This process occurs in response to effective stress according to Terzaghi’s theory of it. For 10 points each:
[10h] Give the general term for the process whereby soil changes in volume due to pressure. Soil undergoing this process via cycles of compaction and swelling is often modeled as an idealized spring.
ANSWER: soil consolidation [accept word forms such as consolidate]
[10e] Soil compaction undesirably decreases infiltration capacity and increases the frequency of this process in which excess water flows overground, possibly leading to soil erosion.
ANSWER: surface runoff
[10m] Since consolidation changes a soil’s volume without affecting its other properties, it also changes the soil’s value for this quantity, the percentage of its total volume that consists of “empty” space.
ANSWER: porosity [or void fraction; prompt on phi]
<Chicago A, Other Science>