DEFINITION OF SOIL STRUCTURE

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
Share on Google Plus

Declaimer - Unknown

The publications and/or documents on this website are provided for general information purposes only. Your use of any of these sample documents is subjected to your own decision NB: Join our Social Media Network on Google Plus | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin

READ RECENT UPDATES HERE