| Abstract: | Wind erosion depends on the ease with which particles can be detached from the soil surface, but suitable tests to characterize this property are not available. Two possible methods to determine surface soil strength in the field were therefore compared on a range of artificially ‘crusted’ surfaces. These were made by spraying or tension wetting aggregates (10–2, 2–0.5 and <0.5 mm) from a structurally unstable sandy loam, followed by drying. Each test involved measuring the force exerted on a probe driven at a steady rate into the surface, using either a flat-tipped 0.6 mm diameter penetrometer or a flat-ended cylindrical punch with inner and outer diameters of 5 and 6 mm, respectively. Both probes showed that crusts could be produced reproducibly. Depending on the probe and aggregate size, penetration mainly occurred either as a result of aggregates being deflected out of the pathway of the probe or by genuine rupture of aggregates or of the crusted surface. The penetrometer, because it was comparable to the size of sand grains, gave results that can be used to characterize surface erodibility to saltating particles. The punch gave results that would be unsuitable for this purpose, as would other strength tests that are on too large a scale. Penetrometer results were analyzed to calculate the energy required for penetration. It was thus possible to demonstrate that only the spray-wetted fine aggregates had a surface that could undergo large-scale rupture by saltating sand grains. For all other surfaces, saltating particles would be unable to supply sufficient energy to rupture aggregates or the crusted surface. Erosion could only occur by a slower process of abrasion in which smaller particles or aggregates are chipped away from the surface. However, it is shown that saltating particles could rupture the interaggregate bonding in the 2–0.5 mm aggregate surfaces, thus permitting creep. An alternative and potentially simpler way of characterizing surface erodibility by using a surface modulus of elasticity is also discussed. Our results demonstrate that the small diameter penetrometer is a promising technique for characterizing erodibility of aggregated and crusted surfaces. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
