A STUDY OF THE SHRINKING AND SWELLING PROPERTIES OF RENDZINA SOILS

1
J. R. JOHNSTON AND H. 0. HlLL
2
E most striking physical characteristics of the
1 Rendzina soils developed in the black-land area
of Texas are extreme stickiness and unusual swelling
and shrinking which accompany wetting and drying.
These physical properties are responsible for much
' of the difficulty encountered in managing these soils,
particularly in regard to' erosion control, moisture
conservation, and tillage operations.
The "dry weather" cracks that develop in these
soils during prolonged dry periods, illustrated in Fig.
i, constitute a major factor in water infiltration. Slow,
gentle rainfall, which wets the surface soil slowly,
causes these cracks to become sealed at the top while
remaining open at lower depths; rainfall of high in-
tensity fills the cracks by gravitational movement of
water, with the result that swelling of the soils shuts
the entire crack.
There are two general methods of measuring soil
loss by erosion. The first is to measure the soil washed
off by individual storms and the second is to deter-
mine changes in surface elevation. Woodruff (7)
3
found that plates set at different depths in a Shelby
loam profile rose and settled as the soil moisture con-
tent rose and fell. Hill, et al. (3) found'that bench
marks set at depths of 3, 5, 8, 10, 15, and 20 feet in
Houston black clay, settled during dry weather and
rose during wet weather. During one year the 3-foot
bench mark moved approximately J4
mcn U
P
an
d M
inch down a total movement of I ^2 inches. The
rising and falling of the surface soil make it necessary
that soil-movement lines be run at times when compa-
rable soil moisture content and state of tilth exist;
otherwise, the data obtained will be unreliable. Be-
cause this requirement is seldom met under field con-
ditions this method cannot be successfully used for
measuring sheet erosion, but it is a satisfactory meth-
od for measuring gully erosion when cross-slope pro-
files are run.
Tempany (6) has shown that cubical contraction
of soil is numerically equal to volume loss of water
during the earlier stages of shrinkage. During the
later stages of drying a marked decline of shrinkage
occurred.
Hardy (2) pointed out that differences in shrink-
age coefficient between soils of similar colloid content
were probably due to the kind of soil colloids. His
data show that soils in plastic bricks cease to shrink
when the moisture content has been reduced to a
point which approaches the hygroscopic coefficient.
Haines (i ) collected data for puddled prisms of
soil that agree with Tempany's hypothesis that cubical
contraction is numerically equal to volume loss of
water during the early stages of shrinkage. His data
also showed that as dehydration progressed to near
dryness a distinct
1
break in the curve developed. This
break signifies the point at which air enters the soil.
Haines termed the shrinkage from this break to dry-
ness "residual shrinkage", and the shrinkage from
maximum plasticity to the break in the curve "normal
shrinkage".
Lauritzen and Stewart (5) did some work on the
shrinkage and swelling properties of natural soil clods
from a Houston black clay profile. They found that
shrinkage per unit loss of weight was greatest when
the moisture content was near the wilting point.
-The purpose of the work reported herein was to
obtain some laboratory measurements of the shrink-
ing and swelling properties of natural soil clods from
Houston black clay and Austin clay profiles, and to
relate these properties to the development of dry-
weather cracks and to desirable tilth of these soils.
FIG. I.Profuse surface cracking of Houston black clay dur-
ing a prolonged drouth. Note the "mud crack" pattern. This
crack pattern is common in fallow soil or under solid vege-
tative cover.
PROCE DURE
A profile of Au,stin clay and one of Houston black clay
were exposed to include one dry-weather crack each (Figs.
2 and 3). To determine the moisture content of the Austin
clay, soil samples were taken within the o-i, 1-3, 3-6, 6-9,
and c?-i2 inch horizontal intervals in both directions from the
crack and at depths of 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 inches immediately
after the profile was exposed. The Houston black clay was
sampled in the same manner except that surface samples were
taken at both the 1-2 inch and the 2-3 inch interval and profile
'Contribution of the Office of Research, Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture, Temple, Texas.
2
Soil scientist and project supervisor, respectively, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture.
3
Figures in parenthesis refer to "Literature Cited", p. 28.