Exam 1 Flashcards
What are the 2 scales of soil?
- Global
- Local
Global scale of soil
- soil is at the intersection of atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere
- Soil is a biogeochemical membrane
Critical zone
-comprised of the outer layers of the planet that lie between the tops of the tallest trees and the bottom of the groundwater aquifers that feed out rivers.
Local scale of soil (for ideal soil system)
- 4 phase system
- 20-30% air
- 20-30% water
- 5% organic
- 45% mineral
- pore space is air, water, organic
- soil solids are minerals
Ecosystem services of soil
- provisioning services (food, drinking water, fuel)
- Regulating services (climate, water, disease)
- Supporting services (soil formation, nutrient cycling)
- Cultural services (educational, recreational, tourism)
What forces move particles?
Ice, wind, water
MASTER horizons
- O (organic horizons)
- A, B, C, E (mineral horizons)
- R (bedrock horizon)
Organic vs mineral soil
-organic has >20% carbon
Oi (stage 1)
–litters
Oe (O2)
-partially decomposed
Oa (O2)
- highly decomposed by microbiota
- AKA humus
A (A1)
-mixture of humified organic matter and mineral soil (topsoil)
E (A2)
- eluviated leached horizon
- leached by water
B (B2)
- altered, undergoing change
- Illuviation
- Loss of carbonates
- Change in color or structure
R
-weathered bedrock
What is the regolith composed of?
-Everything above the bedrock
What is the solum composed of?
-A and B layer collectively
p
-plow layer, abrupt smooth boundary
t
-illuvial accumulation of silicate clays
w
-distinctive color or structure
g
-gleying (strong grey color)
s
-illuvial accumulation of sesquioxides
h
-illuvial accumulation of organic matter
d
-dense, impermeable (gegenic)
x
- dense, brittle, impermeable (genetic)
- Bx
Topsoil
-composed of organic horizons and the A horizon
subsoil
-composed of B and C horizons
Catena
- soils that commonly occur in the landscape in sequence
- Each member of the catena has similar age, and parent material, but different drainage classes.
What is the point of reference for profile depth?
-top mineral soil horizon
Very poorly drained depth to mottliing
-0-4 inches
Poorly drained depth to mottling
4-8 inches
Somewhat poorly drained depth to mottling
8-16 inches
moderatley well drained depth to mottling
16-40 inches
well drained depth to mottling
> 40 inches
differences between reduced mottling and oxidized mottling
- oxidized in red, yellow, and bright (Fe +3)
- Reduced is grey, gley, and dull (Fe +2)
Esker
- coarse sands/gravel throughout
- Excessively well drained
Soil color–munsell notation
- Hue, relation to red, yellow, green, blue, purple
- Value- lightness (10 white, 1 black)
- Chroma - departure from neutral of the same lightness
- describes location in 3D color space, written as hue value/ chroma (1.5yr/4)
Soil profile horizon description (components)
- color
- horizon boundary
- coarse fragments
- depth to mottling, root restrictive layer
- roots (size and abundance)