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Soil water can affect the structural integrity or coherence of a soil; saturated soils can become unstable and result in structural failure and mass movement. Soil water, its changes over time and management are of interest to geo-technicians and soil conservationists with an interest in maintaining soil stability.
Water moves in soil under the influence of gravity, osmosis and capillarity. [7] When water enters the soil, it displaces air from interconnected macropores by buoyancy, and breaks aggregates into which air is entrapped, a process called slaking. [8] The rate at which a soil can absorb water depends on the soil and its other conditions.
Water is central to the dissolution, precipitation and leaching of minerals from the soil profile. Finally, water affects the type of vegetation that grows in a soil, which in turn affects the development of the soil, a complex feedback which is exemplified in the dynamics of banded vegetation patterns in semi-arid regions. [40]
Soil structure affects aeration, water movement, conduction of heat, plant root growth and resistance to erosion. [26] Water, in turn, has a strong effect on soil structure, directly via the dissolution and precipitation of minerals, the mechanical destruction of aggregates [27] and indirectly by promoting plant, animal and microbial growth.
Soil retains a degree of moisture after a rainfall. This residual water moisture affects the soil's infiltration capacity. During the next rainfall event, the infiltration capacity will cause the soil to be saturated at a different rate. The higher the level of antecedent soil moisture, the more quickly the soil becomes saturated.
Soil, on an agricultural field in Germany, which has formed on loess parent material. Parent materials are classified according to how they came to be deposited. Residual materials are mineral materials that have weathered in place from primary bedrock. Transported materials are those that have been deposited by water, wind, ice or gravity.
The maximum rate at that water can enter soil in a given condition is the infiltration capacity. If the arrival of the water at the soil surface is less than the infiltration capacity, it is sometimes analyzed using hydrology transport models, mathematical models that consider infiltration, runoff, and channel flow to predict river flow rates ...
Soil containing high levels of organic materials are often more resistant to erosion, because the organic materials coagulate soil colloids and create a stronger, more stable soil structure. [45] The amount of water present in the soil before the precipitation also plays an important role, because it sets limits on the amount of water that can ...