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Horizontal and Vertical Movements of Two Expansive Soils in Mississippi

Department of Agronomy, Mississippi State Univ., Mississippi State, MS 39762

*Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Expansive soils create severe problems for road construction and maintenance, building foundations, and agricultural and industrial operations. Quantification of soil movement under natural field conditions has received little attention and is not well understood. Horizontal and vertical movements were measured for 20 mo by surveying rods placed at various depths in field plots of Typic Chromuderts and Vertic Hapludalfs of the Mississippi Blackland Prairie. Vertical soil movement was a function of soil depth, soil water content, and rainfall. Greatest vertical soil movement occurred in the upper 50 cm of both soils, with a maximum of 27 mm in the Vertisol and 24 mm in the Alfisol. Soil swelling occurred in winter and shrinking occurred in late spring and summer. Horizontal soil movement was not related to soil depth, but was related to soil water content and rainfall. Maximum horizontal movement was 36 mm in the Vertisol and 20 mm in the Alfisol. Horizontal and vertical movements in expansive soils are reversible, dynamic processes under natural field conditions. Horizontal movement appears more dynamic than vertical movement, and it reflects short-term response to precipitation events followed by drier periods. Vertical movement reflects long-term precipitation-evapotranspiration distribution and is probably related to movement along master slickensides.

Contribution from the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Exp. Stn. Paper no. J 8041.

Received for publication July 1, 1992.