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Improved Rotary Sieve for Measuring State and Stability of Dry Soil Structure¹

ABSTRACT

An improved rotary sieve designed to overcome the limitations of the original sieve (1) was constructed and thoroughly tested.

The improved apparatus is capable of separating dry soil in one operation into any number of dry soil fractions up to 14. The operation requires little technical skill. The results of sieving are independent of personal judgment.

The apparatus was found useful for determining the relative mechanical stability as well as the state of aggregation of soil in a dry condition. Mechanical stability, as determined from the relative resistance of soil aggregates to breakdown by repeated sieving, varied directly with the resistance of the soil aggregates to abrasion by wind-blown soil materials. Abrasion is one of the serious aspects of erosion of soil by wind.

The rate of breakdown of soil aggregates varied exponentially with the number of sievings. Assuming this type of relationship to extend beyond the experimental range, the amounts of some particular size of aggregates present in soils before sieving were estimated.

¹ Contribution 452, Department of Agronomy, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kans., and the Soil Conservation Service, U.S.D.A. Cooperative investigations in the mechanics of wind erosion.

² Professor of Soils, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and Agent, Soil Conservation Service, U.S.D.A.

Received for publication September 7, 1951.