SSSAJ Grow Your Career with SSSA
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Published in Soil Sci Soc Am J 31:441-444 (1967)
© 1967 Soil Science Society of America
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jamison, V. C.
Right arrow Articles by Thompson, G. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Jamison, V. C.
Right arrow Articles by Thompson, G. A.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Jamison, V. C.
Right arrow Articles by Thompson, G. A.

Layer Thickness Changes in a Clay-Rich Soil in Relation to Soil Water Content Changes1

V. C. Jamison and G. A. Thompson2

ABSTRACT

Changes in soil water content and layer thickness of a soil with clay-enriched horizons will depend upon the rooting depth and seasonal growth characteristics of the plant cover, as well as the nature of the soil itself. Soil anchors fitted with sleeves were turned to different depths in Mexico silt loam under bluegrass and alfalfa. Elevation measurements were made at each location with respect to benchmarks consisting of 3.7-meter, sleeve-fitted rods driven into the soil. Soil water measurements were made with a neutron meter. High corre'ations were found between water content and layer thickness of the clay-rich layers. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) proved to be much more effective in water removal from the claypan and deep subsoil than bluegrass (Ppoa pratensis). Disregarding expansion in the surface layer due to freezing, the greatest shrinking-swelling effects were in the claypan. About one-fourth of the magnitude of soil water change in the claypan of Mexico silt loam was manifested as a change in soil layer chiekness.

Key Words: soil shrinkage or swelling • claypan soil

NOTES

1 Contribution from the North Central Watershed Research Center, Corn Belt Branch, Soil and Water Conservation Research Division, ARS, USDA, in cooperation with the Missouri Agr. Exp. Sta., Columbia, Missouri Journal no. 3088.

2 Research Soil Scientist and former Agricultural Engineer, respectively, USDA, Columbia, Missouri. The junior author is now stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

Received for publication December 19, 1966. Accepted for publication March 27, 1967.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
The SCI Journals Agronomy Journal Crop Science
Vadose Zone Journal Journal of Plant Registrations
Journal of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences Education		 Journal of
Environmental Quality
Copyright © 1967 by the Soil Science Society of America.