soil classification

Question 1

why does soil look the way that it does

Answer 1

last glaciation - material left behind. rain brings residue down and causes erosion

Question 2

how does soil form?

Answer 2

top down, weathering A into B.

Question 3

processes leading to soil formation

Answer 3

addition, losses, transfers, transformations

Question 4

soil formation factors **

Answer 4

parent material, climate, topography, organisms, time

Question 5

soil formation - time

Answer 5

progressive weathering, not measured in years, rather soil forming time in a year. can be variable in any given area

Question 6

soil formation -organisims

Answer 6

source photosynthetic carbon, contributes to weathering and soil structure development, influenced by topography, climate and geological materials

Question 7

soil formation - climate

Answer 7

weathering speeds up in hot/wet climate and slows in cold/dry. excess water moves down and increases vegetation and eluviation

Question 8

soil formation - topography

Answer 8

gives water somewhere to go, depression areas are wetter, more plant matter

Question 9

soil formation - parent material

Answer 9

glacial action sorts particle size, bedrock can change ions in soil/ texture

Question 10

glacial lake

Answer 10

lots of clay in parent material. sat for a while

Question 11

what’s found in a well structured A horizon

Answer 11

• Need good seed/soil contact, w root/pore space. Want granular – combo of aggregates, seed/soil contact, pore space.
• Building a building – want it compact, so that we don’t get leaning tower of pizza
  stable aggregates

Question 12

glacial rivers

Answer 12

moves fast, only heavy stuff falls to bottom, rocky

Question 13

river deltas

Answer 13

rivers widen out, slows movement, sand can sink now too

Question 14

moraine

Answer 14

no sorting at all, dumped out of the glacier. quite rocky. mid textured w loams and silt loam usually

Question 15

lacturine

Answer 15

lac - lake = lake settlement (sandy)

Question 16

esker

Answer 16

hole in glacier - water runs down hole, and wears out ice to make a cave, coarse material builds up in the cave and creates a gravel lake

Question 17

retreating moraine

Answer 17

melting faster than its moving, dumping in front

Question 18

end moraine

Answer 18

glacial ice travels furthest, stopped. ice moves material to the front

Question 19

recessional moraine

Answer 19

moved back, stopped at some point - hill

Question 20

ground moraine

Answer 20

evenly spread out like a truck dumping gravel on a road.

Question 21

drumlin

Answer 21

tear shaped hill. mixed material, sand, silt and gravel

Question 22

kames

Answer 22

hole in ice – water on top of glacier drops it in front of glacier. Makes cone shaped hill. Sediment in wash water fills crevice. Sediment cylinder. Like a drumlin, but happened in the ice.

Question 23

point of soil classification

Answer 23

communication, relations between soil w respect to function of soil in an ecosystem

Question 24

regosol

Answer 24

no B horizon - diagnostic
earliest stages of soil development, defined by lack of B, time is the main soil forming factor, with climate also impacting it.
noah Rego - smart - no B’s

Question 25

brunisol

Answer 25

minimally developed, Bm horizon diagnostic
time is a major forming factor
stage of development, location in canada spaced bc the only determining factor is time

Question 26

luvisol

Answer 26

most ag significant soil, forested soil with Bt horizon - diagnostic
may come from bruinisol
clay eluviated from A into B, high pH, increasing metal mobility.
forming factors include mainly parent material, weather and climate too to move the clay
sound in S ont and N parries, where deciduous trees are

Question 27

podzol

Answer 27

forest soil w Bf horizon - diagnostic
iron and aluminum from A into B
acidic environment, igneous rock makes acidic, soil has red/yellow colour bc of oxidation,
parent material and weather important forming factors
located in Qc, maritimes and N ont, where conifers are

Question 28

gleysol

Answer 28

impacted by water logging, gleyed horizon, reduced iron causes the colour,
both B and C has G = diagnostic factor
formed by topography and climate

Question 29

chernozem

Answer 29

black or light brown, black in more wet, brown in soil w little veg
grassland soil,
high levels of organic matter - diagnostic
not much of a B bc of less water, formed bc of climate and weather and organisms, located in southern parries where its dry and theres no trees

Question 30

solonetz

Answer 30

grassland with increased sodium in B horizon, usually clay type B with saline C.
salts carried to low areas with the snow melt in spring.
located in S parrie saltlakes, greater evapotranspiration brings soil up through profile.
determined by climate and topography
plants won’t grow well in it

Question 31

vertisol

Answer 31

deep vertical cracks, probably high clay content, with determining factor being the cracks. glacial environment and climate determining factor

Question 32

organic soils

Answer 32

not related to organic produce
low lying areas, usually wet and usually most of the year, plant material decomposes slow bc no oxygen.
lots of OM at horizon
located in N ont, where theres a wet enviro and little oxygen.
wet

Question 33

cryosol

Answer 33

permafrost soil, cold
N canada, needs enough material with permafrost to be called soil

Question 34

what’s the distribution of soil orders in can?

Answer 34

mostly cryosol, then podzol and luvisol

Question 35

climate and vegetation impact on soil development

Answer 35

grassland when no potential tree growth changes soil, increased OM makes a deeper horizon, more decomposition, less evapotranspiration
better grass allows for growth of trees

Question 36

topography and vegetation impact on soil development

Answer 36

wetter on bottom, more vegetation on bottom, deeper A and more developed bottom of hill.