SOIL PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

SOIL TEXTURE

INTRODUCTION
Soil texture such as clay, sandy clay loam, loam is one of
important soil physical properties, because among others soil
texture determined various important soil physical and
chemical properties, such as water retention.
Soil texture determine by the mineral soil materials, that are
% of sand, %silt and %clay.
Lecture – Soil Texture
Soil Texture = %Sand, Silt & Clay in a soil
(% by weight).
 Soil texture is the single most important
physical property of the soil. Knowing the soil
texture alone will provide information about:
 1) water flow potential,
 2) water holding capacity,
 3) fertility potential,
 4) suitability for many urban
uses like bearing capacity
Textural Triangle
 Texture
 The Percent of sand, silt,
clay in a soil sample
determine the soil
texture
 Critical for understanding
soil behavior and
management
 Soil texture is not
subject to change in the
field but can be changed
in potting mixes.
 Particle Diameter Size
 Soil particle diameters
range over 6 orders of
magnitude
 2 m boulders
 Coarse fragments > 2 mm
 Sand < 2 mm to 0.05 mm
 Silt < 0.05 mm to 0.002
mm
 Clay < 0.002 m
 Coarse Fragment
 > 2 mm
 Gravels, cobbles,
boulders
 Not considered part
of fine earth
fraction (soil
texture refers only
to the fine earth
fraction or sand, silt
& clay)
 Boulders left in
valley of Big Horn
Mts.(Wy) by a
glacier.
 Sand
 < 2 mm to > 0.05 mm
 Visible without
microscope
 Rounded or angular in
shape
 Sand grains usually
quartz if sand looks
white or many minerals
if sand looks brown,
 Some sands in soil will
be brown, yellow, or red
because of Fe and/or Al
oxide coatings.
 Sand
 Feels gritty
 Considered non-
cohesive – does
not stick together
in a mass unless it
is very wet.
 Sand
 Low specific surface area
 Sand has less nutrients for
plants than smaller particles
 Voids between sand
particles promote free
drainage and entry of air
 Holds little water and prone
to drought
Specific Space Area(SSA)
Specific Surface Area (SSA)

Particle Diameter Mass (g) Surface SSA (cm2/g)

(d) Area (a)

Sand 5x10-3 7.7x10-7 7.9x10-5 444

Silt 2 x10-4 1.13x10-11 1.3x10-7 11.1x104

Clay 2x10-4 8.48x10-15 6.3x10-8 7.4x106

 Silt
 < 0.05 mm to > 0.002 mm
 Not visible without
microscope
 Quartz often dominant
mineral in silt since
other minerals have
weathered away.
 Silt

 Does not feel gritty

 Floury feel –smooth like
silly putty
 Wet silt does not
exhibit stickiness /
plasticity / malleability
 Silt
 Smaller size allows rapid
weathering of non quartz
minerals
 Smaller particles – retains
more water for plants and
have slower drainage than
sand.
 Easily washed away by
flowing water – highly
erosive.
 Holds more plant nutrients
than sand.
 Silt is
responsible for
silting over
gravel beds in
rivers that are
needed by fish
for spawning.

www.pedrocreek.org/ fishcommittee.html
 Loess Cliff in China
 Silt if often left as
a vertical face
since in this
condition the
landscape is less
prone to water
erosion than if the
area was graded to
a slope.
Source of Silt
 Clay

 < 0.002 mm
 Flat plates or tiny flakes
 Small clay particles are
colloids
 If suspended in water will
not settle
 Large surface area
 spoonful = football field
 Clay
 Wet clay is very sticky
and is plastic or it can
be molded readily into a
shape or rod.
 Easily formed into long
ribbons
 Shrink swell – none to
considerable depending
on the kind of clay.
 Clay
 Pores spaces are very small
and convoluted
 Movement of water and air
very slow
 Water holding capacity
 Tremendous capacity to
adsorb water- not all available
for plants.
 Soil strength- shrink/swell
affects buildings, roads and
walls.
 Chemical adsorption is large
 Dyad
What do you think
would be a good
proportion of sand, silt
and clay for a soil that Sand: ______%
would be good for plant
growth? Silt: _______%
Clay: ______%
 USDA Textural Classes

 Sandy soils (coarse)

 Fine sand
 Very fine sand

 Loamy soils (medium)

 Clayey soils (fine)

Textural Triangle
Soil Textural classes
 Consist of 12 classes
 Generally consist of 5 groups, namely
 Coarse texture – sand; loamy sand.
 Moderately coarse texture – sandy loam; fine sandy loam.
 Medium texture – very fine sandy loam; loam; silt loam; silt.
 Moderately fine texture – sandy clay loam; clay loam; silty
clay loam.
 Fine texture – silty clay ; clay; sandy clay.
 Sandy Soils

 Coarse
texture
 Sands
 Loamy sands
 Loamy Soils

 Moderately
coarse
texture
 Sandy loam
 Fine sandy
loam
 Loamy Soils- Coarse

 Medium texture
 Very fine
sandy loam
 Loam
 Silt loam
 Silt
 Loamy Soils - Fine

 Moderately
fine texture
 Sandy
clay loam
 Clay loam
 Silty
clay loam
 Clayey Soils

 Fine texture
 Silty clay
 Clay
 Sandy clay
 Changing Soil Texture

 Soil texture can be

changed only by mixing
with another soil with a
different textural class
in small quantities
 Changing Soil Texture
 Adding sand to a clay soil
creates a cement like substance
 Find soil with native texture
properties you want– don’t try
to make the texture you want.
 Adding peat or compost to a
mineral soil is not considered
changing the texture – since it
only adds organic matter not
sand, silt or clay
 Changes in soil texture

 Over long periods

(1000s yrs) pedologic
processes alter soil
horizon textures.
 As soils get older sand
weathers to silt and
silt weathers to
clay….therefore old
soils have more clay.
Clay translocation = B horizon formation

 Clay also translocates

down in the soil profile
so subsoils generally
have more clay than
topsoils.
 Thus ‘Argillic’ horizons Argillic =
form and are zones of
clay accumulation
Textural Profile of a soil.
 The graph of the %
clay from the surface
to the parent material
will show if a soil has a
clay bulge or an
increase in clay.
 “Textural Profiles”
Argillic =
aid in looking for the
clay bulge.
Soil Texture

 Soil texture can also

be determined by
feeling the soil.
 This procedure takes
practice but eventually
a
person can become

very proficient and will

be able to
estimate the
% clay
within 3% of
the
actual value.
 Determining Soil Texture - Feel Method

 Wet soil in hand

 Make ribbon
 Length of ribbon
indicates clay content
 Grit or lack of grit
indicates sand or silt
 Smoothness indicates
silt
 Determining Soil Texture –Hydrometer
Method

 The velocity of settling (V)

is proportional to the square
of particle diameters (d)
 Bigger particles settle more Stokes Law
quickly
 Density of the water (due to
V = kd2
suspended silt and clay)
holds up hydrometer
Hydrometer method

 Hydrometer used to
measure amount of silt
and clay in suspension
after 40 seconds
 Or reading No. 1 = silt
and clay in suspension
and if we subtract it
from total soil this
equals amount of sand.
 Or % sand = total soil –
reading one÷total soil
x100
 Hydrometer method
Slowly inserting hydrometer

2 hour measurement determines

suspended clay or what is left
after silt has settled out.
%clay = reading two÷total soil x 100

% silt determined by subtraction

(reading #1) – (reading #2)=silt

%Silt= 100 – [(% sand) + (% clay)]