An examination of the wet aggregate analysis, the moisture characteristic, and infiltration-percolation methods of determining the stability of soil aggregates

Abstract

Four methods of assessing structural stability of aggregates which employ different disruptive forces have been examined. Sorptivity (Philip 1957) has been demonstrated to be a useful method of assessing structural stability of soils during infiltration. The results obtained are consistent with those using either the high energy moisture characteristic method of Childs (1940, 1942), the wet aggregate analysis method of Quirk (1950), and the qualitative slaking-dispersion classification of aggregates proposed by Emerson (1967). Using these four methods, one soil was classified as stable, and two unstable to flood irrigation, whereas conventional chemical definitions did not distinguish unequivocally between them.