Which Type of Soil Can Hold the Most Water? Soil Textures/ Water Holding Capacity

Overview

Objectives/Goals To examine which soil textures can hold the most water (water holding capacity). To check that different soil textures have different water holding capacities. Methods/Materials Materials: three different types of soils, oven, distilled water, plastic bags, a cooler, a balance, beakers, stockings, containers, and a graduate cyclinder. Methods: air-dried soils, weighed the weight of each dried and crystal soil, set an apparatus to pour water into each soil texture, add water, let the soil drain for 1 hour, dry wet soil at 110'C formula wet soil-dry soil/dry soil times 100. Results Water holding capacity varied depending on the soil textures. The clay soil had the highest water holding capacity and the sand soil had the least; clay>silt>sand. Conclusions/Discussion Clay particles are so tiny and have many small pore spaces that make water move slower (the highest water holding capacity). Sandy soils have good drainage but low water and nutrient holding capacities. Soil texture and water holding capacity affect plant growth.

Competition history

• CSEF 2006 Earth Sciences/ Planetary Sciences/ Physical Environments · Entry J0614

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