Flood Plains and soil

Question 1

In the flood plain:

Answer 1

There are vegetation, roots, lakes and swampy areas, fields and soil

• Sediment is coming from when the river floods, or the plant material
• both textural and chemical change happening

Question 2

Modifications:

Answer 2

• Modifications leave marks in the rock records (soil tells you it has been existing for a long time)
• Sediments altered by chemical weathering (mineral composition change)
• Textural alterations from plant growth and and animals etc

Question 3

Soil forming processes:

Answer 3

a. leaching by down-ward percolating water. When leaves/organic matter hit the boundary layer, they start to decay, making acidic rain slightly more acidic and can alter mineral composition
b. accumulation of clay minerals, fe oxides and calcite
c. Fragments of mechanically weathered bed rock
d. Bedrock

Question 4

To form a soil:

Answer 4

• Naturally acidic rain made more acidic by pollution, made even more acidic by decaying orgainic material (o horizon - horizon with organic material)
• Water interacts with the minerals, altering to clay and oxide (A horizon)
• Downwards percolation carries them down to the b horizon
• Lots of chemical alteration