At the risk of being banned ( no wait - that's the other forum! ) I will suggest that perhaps the reason the soil loses it's "stickyness" is that it "dies" - ie, loses it's "essence".
IF the soil is totally dry, then the essence is not water.
Perhaps it is something as simple a current of electrons that interact in a substrate of, er, circuits.
What the heck are all those rings in the soil?