3 A soil has 70% sand, 20% silt and 10% clay. What kind of soil is it? How do its proportions need
to be changed to make it
into a loam?

Today, as part of the series of posts on soils, we are going to look at ‘soil texture’. Soil forms the basis for all life but it’s important to know about its mineral constitution as well as its biological profile.

Texture refers to the ‘feel’ of the soil. This is affected by the constituent materials found within it, specifically sand, silt and clay particles. A coarse sand will feel gritty but a wet clay will feel heavy and sticky. The texture of a soil has a direct impact on the way the soil reacts to certain environmental conditions – for example, towards drought or heavy rain (with sandy soils more freely draining).

There is a big difference in the size of the different particles.

Coarse sand = diameter 2-0.2mm

Fine sand = diameter 0.2-0.02mm

Silt = diameter 0.02-0.002mm

Clay = diameter less than 0.002mm

Note how the clay particles are much smaller than the sand particles – this is important as it means the total surface area of a clay soil is much greater and so the capacity to hold water is also much greater.

Between the sand, silt and clay particles there are lots of pores. In fact a soil as a whole is generally 45% mineral, 5% organic matter (depending on the soil) and 50% pore space through which air and water can pass.

Sand –

Made up of weathered primary rock minerals.

The particles are irregular in outline.

They are large and so do not pack together easily.

Large pore spaces in between.

Air gets in very easily and water flows rapidly through it.

Silt –