Soil texture is an estimate of the relative amounts of sand, silt and clay particles in a soil.

The physical and chemical behaviour of a soil is influenced strongly by soil texture (Bowman & Hutka, 2002), which will vary due to the differences in the type and mineral composition of the parent material, the soils position in the landscape, and the physical and chemical weathering processes involved in soil formation.

Soil texture affects the movement and availability of air, nutrients and water in a soil (Hunt and Gilkes, 1992) and is often used to estimate other soil properties, particularly soil water properties, if no direct measurements are available (NLWRA, 2001).

A simple measure of soil texture is the way a soil feels when manipulated by hand.

Source:
soilquality.org.au