soil horizon

Question 1

soil horizons

Answer 1

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Question 2

composition of soil organic matter (SOM)

Answer 2

Soils vary greatly in their organic matter contents:

• prairie grassland soil contains 5-6% SOM (by weight)
• sandy desert soil may have <1% of SOM,
• Organic soils contain >30% SOM.

Question 3

SOM includes primary components

Answer 3

(non-humic substances) from plant and animal residues. E.g cellulose,l.ignin, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates
• easily decomposed by microorganisms and they persist in soil for a brief time (e.g. several months or years). They make about 20-30% of total SOM.

Question 4

SOM also includes secondary compounds

Answer 4

• with broken down organic structures e.g. humic substances,

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Question 5

Soil hummus

Answer 5

O Horizon in soils can be classified into L, F and H layers at the surface
 depends on the different degrees of decomposition of organic matter
 L layer “litter layer” has recognisable plant and soil animal remains,
 F layer “fermentation layer” has a mixture of organic matter in different stages of decomposition,
 H layer “humose layer” has largely humified material with little or no plant structure visible.

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Question 6

Structure of humic acid

Answer 6

• Humic acid is a principal component of the major organic constituents of soil (humus), peat, coal. Produced by biodegradation of dead organic matter e.g. from plants.
• Complex mixture of many different acids containing carboxyl and phenol groups
• Behaves as a dibasic cid with a pK1 value around 4 for protonation of carboxyl groups and around 8 for protonation of phenolate groups.
• The carboxylate and phenolate groups complex with ions such as Mg2+, Ca2+, Fe2+ and Fe3+.
• Many humic acids have the metal ion complexed by a number of carboxyl and phenolic groups

Question 7

Humic substances can be divided into three main fractions

Answer 7

• Humic acids - insoluble in water under acidic conditions (pH < 2) but is soluble at higher pH values.
• Fulvic acids - soluble in water under all pH conditions. They remains in solution after removal of humic acid by acidification.
• Humin - not soluble in water at any pH value

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Question 8

How much does humus hold of its own weight in water

Answer 8

• 80-90% of its own weight in water – helps soil withstand drought, buffers soil against excess acid or alkali. Dark colour of humus helps warm up a cold soil in spring

Question 9

Flocculation is the first step in aggregate formation

Answer 9

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RCOOH + OH- = RCOO- + H20
Floculation of humic substances can also occur with the addition of electrolytes.
Cations:
• trivalent > divalent > monovalent
Anions:
- sulphate > nitrate > chloride

Question 10

under aerobic conditions

Answer 10

• -oxygen is available. Dry soils have adequate oxygen supply for aerobic respiration.

Question 11

Under anaerobic conditions

Answer 11

• oxygen is not available agents, such as Fe3+, Mn4+, NO3- or SO42-, are used. Wet soils are oxygen limited and anaerobic (sometimes called anoxic) respiration will take place.

Question 12

Absorption of metal cations to soil

Answer 12

• Metal cations can adsorb to both the humic substances and clay constituents of soil “ion-exchange” e.g. look at ppt

Question 13

Units

Answer 13

• The units are centimoles of ions per kilogram of exchanger (soil) cmolec/kg
• Other units are: Milliequivalents per 100g of dry soil

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Question 14

Cation exchange capacities (at pH 7) that are typical of a variety of soils

Answer 14

• Humus: contributes over 50% of the total CEC of a soil
• Histosol - mostly organic material e.g. peat
• Vermiculite and smectite are high surface area clays
• Vertisols - mostly clay with medium surface areas e.g. montmorillonite
• Micas and chlorites low surface area
• Kaolinite very low surface area

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Question 15

Sheet silicates

Answer 15

• rings containing 6 silica tetrahedra with 3 bridging oxygen atoms in a flat layer and one non bridging oxygen atom out of plane of paper
• Silicate layers usually stacked AB-BA-AB-BA
• Exception is kaolin clays – which are stacked AB-AB-AB-AB

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• Layers cemented together at A-A faces by either
• i) Brucite - Mg2+ and HO- ions, or
• ii-) Hydrargillite - Al3+ and HO- ions.
• Way B-B faces held together is responsible for difference in physical properties of the different layer silicates.

Question 16

SHEET SILICATES - Kaolin (china clay)

Answer 16

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Question 17

Anion exchange capacity (AEC)

Answer 17

• Clay also has sites of positive charge under acid conditions and contributes to the soils anion exchange capacity (AEC).
• Another example is Gibbsite:
  look at ppt
• AEC is very low (2-5cmolc/kg) - Anions in soil are generally in soil water and are easily washed away
• Exception is phosphate anion which forms an insoluble compound with aluminium oxide or iron oxide sites or Al-O sites on clay.
• In general AEC increases as soil pH decreases

Question 18

Structure of clays

Answer 18

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Question 19

isomorphous substitution-

Answer 19

• Isomorphous substitution is the substitution of one element for another in a mineral without a significant change in the crystal structure
• Elements that can be substitute for eachother usually have similar ionic radii and valence state. (goldschmidts rules of ionic substitution)
• Fe and Mg commonly substitute for eachother, as fo Na and K
• In mineral formulae elements that can be substituted for each other are often placed in parentheses for example olivine in which fe and mg can resided on either the m1 of m2 sites

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Question 20

Coupled substitutions

Answer 20

• Al can also replace Si in silica tetrahedra within silicate structures, although this substitution required charge balancing due to the different valences of these elements. Isomorphous substitution allows mineral composition to vary and forms solid solutions

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• Exchangeable hydrogen is the principal source of H+ until the pH of the soil goes below 6.
• Below pH6, exchangeable aluminium becomes the source of hydrogen ions, due to the dissociation of Al from clay minerals.

Question 21

Soil pH influences soil chemistry:

Answer 21

• availability of nutrients and toxic substances,
• activities and nature of microbial populations,
• solubility of heavy metals,
• and activities of certain pesticides.

Question 22

Soils tend to become acidic as a result of:

Answer 22

(1) rainwater leaching away basic ions (calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium);
(2) carbon dioxide from decomposing organic matter and root respiration dissolving in soil water to form a weak organic acid;
(3) uptake of positive ions by plant roots and the resulting release of H+ by the root to balance internal charge;
(4) formation of strong organic and inorganic acids, such as nitric and sulfuric acid, from decaying organic matter and oxidation of ammonium and sulfur fertilizers. Strongly acid soils are usually the result of the action of these strong organic and inorganic acids.

Question 23

Munsell color system

Answer 23

• a circle of hues at value 5 and chroma 6;
• the neutral values from 0 to 10;
• and the chromas of purple-blue (5PB) at value 5.

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Question 24

Hue ——–Colour

Answer 24

 Five principal hues: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple,

 5 intermediate hues (e.g., YR) halfway between adjacent principal hues.

 Each of these 10 steps, is then broken into 10 sub-steps, to give 100 hues

 In practice, colour charts have 40 hues, in increments of 2.5, progressing as for example 10R to 2.5YR.

 Two colours of equal value and chroma, on opposite sides of a hue circle, are complimentary colours, and mix additively to the neutral grey of the same value.

Question 25

Value———lightness

Answer 25

 varies vertically from black (value 0) at the bottom, to white (value 10) at the top.

 Neutral greys lie along the vertical axis between black and white.

Question 26

Chroma—– colour purity or colourfulness

Answer 26

 measured radially from the center of each slice, represents the “purity” of a color

 lower chroma being less pure (more washed out, as in pastels).

 Vivid soil colours are in the range of approximately 8

Question 27

Specifying a colour

Answer 27

List the three numbers for hue, value, and chroma in that order.
e.g. a purple of medium lightness and fairly saturated would be 5P 5/10
• 5P meaning the colour in the middle of the purple hue band,
• 5/ meaning medium value (lightness)
• a chroma of 10

Question 28

colour of soil

Answer 28

• Colour of Soil
• differentiate soil horizons
• estimate the amount of soil organic matter
• determine soil drainage

Question 29

Common pages in Munsell Colour book for soil are the following hues:

Answer 29

• 10R - dark red –orange
• 5YR - strong brown
• 10YR - medium brown
• 2.5Y - light olive brown
• R –represents red soil and arises from iron oxides
• As the iron oxide becomes less abundant the soil becomes more yellow
• Strongly flooded soils (no free oxygen) are dark blue, dark greenish, dull bluish grey or black

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Question 30

Pages of Munsell colour book for soils

Answer 30

• 2.5R (pink) — 5R (yellowish pink) —– 7.5R (reddish orange) —- 10R (dark red orange
• 2.5YR (brownish orange) —- 5YR ( strong brown) — 7.5YR (moderate brown) — 10YR ( medium brown)
• 2.5Y (light olive brown) — 5Y (moderate olive)

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Question 31

Soil analysis using XRD

Answer 31

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Question 32

Comparing a recorded XRD pattern to those of reference minerals

Answer 32

• Several free softwares for quantitative mineral analysis come with XRD patterns of reference
• program RockJock by Eberl (2003) has more than 100 XRD patterns in its library
• downloaded from the web site of the Collaborative Computational Project No. 14 (CCP 14) at http://www.ccp14.ac.uk
• Scaling the standard patterns to the same peak heights can offer some estimation of the mineral composition
• cautious about the quantitative analysis since the standards in those programs were recorded on specific X-ray diffractometers, which may have different configurations and/or operating conditions from the system with which the unknown sample is recorded

Question 33

Forensic characteristics of soil

Answer 33

• Soil also includes glass, paint, chips, asphalt, brick fragments, cinders  uniqueness
• Value of soil evidence rests on transferability between scene and crime i.e. comparatively, however expert geologists could determine crime scene directly.
• Gross appearance used for identification e.g. Colour (darker when wet) therefore performed on dried samples (1, 100 distinguishable soil colours
• pH
• Particle size (density gradient tube – 6 – 10 layers in each tube, 6-10mm width x 25-40cm length. Particles remain suspended in liquid of same density as particle. Not definitive as soils from different locations can give similar results.
• CBr4 d = 2.96 g/mL C2H5OH d = 0.789g/mL
• Low power microscopy (plants, animals, pollen)
• High power microscopy especially polarised light microscope (characterises (using RI pleochromism) minerals (2,200 known but only 40 are common) + rocks
• Quantitative X – ray diffraction (new)
• Chemical composition? AA, ICP, flame photometer
• NH4+  Nesslers Reagent
• NO3-  Ion chromatography
• Ce-  AgNO3

Question 34

Value of forensic soil evidence depends on variation at crime scene. So far no statistically valid forensic studies on variability.
Collection and preservation of evidence:

Answer 34

• Collect samples at intervals within 100 yard radius of crime scene and at crime site. Also, all alibi locations  Usually only top-surface soil.
• Soil on suspect clothing – each object should be individually wrapped  lab
• Cars collect + build up layers of soil under car body – Unique layering  could link car to crime site if lumps dislodged