Soil Moisture

Soil Moisture

Procedure:

1. The lab partners made a small tray out of aluminum foil.
2. The tray was weighed
3. Soil was added to the tray to just cover the bottom layer
4. The soil and tray were weighed together
5. The tray was picked up and put into a drying oven.
6. 24 hours after the tray was put into the drying oven, the tray was taken out.
7. The tray and soil were weighed again and the mass was recorded

Before Drying

After Drying

Percent Water:

55.68 grams of soil (before drying) - 37.76 grams of soil (after drying) = 17.92 grams of water evaporated

17.92 grams of water evaporated / 55.68 total grams of soil and moisture x 100 = 32.18% water

Soil Moisture Vs, Soil Texture: 

The silty soil held a lot of moisture. Almost a third of the soil was water(moisture). This makes sense as sand does not hold much moisture and clay hold even more moisture then silt. Since silt is a mix of sand a clay it would make sense it is in the middle of their moisture capabilities. Howeve a lot of our soil was mulch. Mulch is specially designed to keep in water to help plants grow. This high percentage of water is shown as 32% of the soil was water.

Yes, there is a correlation between soil moisture and texture. Throughout our class tests and results, the sandy based soil did not hold as much moisture.  The silt, which is a combination of clay and sand held the most average amount of moisture while the clay held the most moisture.