Two‐dimensional porosity of crusted silty soils: Indicators of soil quality in semiarid rangelands?
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2011-07-01Abstract
Little is known about the morphological characteristics of pores in soil crusts. The objective was to characterize the two-dimensional (2D) porosity (amount, shape, size, and area of pores) of soil crusts to ascertain their potential as indicators of soil quality for natural crusted soils. The 2D-porosity was described in thin sections and measured by image analysis of polished resin-impregnated soil blocks. Physical soil crust and incipient biological soil crusts appear to be the lowest-quality soils in terms of number of pores (average of 131–133 cm−1) and area occupied by pores or meso-macroporosity (3.5–4.2%). Their most abundant pore types were small unconnected rounded pores. Soil crust infiltration coefficients (65–72% annual) were among the lowest and their high erosion rates (81–204 g m−2 yr−1) were not only due to their lower total porosity, but also to their pore shapes and sizes. Biological soil crusts appear on higher-quality soil, where the higher the organic C content, t...