Comparison of different methods for assessing effects of soil interparticle forces on aggregate stability

Geoderma

Liu Jingfang;Hu Feinan;Xu Chenyang;Wang Zilong;Ma Rentian;Zhao Shiwei;Liu Gang

Soil interparticle forces, involving in van der Waals attractive force, and surface hydration and electrostatic repulsive forces, greatly influence the soil aggregate stability. However, current studies on methods for evaluating the impact of soil interparticle forces in aggregate stability are scarce. This research was aimed to examine the impact of soil interparticle forces on aggregate stability using diverse methods for different soil types. Soil aggregate stability was tested through the pipette method, wet sieving, and rainfall simulation, respectively characterized by aggregate stability index (ASI), mean weight diameter (MWD), and splash erosion mass (SE). Soil interparticle forces were adjusted by the changing concentrations of NaCl solution. The results showed that all three approaches can be applied to study the impact of soil interparticle forces on aggregate stability.