The latter number was similar to the 31 cycles predicted in the lab- oratory study of aggregates at 0.1 water content. Our results demonstrate that freeze-drying is ...
Freeze-drying processes and wind erodibility of a clay loam soil in southern Alberta Murray S. Bullock1, Francis J. Larney1, Sean M. McGinn1 and R. César Izaurralde2 1Land
Resource Sciences Section, Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, P.O Box 3000, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1J 4B1; 2Battelle Washington Operations, 901 D Street, 370 L’Enfant Promenade, S.W., Suite 900, Washington, DC 200242115, U.S.A. Received 15 April 1998, accepted 22 October 1998. Bullock, M. S., Larney, F. J., McGinn, S. M. and Izaurralde, R. C. 1999. Freeze-drying processes and wind erodibility of a clay loam soil in southern Alberta. Can. J. Soil Sci. 79: 127–135. Freeze-drying has been implicated as a factor causing soil aggregate breakdown on the Canadian Prairies and northern Great Plains. Aggregates of a Dark Brown Chernozemic clay loam soil sampled in October 1993 and January and April 1994 were subjected to repeated cycles of wetting (to 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 kg kg–1 water contents) freezing, and freeze-drying under laboratory conditions. The October 1993 samples showed less disruption when initially exposed to freeze-drying cycles compared to samples taken in January and April 1994. Using regression analysis, we predicted that 31 freeze-dry cycles were required for the 0.1 kg kg–1 water content aggregates to reach 60% erodible fraction (EF, % aggregates
