ChileanJAR

The isolation of soil particle size fractions using the sedimentation rate without chemical pretreatments, and the freeze dried effect on suspended particle size and suspension quality were studied. Soil samples from horizons A and B of Vilcún soil, its fraction free from organic matter and a synthetic aluminosilicate were used. The procedure based on the Stokes' law was proved to be useful to isolate clay fractions from suspensions even in soils with high organic matter content. After freeze dried, particle size increases and poor suspensions were observed in soil, fraction, and synthetic samples. It is not possible to recover the original suspension characteristics even when reciprocal shaker or ultrasonic vibrator was used.