Estimating particle-size distribution from limited soil texture data Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Particle-size distribution is a fundamental physical property of soils. Because particle-size data are frequently incomplete, it would be useful to have a method for inferring the complete particle-size distribution from limited data. We present a method for estimating the particle-size distribution from the clay (cl), silt (si), and fine plus very fine sand (fvfs) mass fractions (particle radii, r, between 25 and 125 m). The method is easy to use, with the estimated distribution being given by a closed-form expression that is defined explicitly in terms of cl, si, and fvfs. The accuracy of the method is evaluated using particle-size data from 125 soils. The results show that the method should not be used when the silt fraction is greater than about 70%. For other soils, the estimated distribution agrees reasonably well with the true distribution, with the median level of accuracy being characterized by an average absolute deviation of 2% over 1 m r 1000 m, and a maximum absolute deviation of 9%.

published proceedings

  • SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL

author list (cited authors)

  • Skaggs, T. H., Arya, L. M., Shouse, P. J., & Mohanty, B. P.

citation count

  • 103

complete list of authors

  • Skaggs, TH||Arya, LM||Shouse, PJ||Mohanty, BP

publication date

  • July 2001

publisher