Relation of strength and mineralogical attributes in Brazilian latosols

There is a growing demand for the estimation of load support capacity of soils on a larger scale in mitigating compaction and other degradation forms of agricultural soils. In this study, we examined the relationship between load support capacity and soil mineralogy, using four latosol (oxisol) types. Our results showed that soil color could be used as a first discriminator of load support capacity in latosols. Hematitic (reddish) latosols were observed to have lower load support capacity when compared to the goethitic (yellowish) soils. We observed that the clay mineralogy is associated with soil structure development and consequently with the load support capacity of the soil. Our study has laid a foundation for large-scale estimation of strength attributes in latosols indicated by their structure, which is associated with their quite stable and simple mineralogy.