Experimental Investigation on the Impact of Drying–Wetting Cycles on the Shrink–Swell Behavior of Clay Loam in Farmland

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

After reading the manuscript myself these are my specific comments:

I found someplace citations/references are missing. It would be good If the author provides proper citation at the following place after the text

Line 58 of page 2:  after …  residual shrinkage and zero shrinkage […..citation]

Line 63 of page 2:  after …  water volume is much less than the decrease in soil volume  […..citation]

Line 70-71 of page 2:  please explain the difference between virgin and residual swelling with reference

Line 102 of page 3:  after …  sand, silt, clay in the approximate proportions of 22.7%, 56.2%, 21.1% […..citation]

Line 112 of page 3:  after …  by cutting ring method […..citation]

Line 124 of page 3:  after …  subsequently wetted by capillary rise method […..citation]

I also found the lack of data value interpretation within the text particularly in the Distribution of moisture ratio and void ratio in different soil shrinkage zones during four drying paths … the first paragraph of page 8. More or less it sounds like a general discussion in spite of your finding. It would be good for readers if you explain your findings with values within the text also.  

I also suggest (If possible), adding a table of previous studies reported by various researchers around the globe on this topic, which will provide clear information about your findings in comparison to others. I felt it will more helpful to readers.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear colleagues,
I have studied your paper and have only a few suggestions for improvement.

At the end of the abstract, please emphasize the novelty of the research (one sentence is enough).

In the methodological part I miss some data. The behavior of individual soil types will certainly be related to soil carbon. It would be a good idea to supplement this information, if available.

In the result part (around line 206), in my opinion, it is unnecessary to use rounding to hundredths of a cubic mm in the text. Richly lower accuracy in whole mm3 is enough.

I really appreciate the discussion part, it is above average and detailed - this is the most successful part of the paper.

The conclusion is adequate to the results.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf