What do you call the weight a soil can withstand before severe damage occurs to the structure of the soil?

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

SSC CGL 2021 Tier-I (Held On : 18 April 2022 Shift 2)

Answer 1

The correct answer is Bearing capacity.

Key Points

Bearing capacity
- This is effectively the weight a soil can withstand before severe damage occurs to the structure of the soil.
- Bearing capacity varies throughout the year, for instance, a very heavy tractor that causes no damage on dry soils may cause a lot of damage to wetted soils.

Important Points

Bulk density
- The dry mass of soil per unit bulk volume of soil is called bulk density.
- Expressed as kg/m³ or g/cm³.
Buffering capacity
- Buffering capacity is the ability of the soil to reduce high alkalinity or acidity levels coming perhaps from pollution (e.g. acid rain).
- Chalky or limestone soils for instance are very alkaline and can neutralize acids more effectively than acid, peat soils.
Field capacity
- Field capacity describes soil when it is completely wetted (excepting free drainage), and where there is plenty of water for plant roots.
- This occurs after ample irrigation or rainfall, when the rate of downward movement of water has substantially decreased, usually 1-3 days after rain or irrigation.
- It is expressed as a mass or volume fraction of soil water or a depth of water per metre of soil or mm m^-1.