Abstract
The mechanical strength of agricultural soils depends on many soil properties and functions. The database, “soil strength and consequences for sustainable land use and soil management SOILMECHDAT-Kiel”, originates from the “Horn Research Group” includes analyses of undisturbed soil samples taken from more than 460 profiles in and is developed in collaboration with BONARES, a funding initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research that focuses on the sustainable use of soils. For over 40 years, over 42 different authors recorded 59 physical and 29 chemical parameters for complete soil profiles. In order to the aim of the initial analyses of this data is to determine the influence of bulk density (BD) organic matter (OM) and time (year) on precompression stress (Pc) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (ks) as a function of Pc. Three main textural groups sand, loam, and silt for both topsoils and subsoils (SS) were studied. In loamy and silty subsoils BD and OM are not related to Pc (R2= 0.17 andR2= 0.25). OM and bulk density are more related to Pc in sandy soils (R20.55–0.59). The link between ks and Pc showed that sandy soils have a significantly higher Pc (>150 kPa) and conductivities did not change much. In loamy soils, with a Pc > 90 kPa, 50% of the ks fell below the critical value of 10 cm d−1. For silty soils, at a Pc of 60 kPa, 50% of the data fall below the critical value of ks. These findings suggest that the stability of loamy and silty soils not only depends on OM and BD, but requires further data to explain the variation in the measurements. With respect to ks, the results show that fertile silty soils are more sensitive than formerly defined.
Highlights
Soil compaction, especially subsoil compaction, is one of the major threats of soil degradation globally (Bridges and Oldeman, 1999)
Main Soil Properties and Precompression Stress Ranges in Top- and Subsoils
The following graphs are subdivided into the main textural groups (MTG) of sand, loam, and silt, and precompression stress (Pc) values as a function of organic matter (OM) (%) and bulk density (BD) (g cm−3) for the TS and SS (Figure 3–5)
Summary
Especially subsoil compaction, is one of the major threats of soil degradation globally (Bridges and Oldeman, 1999). Soil degradation occurs generally in all soils, even if the intensity and the consequences differ depending on the internal soil properties as well as the kind and frequency of stress application The latter has increased over the last decades (Arvidsson and Hakansson, 1996; Zink, 2009; Duttmann et al, 2014; Hartge and Horn, 2016; Horn et al, 2017; Keller et al, 2019). The consequences of land management and tillage, needs to be analyzed, because saturated hydraulic conductivity (ks) depends on shear- and vibration-induced soil deformation interactions These interactions enhance the degradation of soil properties, especially if the soil water content is high and the internal soil strength is low (Huang et al, 2021a, b). Even if soil horizons are still structured after stress application, the trampling will lead to a compacted platy structure in the topsoil and changes down to deep depths (Fazekas and Horn, 2005)
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