Textural porosity analysis of a silty clay soil using pore volume balance estimation, mercury porosimetry and quantified backscattered electron scanning image (BESI)

J.C. Fiès (1) , Ary Bruand (2, 3)

1 Station de science du sol
2 SESCPF - Service d'Etude des Sols et de la Carte Pédologique de France
3 ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans

Textural porosity, which is due to the packing of soil elementary particles, can be divided into clay pores of the clay fabric and lacunar pores resulting from the packing of skeleton particles with clay particles. First established for artificial mixtures, the validity of this pore space division was tested on aggregates from a silty soil. Porosity was determined by three independent methods: (1) pore volume balance estimation; (2) mercury porosimetry; and (3) SEM observations and image analysis. Consistent values of lacunar pore volume were found, showing the proposed textural porosity division to be valid for the studied soil. The suggestion is made that such a division for the studied soil material might apply to the top layer of natural soils.

Domains: Continental interfaces, environment; Global Changes

J.C. Fiès, Ary Bruand. Textural porosity analysis of a silty clay soil using pore volume balance estimation, mercury porosimetry and quantified backscattered electron scanning image (BESI). Geoderma, 1990, 47 (3-4), pp.209-219. ⟨10.1016/0016-7061(90)90029-9⟩. ⟨insu-00861229⟩