EFFECTS OF FREEZING ON AGGREGATE STABILITY OF SOILS DIFFERING IN TEXTURE, MINERALOGY, AND ORGANIC MATTER CONTENT by

Recently, numerous studies of aggregate response to freezing have been reported. Aggregate stability has usually been inversely proportional to soil water content at the time of freezing (Bullock et al., 1988; Benoit, 1973; Bryan, 1971; Logsdail and Webber, 1959). Aggregates from poorly aggregated soils, however, are more stable when frozen at intermediate water contents (Mostaghimi et al., 1988; Sillanpaa and Webber, 1961). The number of freeze-thaw cycles to which aggregates have been subjected is important. With increasing freeze-thaw cycles, aggregate stability usually decreases (Logsdail and Webber, 1959; Mostaghimi et al., 1988; Willis, 1955) but may increase for some soils (Mostaghimi et al., 1988; Richardson, 1976).