SOIL PHYSICAL

PROPERTIES
• Soil physical properties – those properties,
processes or reactions of a soil which are caused
by physical forces and which can be described
by or expressed in physical terms or reactions.
• Those properties that can be seen or felt.
 SOIL PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

1. Soil Texture
2. Soil Structure
3. Density (Particle and Bulk)
4. Porosity (Total porosity and pore-size
distribution)
5. Soil Color
6. Soil air (air composition, gas diffusion and
influential factors)
7. Soil water (importance, water potential, water
cycle, soil water management)
 SOIL PHASES
• Soil has 3-phase system and each phase is equally essential
for growth of plants.
• Solid- is made up primarily of mineral particles along with a small
amount of humus. It is also the source nutrients and provides
anchorage for plants and makes up approximately half of the soil
volume.
• Liquid Are in pores between the mineral and organic
• Gas particles.
Soil Components
In studying soil physical
properties, the major concern is
Soil Solids on the pore spaces.
• Mineral matter • Where the roots exist
• Where air and water
• Organic matter
movement occurs
Pore Spaces
Attributes of pore spaces
• Soil water • Size
• Soil air • Shape
• Proportion of the total soil
volume occupied by the pore
spaces
SOIL TEXTURE
 SOIL TEXTURE
Terminologies
Soil texture –quality of soil which results from
the relative proportion of sand, silt and clay
particles.
Particle size – effective diameter of a particle
measured by sedimentation or sieving.
Particle size analysis – the amounts of the
various soil separates in a given soil sample
usually expressed as weight percentage.
 SOIL TEXTURE
Inorganic Soil Particles

Classification

Primary soil particles – refer to the inorganic

soil particles (sand, silt and clay)
Soil separates – size-grouping of the inorganic
soil particles (retaining the particle names,
sand, silt and clay)
SOIL SEPERATES
• are minerals that are classified on the basis of their size.
• Sand, silt and clay make up the soil seperates, which are
collectively referred to as “fine earth” fraction are smaller than 2mm
in diameter. The “coarse earth” fraction is larger than 2mm in
diameter and consist of gravel and stones.
 SOIL TEXTURE
Soil Separates
Diameter Limit (mm)
Separate ISSS USDA
Very coarse sand 2.00-1.00
Coarse sand 2.0- 0.200 1.00-0.50
Medium sand 0.50-0.25
Fine sand 0.2- 0.020 0.25-0.10
Very fine sand 0.10-0.05
Silt 0.02-0.002 0.05-0.002
Clay <0.002 <0.002
 SOIL TEXTURE

The Primary Soil Particles

• Sand
• Silt
• Clay
 SOIL TEXTURE
The Primary Soil Particles
Functions
Sand – negligible role in physical and chemical activities of a
soil (small total surface area). Increase macroporosity –
facilitate movement of air and drainage water.
Silt – hold most of the potential fertility of the soil (minerals
composing the soil particles have undergone little
decomposition).
Clay – acts as a reservoir for both water and air.
amount of clay greatly influences total water-holding
capacity.
Available nutrients are held on the surface of clay
particles.
 SOIL TEXTURE
The Primary Soil Particles
Particle size and specific surface
To illustrate this, think of a 1-cm 1 cm3
cube. This cube has 6 sides each TSA = 6 cm2
containing 1 cm2, thus, a TSA of 6 cm2.
If the above cube is cut through the
center, the resulting 2 cubes will have a 1 cm3 divided in half
TSA of 8 cm2. TSA = 8 cm2

Each time the cube is cut, the

resulting particles will be smaller but the
TSA of the pieces will be larger.
 SOIL TEXTURE
The Primary Soil Particles
Particle size and specific surface area
As particles become finer, their properties change. This is
because when the particles become finer the total surface area
(TSA) becomes very large.
 SOIL TEXTURE
The Primary Soil Particles
Particle size and specific surface area

Now let us compare the TSA of a 1-cm3 soil particles with diameter of
0.0002 mm and 0.02 mm.
Soil particles occur as spheroidal bodies. Thus, we will compute the TSA of
the particles using the formulae in getting the surface area (SA) and volume
(V) of a sphere as follows:
SA = 4r2
4
V=3 3
r
 SOIL TEXTURE
Steps

1. Calculate the SA of one particle.

2. Calculate the V of particle.
3. Calculate the number of particles (NP) in 1 cm3
4. Calculate TSA as follows:
TSA = SA x NP
 SOIL TEXTURE
The Primary Soil Particles
Particle size and specific surface
Particular 0.0002 mm 0.02 mm

Surface Area 4.19 x 10-8

Volume 4.19 x 10 –12
TSA 10,014,100

Do the same for 0.02 mm particle

 SOIL TEXTURE
Textural Grouping of Soils
Broad Textural Group
Sands – soils containing 70% or greater of the sand separate
Clays – soils containing at least 35% clay and in most cases not less than
40%
Loams – contain a mixture of sand, silt and clay separates which is
intermediate that of the sands and clays. They exhibit light and heavy
properties in about equal proportion.
 SOIL TEXTURE
Textural Grouping of Soils
Soil Textural Classes
Sand Clay loam
Loamy sand Sandy clay loam
Sandy loam Silty clay loam
Loam Sandy clay
Silt loam Silty clay
Silt Clay
 SOIL TEXTURE
Importance of Soil Texture
Texture of the soil is important because it
influences the following:
• Soil structure and aeration
• Water retention and drainage
• Cation exchange capacity (ability of soil
to hold, exchange and fix nutrients)
• Root permeability
• Seedling emergence
 SOIL TEXTURE
Importance of Soil Texture

Fine-textured soils (e.g. clays, sandy clays, silty clays)

• May hold water and nutrients so tightly that
they are unavailable for plant growth
• Quite tight and are difficult to till without
becoming cloddy
• Susceptible to crusting and give rise to poor
seedling emergence and impede root
penetration.
 SOIL TEXTURE
Importance of Soil Texture
coarse-textured soils (e.g. sands, loamy sands)
• Cannot hold sufficient water or nutrients
• For optimum plant growth, irrigation and frequent
but light fertilizer application must be provided
• Loose and easy to till
• No problem on seedling emergence and root
permeability
SOIL TEXTURE DETERMINATION
A. Field
1. Feel
2. Roll
B. Laboratory – sedimentation, centrifugation, sieving

• Determine the amount of the various

separates present in the soil
• The process is called mechanical analysis
SOIL TEXTURE DETERMINATION
Mechanical Analysis
The amount of silt and clay is
determined indirectly from measurements of
the speed of fall of the individual particles
which have been well-dispersed in water.
SOIL TEXTURE DETERMINATION
Mechanical Analysis
Speed of fall of a particle in aqueous
medium is described by Stoke’s law

2(Dp - Dw) 2
V gr
Where: 9
V = velocity of fall, cm sec-1
Dp = particle density, g cm-3
Dw = density of water, g cm-3
g = acceleration due to gravity, cm sec-2
r = radius of the particle, cm
 = absolute viscosity of the liquid, poise
SOIL TEXTURE DETERMINATION
Stoke’s Law (simplified version
V  Kd 2
Where:
V = settling velocity, cm sec-1
d = particle diameter, cm
K = constant, a reasonable value for K, at 20oC is 8.9 x 103
 Mechanical Analysis
Methods
1. Pipet
• Pipet is carefully introduced to the given depth
(10 cm)
• A definite volume of suspension is taken (25 ml)

Sampling time
• Pre-determined
• Based on the calculated sampling velocity
of a given particle size to a given depth
 Mechanical Analysis
Methods
2. Hydrometer or bouyocous
• Most widely and commonly used method
• Indirect procedure for determining particle
size distribution
• Hydrometer is calibrated to read directly the
percentage of soil remaining in the
suspension
 Mechanical Analysis
Determine the % distribution of
the 3 soil separates

• Sand
• Silt
• Clay
Determine textural class using
texture triangle
Texture Triangle