SOIL-STRUCTURE, ITS DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PROPERTIES AND PROCESSES IN SOILS - A SYNOPSIS BASED ON RECENT RESEARCH IN GERMANY

In a synoptic way the development of soil structure and its effects on processes in soils are treated, referring on more recent results of investigations in Germany. It is outlined that development of structure is an absolutely primary part of soil development which basically consists of the phenomena of loosening-versus-compaction and heterogenisation-versus-homogenisation. The process of aggregation is described together with its abiotic and biotic mechanisms and its consequences for the pore system and the processes which are influenced by it, A number of examples is given for the wide variety of mechanisms, chemisms and biologic processes which are influenced by soil structure and its change.