Water stability of macroaggregates in soil samples taken from the root-inhabited (arable) layer of ordinary chernozem (Kamennaya Steppe) under layland, mowed steppe, and plowland used in crop rotation over 100 years was studied using a modified procedure involving the spontaneous degradation of macroaggregates under the action of water. It was found that water stability depends on the size of aggregates and the duration of land use. Aggregate degradation is a slow process, which proceeds over tens of days. An equation was proposed to characterize the probability of degradation as a function of the time of interaction with water, as well as the method for the determination of its parameters corresponding to the maximum possible water stability and the mean statistical degradation time. An interrelation between the porosity of macroaggregates and the probability of their degradation was suggested.
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