Chemical amelioration of surface crusting to reduce runoff and erosion on highly weathered soils

Abstract

Because of the very low soil solution ionic strengths in highly weathered soils, clay particles can be readily dispersed under the impact of raindrops. The clay fraction of many soils is dispersible under the combined effects of mechanical disturbance and low electrolyte concentration. This clay dispersion results in fine particle segregation at the soil surface, with clay particles moving into and blocking soil pores resulting in the formation of a highly impervious crust which reduces infiltration. Because the clay is dispersed, the particles usually orient themselves in a laminar fashion as they settle. As a result, runoff is substantially increased, giving rise to soil erosion. The crusts formed in this manner often have very high strengths which prevent or substantially reduce crop emergence. The formation of such crusts can be prevented by the application of relatively low rates of by-product gypsum such as phosphogypsum on the soil surface which produces sufficient electrolyte in solution during raindrop impact to maintain the clay particles in a flocculated condition. The results of a number of experiments in which different soils were treated with phosphogypsum are discussed to illustrate the effects of electrolyte concentration, level of sodium and other factors on the formation of surface crusts and the consequent runoff and erosion. As a result of the application of phosphogypsum to the soil surface, a laminar orientation of clay particles at the surface is prevented, which allows a much greater proportion of the rainfall to enter the soil. Any crusts formed are thus much weaker and do not reduce seedling emergence. This type of crust formation can also be prevented by reducing raindrop impact through the use of mulches. This phenomenon occurs on many soils not normally considered to suffer from chemically-induced physical problems, which points to the importance of considering chemical as well as physical processes in the evaluation of potential runoff and erosion.