Abstract

CASTIGLIONI, Mario Guillermo; MORRAS, Héctor José María; SANTANATOGLIA, Oscar José  and  ALTINIER, María Victoria. Shrinkage of soil aggregates from rolling Pampa Argiudolls differentiated by their clay mineralogy. Cienc. suelo [online]. 2005, vol.23, n.1, pp.13-22. ISSN 1850-2067.

Swelling and shrinking affect soil physical and chemical behavior. Mc Garry & Malafant improved a model with three shrinkage areas, through which it is possible to estimate parameters with physical significance to compare different soils. The objective of the present work was to determine which soil properties and characteristics of Rolling Pampa Argiudolls with different clay mineralogy, affect the model parameters of Mc Garry & Malafant. Clods of distinct horizons of three non-disturbed soils were used to set the specific volume change / gravimetric water content relationship. Estimated parameters of the three straight lines model, were correlated with soils properties and characteristics. Whereas the distinct behavior in the volume change of argilic horizons with contrasting mineralogy was mainly at low soil water contents, the influence of clay percentage was best appreciated with normal shrinkage slope and at high soil water contents. Independently of clay mineralogy, the air entry point in the argilic horizons was registered at soil moisture seldom registered in the field. In the BC and C horizons, the joined consideration of clay and CEC gave a better correlation with the residual shrinkage slope, than the values obtained pondering those parameters individually. In the A and BA horizons the CEC was the better predictive parameter of the residual shrinkage slope. Analyzing the A, BA, BC and C horizons together, equivalent moisture and particle density were the best soil properties for predicting the residual contraction rate, whereas organic carbon decreased this value significantly.

Keywords : Smectite; Volume change; Three straight lines model; Argiudolls.

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