Section 1 – Origin and characteristics of rocks and minerals

Question 1

Soil Variability

 Soils are the result of UCTEAEPIAL

 Prairie soils are relatively new <

 The original material is a result of two geological processes:

Answer 1

 Soils are the result of unique conditions that exist at each place in a landscape

 Prairie soils are relatively new <10,000years old

 The original material is a result of two geological process:

1. Bedrock formation
2. Glaciation

Question 2

Western Canada had been under water for immense periods of time in the past. Over how long of a time frame ?

Answer 2

500 million years

Question 3

Sediment in these water bodies -that were under water for 500 million years in Western Canada - settled to the bottom and was compressed into ___ ____ up to 3,000 meters thick

Answer 3

rock layers

Question 4

Variations in the ?___\_ _ _ ?, of W. Canada, over 500 million years, led to different kinds of bedrock layers at different times.

Answer 4

water bodies

Question 5

Formation of Sedimentary Bedrock

 Western Canada has been under water for
 Sediment in these water bodies settled to the
 Variations in the water bodies led to different kinds of ? layers at different times

Answer 5

Formation of Sedimentary Bedrock

 immense periods of time in the past 500 million years
 bottom and was compressed into rock layers up to 3,000 meters thick
 Variations in the water bodies led to different kinds of bedrock layers at different times

Question 6

How old is the earth estimated to be?

Answer 6

(Sedimentary Layers south of Edmonton)

4.5 billion years

Question 7

The unique characteristics of bedrock layers influences the ? that develop out of them

Answer 7

soils

Question 8

The unique characteristics of bedrock layers influences the soils that develop out of them

– For example, soils developing out of saline bedrock tend to produce _______ soils while non-saline bedrock tends to produce more productive __________ soils.

 Reality check

1. – What does this mean in terms of reclamation?

Answer 8

saline

non-saline

1. Soil salinity is the worst hindrance to crop-growing
   
   • reclamation requires regular leaching which is
     
     • irrigation and drainage
     • Leaching is most often accomplished by ponding fresh water on the soil surface and allowing it to infiltrate. Leaching is effective when the salty drainage water is discharged through subsurface drains that carry the leached salts out of the area under reclamation.

Question 9

Anthropogenic vs. naturally occurring salts etc.?

Answer 9

The two major anthropogenic sources of salts are from irrigation water and fertilization.

Salts often originate from the earth’s crust. They also can result from weathering, in which small amounts of rock and other deposits are dissolved over time and carried away by water. This slow weathering may cause salts to accumulate in both surface and underground waters. The surface runoff of these dissolved salts is what gives the salt content to our oceans and lakes.

Question 10

The relationship between bedrock and soil may be quite distant except for the help of ________, erosion, weathering etc.

Answer 10

glaciation

Question 11

Glaciation and Deglaciation

Canada has been covered with ?km of ice several times over the past _____ years. This huge mass of ice moved by its own ______ grinding the rock below it and ______ it across the continent. It is estimated that the last continental glacier melted back from the prairies ? years ago

Answer 11

3

2 million

weight

redistributing

10-12,000

Question 12

Bedrock and Soil Formation

Glaciation and Deglaciation produced four kinds of deposits:

1. Glacial Till (from moving ? )
2. Fluvial (from moving ?)
3. Lacustrine (from calm water ?)
4. Eolian (from ?)

Answer 12

1. ice
2. water
3. lakes
4. Wind

Question 13

Glaciation and Deglaciation produced four kinds of deposits:

1. ? (from moving ice)
2. ? (from moving water)
3. ? (from calm water lakes)
4. ? (from Wind)

Answer 13

1. Glacial Till
2. Fluvial
3. Lacustrine
4. Eolian

Question 14

Glaciation and Deglaciation produced four kinds of deposits:

1. Glacial Till (from moving ice)
2. Fluvial (from moving water)
   3.

4.

Answer 14

3. Lacustrine (from calm water lakes)
4. Eolian (from Wind)

Question 15

Glaciation and Deglaciation produced four kinds of deposits:

1.

2.

3. Lacustrine (from calm water lakes)
4. Eolian (from Wind)

Answer 15

1. Glacial Till (from moving ice)
2. Fluvial (from moving water)

Question 16

Glacial Till

 The material ____ ____ _____ _______ was broken into an unsorted mixture of boulders, stones, sand, silt, and clay. – This mixture is also called:

 ? material

 boulder ?

Answer 16

crushed under moving ice

morainal

clay

Question 17

Glacial Till

 The material crushed under moving ice was broken into an unsorted mixture of ____, ____, _____, _____, and _____.

– This mixture is also called:

 morainal _\__?__\_

 _____ clay

Answer 17

boulders, stones, sand, silt, and clay.

material

boulder

Question 18

Glacial Till –

1. Well sorted or poorly sorted? Why?
2. Well stratified or poorly stratified? Why?
3. Stone and boulders are rounded or angular? Why?

Answer 18

1. Sediments deposited directly from glacial ice generally are poorly sorted and
2. unstratified \
   
   • meltwater streams or lakes are sorted and stratified.
   • More transport = more sorted
3. The rock fragments are usually angular and sharp rather than rounded, because they are deposited from the ice and have undergone little water transport.

Question 19

Deglaciation and Soil Parent Material

– Melting back of the ice sheets involved ________of years of water dafrallf In addition to glacial till deposits:

 Fluvial deposits remain where rivers once flowed (?)

 Lacustrine deposits were left from ancient lakes (?)

 Eolian deposits were formed by ? action (sand and silt; sand dunes and loess)

Answer 19

thousands

draining away through rivers and lakes long forgotten

(sand and gravel)

(silt and clay)

wind

Question 20

Deglaciation and Soil Parent Material

Melting back of the ice sheets involved thousands of years of water draining away through rivers and lakes long forgotten.

In addition to glacial till deposits:

• ? deposits remain where rivers once flowed (sand and gravel)
• ? deposits were left from ancient lakes (silt and clay)
• Eolian deposits were formed by wind action (?)

Answer 20

Fluvial

Lacustrine

sand and silt; sand dunes and loess

Question 21

Deglaciation and Soil Parent Material –

MB of the IS involved ? of ? of water draining away through rivers and lakes long forgotten. – In addition to glacial till deposits:

 Fluvial deposits remain where rivers once flowed (? and gravel)

 Lacustrine deposits were left from ancient lakes (? and clay)

 Eolian deposits were formed by wind action (sand and silt; sand ? and loess)

Answer 21

Melting back of the ice sheets

thousands of years

sand

silt

dunes

Question 22

The degree of sorting depends upon how much TtheShU.

Glacial till, containing a mixture of coarse ______ rock fragments, sand, silt, and ?, was deposited by the slow p_________ a_________ of an ice sheet, and is a good example of an angular, p-s sediment.

Answer 22

transport the sediment has undergone

angular

clay

plowing action

poorly-sorted

Question 23

Very poorly sorted indicates that the sediment sizes are…

whereas well sorted indicates that the sediment sizes are similar (low variance). …

What would cause sediments to be poorly sorted?

Glaciers can transport almost ___ ____ sediment easily, and when ice flow slows down or stops, the sediment __ ____ _____, due to the density of the ___.

Answer 23

mixed (large variance)

any size

is not deposited

ice

Question 24

most rocks on earth are

Answer 24

• ignerous, however most we see are sedimentary
• 95% rocks on earth=igneous (but only 25% on surface are igneous)
• 5% on earth = sedimentary (but 75% on surface are sedimentary)

Question 25

any rock that is dark means that

Answer 25

it has a lot of organic content

Question 26

T or F

lakes have coarser grained sediments

Answer 26

TRUE

Question 27

the process of turning into rock

Answer 27

lithification

Question 28

difference between mud and shale

Answer 28

any mud with laminated facility planes is shale but mud that doesnt is just mud

Question 29

Porosity

Answer 29

Porosity consists of the tiny spaces in the rock that hold the oil or gas.

Porosity of a rock is a measure of its ability to hold a fluid.

Question 30

permeability

Answer 30

Permeability is a characteristic that allows the oil and gas to flow through the rock.

The permeability of a rock is a measure of the resistance to the flow of a fluid through a rock. If it takes a lot of pressure to squeeze fluid through a rock, that rock has “low permeability” or “low perm.” If fluid passes through the rock easily, it has “high permeability,” or “high perm.”

Question 31

well sorted rocks vs. poorly sorted have

Answer 31

porosity vs. low porosity

Well sorted rocks are porous

while

poorly sorted have low porosity

most well sorted=wind (desert)