Abstract
The original high energy moisture characteristic (HEMC) technique for measuring aggregate stability is shown to have limitations for use with weakly aggregated soils. Improvements were made to expand the applicability of the technique to weakly aggregated soils and reduce its subjectivity to operator bias. The destructive force used to break down the aggregates was controlled by wetting aggregates 1.0 to 0.5 mm in diameter under suction on a sintered glass plate. The improved method facilitates the measurement od differences in stability of weakly aggregated soils subject to long-term differences in cropping and management history. In contrast, the original method was inappropriate for these weakly aggregated soils due to improper wetting rates and high variability resulting from operator subjectivity. -from Authors
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1825-1831 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Soil Science Society of America Journal |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1989 |