREATMENTS
TREATMENTS

Effect of C: chemical fertilsation; AS: aerobic sludges; ANS:

anaerobic sludges; CAS: compost of aerobic sludges and
the organic fraction of urban refuse (40:60%); CANS:
compost of anaerobic sludges and the organic fraction of
urban refuse (20:80%); FYM: farmyard manure) on soil
microporosity (0.5-50 Pm) and macroporosity (>50 Pm).

CONTROL

REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED

POROSITY (%)

8
6
4
2
0
50-100 100-200 200-300 300-400 400-500 500-1000 >1000
S IZE CLAS S ES (P m)

AS

REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED

POROSITY (%)

8
6
4
2
0
50-100 100-200 200-300 300-400 400-500 500-1000 >1000
S IZE CLAS S ES (P m)

Pore size distribution of pores >50 Pm

Macrophotographs of vertically oriented thin sections
prepared from undisturbed samples from the surface
layer (0-10 cm) of a loam soil untreated (left) and
treated with compost (right). Frame length 3 cm.

Macrophotographs of vertically oriented thin sections

prepared from undisturbed samples from the surface
layer (0-10 cm) of a clay loam soil untreated (left) and
treated with pig slurry (right). Frame length 3 cm.
 40
cc
35 c c c
bb b CHEMICAL
bb bb c
POROSITY (%)

30 b FERTLIZERS
b
25 SEWAGE
20 a a a a SLUDGES
a
15 COMPOST
10
FARMYARD
5
MANURE
0
1978 1979 1980 1981 1982

Application of organic materials

SANDY LOAM SOIL SILTY CLAY SOIL

REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED REGULAR IRREGULAR ELONGATED

40 40
POROSITY (%)

d
POROSITY (%)

30 30
c
20 20
b
10 a
10
0 0
C-SL C-L T-SL T-L C-SL C-L T-SL T-L

Effects of different management practices (C:

control; T: treated with compost) on soil
porosity in the surface layer (0-2 cm) (SL) and
in the layer below 5 cm (L).
Other important practices to
combat crust formation are:

• The addition to soil of

gypsum/phospho-gypsum
especially when sodicity is high or
electrolyte concentration is very
low.
• The use of synthetic soil
conditioners.

Assessing the crusting

susceptibility

CI = 1.5 (%fine silt) + 0.75 (%coarse silt)

clay+10(% organic matter)
Crusting index CI Risk

< 1.2 Low

1.2 – 1.6 Moderate
> 1.6 High

Readily dispersible clay

• Tratio = T1h/T18h

Tratio Risk
< 0.40 Low
0.40 – 0.60 Moderate
> 0.60 High
 Soil sealing

• Definition

Soil sealing refers to changing the

nature of the soil such that it behaves
as an impermeable medium (for
example, compaction by agricultural
machines). Soil sealing is also used to
describe the covering or sealing of the
soil surface by impervious materials
by, for example, concrete, metal, glass,
tarmac and plastic.
• Soil sealing refers to the covering of
soil as a result of urban development
and infrastructure construction, with
the result that the soil is no longer able
to perform the range of functions
associated with it.
• Over the past 20 years the extent of
built-up area in many western and
eastern European countries has
increased by some 20% and far
exceeds the rate of population growth
in the EU over the same period (6%).

• Sealing: the area of the soil surface

covered with an impermeable
material, is around 9% of the total
area in EU. During 1990-2000 the
sealed area in EU increased by 6%