Soil physical properties related to soil structure

Abstract The aim of this paper is to clarify the effect of soil aggregation on soil physical and chemical properties of structured soils both on a bulk soil scale, for single aggregates, as well as for homogenized material. Aggregate formation and aggregate strength depend on swelling and shrinkage processes and on biological activity and kinds of organic exudates as well as on the intensity, number and time of swelling and drying events. Such aggregates are, most of all, more dense than the aggregated bulk soil. The intra-aggregate pore distribution consists not only of finer pores but these are also more tortuous. Thus, water fluxes in aggregated soils are mostly multidimensional and the corresponding water fluxes in the intra-aggregate pore system are much smaller. Furthermore, ion transport by mass flow as well as by diffusion are delayed, whereby the length of the flow path in such tortuous finer pores further retards chemical exchange processes. The chemical composition of the percolating soil solution differs even more from that of the corresponding homogenized material the stronger and denser the aggregates are. The rearrangement of particles by aggregate formation also induces an increased apparent thermal diffusivity as compared with the homogenized material. The aggregate formation also affects the aeration and the gaseous composition of the intra-aggregate pore space. Depending on the kind and intensity of aggregation, the intra-aggregate pores can be completely anoxic, while the inter-aggregate pores are already completely aerated. The higher the amount of dissolved organic carbon in the percolating soil solution, the more pronounced is the difference between the gaseous composition in the inter- and in the intra-aggregate pore system. From the mechanical point of view, the strength single aggregates, determined as the angle of internal friction and cohesion, depends on the number of contact points or the forces, which can be transmitted at each single contact point. The more structured soils are, the higher the proportion of the effective stress on the total stress is, but even in single aggregates positive pore water pressure values can be revealed. Dynamic forces e.g. due to wheeling and/or slip processes can affect the pore system as well as the composition of the soil by: (1) a rearrangement of single aggregates in the existing inter-aggregate pore system resulting in an increased bulk density and a less aerated and less rootable soil volume, (2) a complete homogenization, i.e. aggregate deterioration due to shearing. Thus, the smaller texture dependent soil strength coincides with a more intensive soil compaction due to loading. (3) Aggregate deterioration due to shearing results in a complete homogenization, if excess soil water is available owing to kneading as soon as the octahedral shear stresses and the mean normal stresses exceed the stress state defined by the Mohr-Coulomb failure line. Consequently, normal shrinkage processes start again. Thus, the rearrangement of particles and the formation of well defined single aggregates even at the same bulk density of the bulk soil both affect, to a great extent, various ecological parameters. Environmental aspects can also be correlated, or at least explained with the processes in soils, as a major compartment of terrestial ecosystems, if the physical and chemical properties of the structure elements and their composition in the bulk soil are understood.