Susceptibilidade dos solos da província de maputo à compactação

Abstract

This work consisted in determining the susceptibility of soils in Maputo province to compaction. For this purpose, susceptibility was described in terms of maximum soil density as a function of texture, gravimetric moisture and organic matter content, considered as intrinsic factors of compaction. Nine (9) soil samples from Maputo province were collected and subjected to laboratory determination of texture, organic matter, maximum soil density and gravimetric moisture by the sieving and sedimentation methods, Walkley and Black described by Houba et al. (1989), standard "proctor method" of high compaction density according to the instructions of Felt (1965) and dry soil moisture-mass ratio, respectively. The maximum soil density was shown to be dependent on the intrinsic factors analyzed, with the soil texture being the factor best related to the maximum density. The highest density recorded occurred at clay and silt+clay contents of 20 and 25% respectively. Of the studied soils, the shallow soil on non-limestone rock from the Tongana region, in the Magude district presented the highest maximum density value, while the lowest was registered with the colluvial clayey soil of the mananga region of the Mapapene region. in the district of Magude. The mathematically obtained equations that describe the relationships between the considered parameters show a good regression. The results of this work are in agreement with those obtained by Smith et al. (1997b) and Nhantumbo (1998) in soils from South Africa. It is recommended that future genus work should include studies of the mineralogical nature of the clay fraction as well as the compressibility test