What Are The Common Parameters of Soil That We Could Test?

Common Soil
Parameters
What are the common parameters of soil that
we could test?
The 3 soil attributes
 Physical attributes
 Texture, structure, etc
 Biological attributes
 Organic content
 Chemical attributes
 pH, conductivity, cations, anions etc
Physical Properties
Colour
 described by using a Munsell Colour Chart
 describe colour in terms of Hue, Value, and Chroma.
 A typical designation is 10YR 5/2. This is the symbol of a greyish
brown colour with 10YR hue, 5 value, and 2 chroma
 The symbol components are always arranged in this sequence.
Soil Colour Determination
 Hue - colour of pigment that must be mixed with black and white (or
the proper shade of grey) to produce the colour to be matched
 Soils range in hue from red (R) through yellow-red (YR) to yellow
(Y) with some spots of green-yellow (GY) or even green (G).
 0-10 prefixes divide the space between the absolute hues

 eg 7.5YR
 value - the square root of the percentage of light reflected
 soils range from 2 to 8
Soil Colour Determination
Chroma
 the amount of pigment that must be mixed with the proper value of
grey to produce the particular colour
 pure grey colours have 0 chroma
 increasing brightness is indicated by chroma’s up to about 8 in soils

Soil Texture
 Soil Texture is the most commonly used descriptor of a soil.
 Texture is a property of the fine earth (<2mm) fraction that

depends on the particle-size distribution.
 Particle size in this fraction varies from 2mm diameter down to

less than 0.1mm
 The distribution of particles over this size range influences many

important soil properties such as ease of cultivation and
water-holding characteristics.
Soil Texture
 Soil is allocated to a textural class, depending on its content of
sand-, silt- and clay sized particles.
 In the field, determined subjectively from the feel of a moist

soil molded between the fingers and thumb
 This is because the particle-size distribution influences the

mechanical properties of the material.
Class Exercise 1
Finger assessment of soil texture for mineral
soils
Soil Structure
 Described as weak, moderate, or strong depending on how
distinct the peds? are.
 Fine, medium, or coarse depending on the size of the peds.
 Shape of the peds - platy, granular, blocky, columnar, or

prismatic,
Settling rate lab. method
for the silt-size particles plus some of the coarse clay,
 rate of settling is proportional to the square of the diameter of
the particles
 v = 6000d2
 v is the settling velocity in cm/minute
 d the particle diameter in mm
 two sizes needed for determining soil texture; limits between:
 sand and silt (0.05 mm) and
 silt and clay (0.002 mm)
Example 8.1
 Calculate how far a 0.05 mm diameter particle would travel
in one minute.
 v = 6000 x 0.052
 = 15 cm/min
 in 1 minute, particles of this size would have travelled 15 cm

Exercise 8.2
 Would larger particles than 0.05 mm travel more or less
than 15 cm in this time?
 More
 What does this mean about the sand fraction?
 It would sink faster
 Calculate how long a 0.002 mm diameter particle would take
to travel 1 cm.
 v = 0.024 cm/min
 1 cm in 41.7 minutes
Applying this in the lab
 a uniform suspension of soil in water is allowed to settle for
one minute
 a sample is then withdrawn from a depth of 15 cm
 will contain no particles larger than 0.05 mm diameter
 larger particles will have settled beyond that depth even if they
started at the surface
 the sample will contain silt and clay only
 any particles smaller that had sunk from this level will be
replaced from above
 repeat at a depth appropriate for 0.002 cm
 eg 3 cm after 2 hours
Exercise 8.3 answers
a) 40 x 2.04 g = 81.6 g
b) 40 x 0.40 g = 16 g
c) 81.6-16 = 65.6 g
d) Silt 66.8%, clay 16.3%, sand 16.9%
e) silt loam
Soil Water
 The amount of water present in the soil at any one time is most
commonly expressed as a percentage of the oven-dry weight of the
soil
 Percentage is commonly determined for the field capacity of the soil

and for air-dry soil.
 These two percentages are used as limits to classify the water

present in a soil after a rain as gravitational, capillary, and
hygroscopic
Soil Conductivity
 Determined quantitatively by a conductivity meter.
 Standard water:soil mix
 An important parameter when assessing salinity.
 Used to estimate the concentration of soluble salts in the soil
(Na+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ , Cl-, SO42- and HCO3-).
 Soluble fertiliser may also contribute K+, NH4+ and NO3-.
 High EC is undesirable for most plants.
Stone Content
 affect soil fertility by taking up
space
 reduce ability of a given volume of
soil to hold water and nutrients
 a hindrance to cultivation
 measured by eye in the field
 by separation and weighing in the lab
Soil pH
 Tested with a calibrated pH meter.
 Soil solutions are well buffered – do you remember what this term
means?
 By using a standard, valid comparisons between soils can be made

(absolute values are difficult to interpret)
Soil pH
 Measurements can be made in the surface layer of a moist soil
provided sufficient water is present to make liquid contact between
the electrodes.
 Under some circumstances where buffering capacity is not adequate,

soils maybe suspended in 0.1M KCl for pH determination
 There are many ways by which the pH of a soil can be measured –

refer to handbook
Calcium Carbonate Content - Field
Method
 Field estimate of CaCO3 content is based on the reaction of

soil with dilute acid giving both visible and audible effects.
 Method is only approximate and not sensitive to differences in

CaCO3 contents above 10%.
Biological Attributes
Organic content
 determined by oxidative digestion (dichromate)
 measured by:
 back titration of excess dichromate
 colorimetry of green product
Chemical Attributes
Nitrogen
 wet ashing with conc. sulfuric
 formation of ammonium ions
 converted to ammonia (NaOH)
 steam distillation
 collection in boric acid
 titration with std HCl
 known as the Kjeldahl method – standard for N
 doesn’t pick up NO2/NO3
 need conversion by initial reduction
Phosphorus
 availability vs total a major issue for P
 various extraction solution to assess availability, eg Olsen 0.5
NaHCO3
 analysis by:
 ICP
 XRF
 colorimetry
Micronutrients
 can exist in soils in:
 water-soluble
 exchangeable
 adsorbed
 complexed
 secondary clay minerals
 insoluble oxides
 primary minerals
 extraction with chelating DTPA and ICP analysis

Sodium absorption ratio (SAR)
 predictor of salinity
 measure Ca, Mg & Na in
mmole/L
 use eqn or nomogram
[Na  ]
SAR 
([Ca2 ]  [Mg 2 ])
2
Exercise 8.4
 A soil is tested for leachable
Na, Ca and Mg, and the
results are (in mmole/L: 15,
3 and 2 respectively. What
is the SAR?
15
 9.5
32
2
Cation exchange capacity (CEC)
 relies in the removal of ions with a concentrated solution of an
ionic substance intended to drive off the adsorbed ions
 techniques used to analyse the released ions include:
 titration with EDTA – Ca & Mg
 flame AAS – Na, K
 ICP emission - all
 Kjeldahl N analysis – all adsorbed ions are replaced by
NH4, which are then released by excess K; the ammonium
is then analysed
 some methods use approximations and correction factors to
achieve quick result
pH buffering capacity
 adding known amounts of acid (as HCl) or alkali (as NaOH or
lime) to soils
 allowing a equilibrium period before measurement of pH
 graph of amount added (per kg of soil) vs pH plotted
 buffer capacity is the slope of the graph
 quoted as an amount of acid or alkali (typically millimoles H+
or g CaCO3) per kg of soil per pH unit.
Pesticides
 residues left in soils from pesticides or their by-products
 analysed by GC-MS for sensitivity and ease of identification

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Common Soil

 0-10 prefixes divide the space between the absolute hues

 pure grey colours have 0 chroma

 increasing brightness is indicated by chroma’s up to about 8 in soils

 Soil Texture is the most commonly used descriptor of a soil.

 Texture is a property of the fine earth (<2mm) fraction that

 Particle size in this fraction varies from 2mm diameter down to

 The distribution of particles over this size range influences many

 In the field, determined subjectively from the feel of a moist

 This is because the particle-size distribution influences the

 Fine, medium, or coarse depending on the size of the peds.

 Shape of the peds - platy, granular, blocky, columnar, or

 in 1 minute, particles of this size would have travelled 15 cm

 Percentage is commonly determined for the field capacity of the soil

 These two percentages are used as limits to classify the water

 By using a standard, valid comparisons between soils can be made

 Under some circumstances where buffering capacity is not adequate,

 There are many ways by which the pH of a soil can be measured –

 Field estimate of CaCO3 content is based on the reaction of

 Method is only approximate and not sensitive to differences in

 determined by oxidative digestion (dichromate)

 extraction with chelating DTPA and ICP analysis

 analysed by GC-MS for sensitivity and ease of identification

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