| Chapter 1 | General Background | Chapter 7 | Soil Structure | |
| Chapter 2 | Planning and Making a Soil Survey | Chapter 8 | Soil Consistency | |
| Chapter 3 | Soil Properties Important for Freshwater Fish Culture | Chapter 9 | Soil Permeability | |
| Chapter 4 | Chemical Properties of Soil | Chapter 10 | Miscellaneous Soil Properties | |
| Chapter 5 | Colour and Colour Mottling | Chapter 11 | Soil Suitability Classification for Aquaculture | |
| Chapter 6 | Soil Texture | Chapter 12 | Soils and Freshwater Fish Culture | |
| Annex 1 | Photographs of Soil Profiles | |||
1.0 Purpose
1.1 What is soil?
1.2 Why is it necessary to investigate your soil?
Soil is your basic material
How well does your soil hold water
How to conduct a soil survey
1.3 The origin and evolution of soil
What is the origin of soil and how do different rocks develop?
There are two types of mineral soils
Soils developed from a local parent material: residual soils
Soils developed from a transported parent material: sedimentary soils
1.4 The soil and the subsoil of mineral soils
The surface stratum: the soil
The bottom stratum: the subsoil
1.5 Soil horizons in mineral soils
There are many different kinds of soils
Soil horizons are layers which are characteristic of each kind of soil
How do the soil horizons develop?
How are these soil horizons labeled?
Identification of soil horizons: the soil profile
1.6 Soil composition
Organic matter in soil
Minerals in soil
Water in soil
Air in soil
1.7 Basic types of soil
Gravel and sand
Inorganic silt
Organic silt
Inorganic clay
Organic clay
Peat
1.8 Some examples of particular names for soils
Hardpan
Loess
Bentonite
Black-cotton soil
Lateritic soil
Acid sulphate soil
2.0 The purpose of the soil survey
2.1 Soil samples
Which kind of soil sample do you need?
How deep should you take soil samples?
Which precautions should you observe when collecting soil samples?
Soil samples for chemical analysis
What to do with your soil samples
2.2 Soil sampling methods
The open pit method
The auger boring method
The thin-walled tube method
2.3 How to make a soil survey for a freshwater fish-farm
2.4 Making a reconnaissance soil survey
Preparing for the survey
Digging the open pits and examining the soil profiles
Taking the samples
2.5 Making a detailed soil survey
Preparing for the survey
Taking auger samples and examining the soil profiles
Taking subsamples
3.0 Classification tests
3.1 Index properties of soils for freshwater fish culture
Planning a large fish farm
Planning a small fish farm
4.0 The chemical qualities of soils change with time
4.1 The chemical reaction of the soil (pH)
4.2 A particular case: freshwater acid sulphate soils
Acid and potential acid sulphate soils
How to identify a potential acid sulphate soil
5.0 Colour of soil horizons
5.1 Colour mottling in soil horizons
6.0 Definition of soil texture
6.1 Quick field tests to determine soil texture
Throw-the-ball test
Squeeze-the-ball test
6.2 How to find the approximate proportions of sand, silt and clay
The bottle test
6.3 How to rate soil texture from fine to coarse
The mud-ball test
6.4 Soil textural classes and field tests for their determination
A more accurate determination of soil texture
The ball-shaking test
The dry crushing test
The manipulative test
The shaking test: how to differentiate clay from silt
6.5 Laboratory tests for textural classes
6.6 The textural triangle method to determine the basic textural
classes
6.7 The particle-size frequency curve
What is a PSF-curve?
What does a PSF-curve show?
How do you get a PSF-curve?
How to draw a PSF-curve
How to use a PSF-curve to obtain particle-size frequency percentages
Further uses of the PSF-curve: effective size and uniformity coefficient
7.0 Definition and importance of soil structure
7.1 Description of soil structure
7.2 Grades of soil structure
7.3 Classes and types of soil structure
8.0 Definition of soil consistency
8.1 Determination of wet-soil consistency
Field test for stickiness of wet soil
Field test for plasticity of wet soil
8.2 Determination of moist-soil consistency
8.3 Determination of dry-soil consistency
Field test for dry-soil consistency
8.4 Determination of soil consistency using the Atterberg Limits
The liquid limit
The plastic limit
Some critical values of the Atterberg Limits for aquaculture
Field determination of the plastic limit – the thread method
8.5 Calculation of the plasticity index and its significance
Some critical values of the plasticity index for aquaculture
8.6 The plasticity chart for fine-grained soils
9.0 Why is it important to determine soil permeability
9.1 Which factors affect soil permeability?
9.2 Soil permeability relates to soil texture and structure
Permeability variation according to soil texture
Permeability variation according to soil structure
9.3 Soil permeability classes
9.4 Measurement of soil permeability in the laboratory
9.5 Measurement of soil permeability in the field
The visual evaluation of the permeability rate of soil horizons
A simple field test for estimating soil permeability
A more precise field test for measuring permeability rates
9.6 Determining coefficients of permeability
10.0 Other important soil properties
10.1 Permeability of compacted soil
10.2 Compaction characteristics
10.3 Compressibility
10.4 Shrink-swell potential
10.5 Shear strength
10.6 Susceptibility to piping
11.0 The problem of soil classification
11.1 The Unified Soil Classification
11.2 Field classification of fine-grained soils
11.3 Field classification of coarse-grained soils
11.4 Correspondence between USDA textural classes and the USC
system
12.0 What have you learned
12.1 Soil suitability for the building of earthen ponds
When a site is unsuitable for earthen ponds
When a site is suitable for earthen ponds
12.2 Soil suitability for building embankments
Dam or pond dikes
Dikes without a clay core
Dikes with a clay core
12.3 Soil suitability for water canals
12.4 Determination of soil suitability with the PSF-curve
12.5 Soils and pond management
Reduction of water losses by seepage
Improvement of pond fertility