English

Abstract

Soil organic matter plays a leading role in the soil structure formation, especially in soil water stability soil properties. This is the most important property of soils on which depend the basic ecological functions of soil in the biosphere. However, so far unknown mechanism of formation of the soil structure, the soil water stability properties and value of soil organic matter in this processes. A physical reasonable hypothesis of formation water stable aggregate structure of chernozemic soils, based on the amphiphilic properties of soil organic matter, is proposed. Water stability of the aggregate structure is directly related to the surface properties of elementary soil particles (ESP) in the solid phase (SP) of the soil. In the case of elementary soil particles (ESP) hydrophilicity, water flows through the capillaries in the dry aggregate and leads to an increase of water pressure in the aggregate and its destruction. When ESP are hydrophobic, water and ions cannot get into the aggregate, and the dead is created. Two forms of organic substances determine ESP architecture of soil aggregate and a combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface properties of solid phase. Organic compounds adsorbed on the surface of mineral ESP provide film moisture migration, and hydrophobic organic ESP localized in the pore space of the aggregate provide the water repellent function and prevent the rapid migration of capillary moisture in the soil pore space.