Evolutionary trends in air permeability
Compaction effects can also be seen on the scale of air permeability. This is reduced due to compaction effects. This would hinder aerobic biotic activity on multiple scales.
The following plots in figure 1 show the influence of compaction as well as the influence of plowing.
Evolution of relative air permeability over time. a) and b) represent measurements taken at 10 and 30 cm depth respectively.Figure 1: Evolution of relative air permeability over time. a) and b) represent measurements taken at 10 and 30 cm deep
It can also be seen that ploughing had little effect on bringing the trends back to initial conditions.