Soils structure describes the
arrangement of the solid parts of the
soils and the pore spaces located
between them (Marshall and Holmes 1979)
soil structure is determined by how individual soil aggregates clumps or bind together to form aggregate, and there fore the arrangement of soil pores
between them (young and young 2001)
Soils structure can be defined as the
arrangement of soil particles in
various aggregates differing in size,
shape, stability, and degree of adhesion
to one another, and therefore the pore
arrangement between them .
Soil structure has a major influence on soil behavior and water and air movement in
the soil, and also on biological
activities such as root growth and
seedling emergence, soil structure
plays a vast role in determining
soil types, bonding and
aggregation as well as the
strength or stability of the soil.
A well structured soil has plenty of
living spaces, storage spaces, door ways,
and passages for utilization by
water, gasses, nutrients roots and a
vast array of organism. A poorly
structured soil is much less endowed and
less productive.
Before the creation of the earth, soil
existed, it was form the soil that other creation (vegetation,
animals ) including human being were created, soil is the
home for all living organism, soil provides support for human structure (house and roads) protects archeological treasure
(such as gold lead tin sliver zinc etc
)and minerals deposits (crude oil
and petroleum) as well as provide land filling of human
garbage.
It
is impossible to talk about other branches of science without talking about soils,
imagine the world, if there was no soil,
than there will be no living things. The
existence of other sciences, such as geology,
mining and exploration originated from soil sciences, thus it is accurate to say that
soil is the
mother of all sciences, and the sole of
existence to all living things
Soil, can be defined as the part of the
outer mantle of the earth, that is formed from mixture
of minerals and decaying organic matter,
which extends from the surface , down to
the limit of biological forces, soil
is formed from the weathering of
rocks, (parent materials ) factors that influences soil formation
included: climate, living organism,
relief or topography parent materials
and time.
Soils, like all physical bodies, have unique
properties that define them, there are eight physical properties that is
considered when diagnosing if a soil is
healthy or not this properties include
soil texture, soil structure,
soil colour, soil porosity, tilth, soil PH, soil organism soil strength and stability to
mention but a few. In this review we
are going, to discuss soil structure
aggregates and stability of the soil.
SUMMARY,
RECOMMENDATION AND REFERENCE
Soil
structure describes the arrangement of
solid parts of soil in ped
and the pore spaces between them solid particles constitutes only 50% of
the soil while the other
50% are living pore spaces, soil
structure is affected by the kind of
aggregate that is formed there are 6
categories or types of structures. Some are large some are small others are fine
while the rest are coarse, they include,
single grain, granular, blocky, platy, columnar and massive
Soil
aggregates are the basic unit of soil structure, it formation and stabilization
results as the
interaction between, soil texture
and organic matter which are held
together by gravity or electrostatic forces and
various chemical glues
Aggregate
stability refers to the ability of soil aggregates to resist disintegration when forces of
tillage and erosion are applied, poor aggregate and their impact on soils are numerous, bad agricultural practices affects the
stability of soils, soils with
poor aggregate stability will wither slake or disperse in the presence of water
conservation practices should be
employed to improve aggregate
stabilization.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The
effort to keep agricultural soils and
land productive and stable to withstand
disintegration when managed is a never
ending one, agricultural land will be
productive and stable to withstand
forces, if conversation practises are
employed in enhancing the
development of our soils. It is
against this background that the
researches wish to make this recommendations.
REFERENCES
Young, A and Young R 2001, Soils in the
Australian Landscape,
Oxford University Press, Melbonrne
Marshall,
TJ and Holmes JW, 1979 , Soil
Physics, University
Press
Hand
book 18 Soil Survey Manual Department of
Agriculture
Retrieved 2006-04-11
Department
of Primary Industries the State
of Victoria 1996 –
2012
Ogieva
Erebor Comprehensive Agriculture Science
for Senior
Secondary Schools