The Problem with Soil Compaction

Humans, along with all our activities, cause widespread soil compaction. An ideal soil has 50 percent pore space: some air-filled pores and some filled with water. In addition, 45 percent of a typical soil is composed of mineral materials, with 5 percent composed of living and dead organic materials. The term compaction includes soil compression, soil compaction and soil consolidation.Compression is the loss of soil volume. Soil compression leads to a loss of total pore space and aeration pore space, and an increase in capillary pore space. In other words, large air-filled pore spaces are crushed, creating more small, water-filled