soil classification Flashcards
why does soil look the way that it does
last glaciation - material left behind. rain brings residue down and causes erosion
how does soil form?
top down, weathering A into B.
processes leading to soil formation
addition, losses, transfers, transformations
soil formation factors **
parent material, climate, topography, organisms, time
soil formation - time
progressive weathering, not measured in years, rather soil forming time in a year. can be variable in any given area
soil formation -organisims
source photosynthetic carbon, contributes to weathering and soil structure development, influenced by topography, climate and geological materials
soil formation - climate
weathering speeds up in hot/wet climate and slows in cold/dry. excess water moves down and increases vegetation and eluviation
soil formation - topography
gives water somewhere to go, depression areas are wetter, more plant matter
soil formation - parent material
glacial action sorts particle size, bedrock can change ions in soil/ texture
glacial lake
lots of clay in parent material. sat for a while
what’s found in a well structured A horizon
- 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
glacial rivers
moves fast, only heavy stuff falls to bottom, rocky
river deltas
rivers widen out, slows movement, sand can sink now too
moraine
no sorting at all, dumped out of the glacier. quite rocky. mid textured w loams and silt loam usually
lacturine
lac - lake = lake settlement (sandy)
esker
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
retreating moraine
melting faster than its moving, dumping in front
end moraine
glacial ice travels furthest, stopped. ice moves material to the front
recessional moraine
moved back, stopped at some point - hill
ground moraine
evenly spread out like a truck dumping gravel on a road.
drumlin
tear shaped hill. mixed material, sand, silt and gravel
kames
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.
point of soil classification
communication, relations between soil w respect to function of soil in an ecosystem
regosol
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
brunisol
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
luvisol
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
podzol
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
gleysol
impacted by water logging, gleyed horizon, reduced iron causes the colour,
both B and C has G = diagnostic factor
formed by topography and climate
chernozem
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
solonetz
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
vertisol
deep vertical cracks, probably high clay content, with determining factor being the cracks. glacial environment and climate determining factor
organic soils
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
cryosol
permafrost soil, cold
N canada, needs enough material with permafrost to be called soil
what’s the distribution of soil orders in can?
mostly cryosol, then podzol and luvisol
climate and vegetation impact on soil development
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
topography and vegetation impact on soil development
wetter on bottom, more vegetation on bottom, deeper A and more developed bottom of hill.
