Characterization of shrinkage cracks in medium black clay soil of madhya pradesh

Development of a method for estimating the likelihood of crack flow in Canadian agricultural soils at the landscape scale

“…Cracking due to desiccation is affected by several factors, such as the amount and type of clay (Zein El Abedine and Robinson 1971;Dasog et al 1988;Baer and Anderson 1997), the type and density of vegetative cover (Zein El Abedine and Robinson 1971;Sharma and Verma 1977;Dasog et al 1988;Dasog and Shashidhara 1993), drainage (Nuutinen et al 2001), management practices (Vervoort et al 2001), and environmental factors such as the amount and frequency of rainfall or irrigation events (Zein El Abedine and Robinson 1971). These factors are considered in the CF algorithm as discussed in detail in the following sections.…”

“…Precipitation frequency must be sufficiently low to allow crack formation between events. The depth and width of cracks increase as long as soil desiccation continues from the surface to lower depths (Sharma and Verma 1977;Wells et al 2003) unless the soil has reached it minimal volume. After cracks are formed, precipitation (with sufficient depth, duration, and intensity) must occur to cause surface runoff so that water can enter the cracks.…”

Numerical analysis of crack generation in saturated deformable soil under row-planted vegetation

“…Fox (1964) found that the formation of inter-row cracks could be attributed to the anchoring of soil to the roots of the crops. Sharma and Verma (1977), Mitchell and van Genuchten (1992), and Dasog and Shashidhara (1993) provide supplementary explanations of the effect of vegetation on crack formation. These studies suggest that both anchoring of soil to roots and bidirectional water movement caused by the spread of roots under the rows affect the generation of inter-row cracks.…”

Effects of cropping and puddling practices on the cracking patterns in paddy fields

“…Fox (1964) reported that the formation of inter-row cracks could be attributed to the anchoring of soil by the roots of the crops. Sharma and Verma (1977) and Mitchell and van Genuchten (1992) also provided supplementary explanations for the formation of cracks between rows. In a laboratory experiment, Yoshida et al (2001) observed that bidirectional water movement occurring between rows of crops could lead to the formation of inter-row cracks.…”