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AP Environmental Science > Soil > Flashcards

Soil Flashcards

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1
Q

Soil is actually quite a ______ _______.

A

complex substance

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2
Q

What does soil support?

A

It supports plants, holds water, and brings us food.

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3
Q

What is soil made up of?

A

Made up of disintegrated rock, broken down organic matter, gas, water, nutrients, and biological organisms.

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4
Q

1 teaspoon of soil can contain up to….

A

100 million bacteria, 500,000 fungi, 100,000 algae, and 50,000 protists.

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5
Q

What kind of resource is soil?

A

A renewable resource, but slowly regenerated.

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6
Q

Because of the diversity, soil is actually considered a

A

micro-ecosystem

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7
Q

Soil starts with

A

Parent Material

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8
Q

Parent Material

A

the geological material that breaks down and forms sediment.

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9
Q

Parent Material could be ______

A

mountainous rock, lava, sand dunes, glacier, river sediment, or bedrock

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10
Q

Parent Material is broken down by either

A

chemical or physical processes called weathering.

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11
Q

The weathering of parent material is just the ____

A

first step of soil formation

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12
Q

Types of weathering

A

Wind, Rain, and Chemical

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13
Q

The second step of soil formation is the movement of particles from one location to another called _______

A

erosion

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14
Q

Once broken down and carried away…

A

rock debris will combine with organic matter, microbes, and other materials to form soil.

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15
Q

Soil will exist in different ________, or layers

A

horizons

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16
Q

What are the different horizons?

A

O horizon, A Horizon, B Horizon, C Horizon

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17
Q

O horizon

A

Organic litter layer

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18
Q

A horizon

A

Topsoil

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19
Q

B horizon

A

Subsoil

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20
Q

C horizon

A

Parent material

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21
Q

The smaller the topsoil, the less amount of

A

plants

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22
Q

Topsoil is

A

the most important layer with respect to plants as this where they gain their nutrients and food from. The nutrient content, ability to hold water, and depth will ultimately determine how well a plant will grow.

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23
Q

Organic matter _____ as you travel down the horizons

A

decreases

24
Q

Leaching

A

The movement of nutrients through layers

25
Q

There are __ classifications of soil that soil scientists use that derive from where they originated.

A

12

26
Q

Soil color

A

can sometimes indicate fertility
if it has a lot of oxygen, it will be red
the darker the soil, the more nutrients

27
Q

Soil texture

A

Size of parent material particles

28
Q

Soil structure

A

the ‘clumsiness’ of soil

how well does it hold up

29
Q

Soil pH

A

the acidity of soil

pine trees make soil acidic

30
Q

Mollisols

A

located in great plains, rich in nutrients

31
Q

Ultisols

A

located in Deciduous forests, are strongly leached, acid forest soils with relatively low native fertility

32
Q

Ardisols

A

located in deserts, contain CaCO3-, limited leaching, dry

33
Q

Oxisols

A

located in intertropical regions in the world, highly weathered soil

34
Q

Vertisols

A

located in Denton, Texas and Mississippi river, heavily clayed that gets cracks in the soil, river bed soil

35
Q

Soil Texture consists of three categories

A

silt, sand, and clay

36
Q

Ultimately soil is affected by its

A

regional characteristics

37
Q

Some areas allow for more ______ ________

A

cation exchange

38
Q

Cation Exchange

A

how plants uptake nutrients

39
Q

What makes for better cation exchange?

A

Finer texture and more organic matter

40
Q

Who was better soil? The Amazon rainforest or the Kansas plains?

A

The Kansas Plains

41
Q

Different soils in Denton county are:

A 
Blackland Prairie (black) on the East
Cross Timbers (reddish brown) at Ryan HS
Grand Prairie (white/gray) - on the West
42
Q

______ is a huge problem in American agriculture. Almost equally as important is ______, or the arrival of the eroded material at a new location

A

Erosion; deposition

43
Q

Erosion generally happens ______ than soil formation can occur

A

faster

44
Q

How have we increased erosion?

A

through over cultivating fields, overgrazing rangelands, and clearing forests.

45
Q

What are the types of soil erosion?

A

Splash Erosion: from a constant drip, irrigation, one spot getting hit by a raindrop.
Gully Erosion: Dry river beds
Rill Erosion: Eroding on elevation
Sheet Erosion: low lying area that collects water that doesn’t go away (almost only happens in TX)

46
Q

After a long time of erosion, the end product is the removal of ______ and loss of _______ __ ________

A

topsoil; nutrients of plants

47
Q

As this happens, plants and vegetations die, driving….

A

erosion even deeper.

48
Q

Desertification

A

the process of an area becoming more and more like a desert.

49
Q

Crop rotation

A

only farm at a certain part of your land at a time

50
Q

Contour farming

A

fitting your fields around your topography

51
Q

Terracing

A

Take a hillside but because it’s too steep you cut away at the mountain

52
Q

Shelterbeds

A

surround land by trees

53
Q

Intercropping

A

planting different species of plants in the same place

54
Q

No-till farming

A

every planting season people saves soil

55
Q

Irrigation

A

Watering crops artificially

56
Q

Over-irrigation can deposit

A

salt and excess nutrient sediments on the soil’s surface as the water evaporates.

57
Q

Salinization

A

over time the build up of salt levels on the surface causes this process, that ultimately kills plants. In order to stop salinization, don’t overwater.

AP Environmental Science (8 decks)

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