Abstract
Abstract According to national and international laboratory methods, the density of soil samples is determined by pycnometer in heated samples crushed by ultrasound. In mineral soils, the elementary unit of density is represented by a mineral grain of quartz, granite, andesite, etc. On the other hand, in organic soils, the elementary unit is represented by a leaf (or just a part of it), needles, stems and roots. Heating of the mineral grain causes its release from the soil aggregate. Organic parts of the soil are losing air vacuoles by heat treatment while in the same time, carbohydrates, proteins, oils and resins create new chemicals which are heavier than water. That is a reason why density determination of litter subhorizons in forest soils needs to have different rules in comparison with mineral soil samples. Samples with more than 50 volume per cent of organic matter are not treated by heat and do not decompose. In case of high mineral soil content, mineral parts are removed from the sample and their density is determined. The final density is based on mathematically processed data.
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