Question

Which type of soil has the highest water holding capacity?

• A. Newton's answer is correct.
• B. Edward's answer is correct.
• C. Both Newton and Edward are wrong.
• D. Newton's answer is wrong.

Answer 1

The correct option is A

Newton's answer is correct.

Water holding capacity is highest for clayey soil. Clayey soil has a higher proportion of fine particles and hence they are closely packed. Due to close packing of fine particles clayey soil have good water holding properties. Since loamy soil has an almost equal proportion of large and fine particles so its water holding capacity is less than that of the clayey soil. Sandy soil has the lowest water holding capacity as they have high proportion of large particles that have large space between them due to improper packing. This makes it difficult for sandy soil to hold water.