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A Comparison of Clay Contents Determined by Hydrometer and Pipette Methods Using Reduced Major Axis Analysis¹

ABSTRACT

Test results on the amount of <0.002 mm clay determined by hydrometer and pipette methods have been obtained from 155 duplicate soil samples, of which 48 are from Illinois and the remaining 107 are from soil survey reports published by the Soil Conservation Service in cooperation with 10 other states. Correlation analysis of the data yielded a highly significant coefficient of 0.965. The best-fit line between the clay contents determined by these two procedures was obtained by the reduced major axis method of statistical analysis. In this statistical method, neither one of the two variables is considered as the dependent variable and the reduced major axis is determined by mininizing the sum of the areas of triangles formed by lines drawn from each point to the best-fit line and paralle with the X and Y axes. The relationship between the clay contents is expressed by the equation Y = 0.63 + 1.008 X, in which X and Y represent the pipette and hydrometer clay content, respectively. Clay contents determined by these two methods are quite similar, although there is a tendency for hydrometer analyses to be slightly higher. Relationships between data from Illinois and other states are very similar. The slightly poorer correlation between clay contents of A horizons as compared to other horizons may have been caused by organic matter which was not removed in hydrometer analysis.

¹ Contribution from the Departments of Civil Engineering and Agronomy, University of Illinois, Urbana. This study was conducted as a part of the Illinois Cooperative Highway Research Program, Project IHR-12, "Soil Exploration and Mapping," jointly sponsored by the Illinois Division of Highways and the US Dep. of Commerce, Bureau of Public Roads. Presented at a joint meeting of Div. S-1 and S-5, Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 2, 1965, Columbus, Ohio.

² Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Professor of Pedology, formerly Research Assistant in Civil Engineering, and Professor of Civil Engineering, respectively, University of Illinois, Urbana.

Received for publication November 24, 1965. Accepted for publication July 18, 1966.