Soils

Question 1

What is soil?

Answer 1

Soil is the layer of organic and mineral matter crucial for plant growth.

Question 2

What is soil erosion?

Answer 2

Soil erosion is the process caused by water, wind or ice and involves the removal of soil particles from land and depositing it in rivers, on land elsewhere or in the sea.

Question 3

Describe soil conservation.

Answer 3

Although soil erosion is seemingly impossible to completely stop there are methods of soil conservation to slow the process.
-For instance, keeping natural vegetation on steeper slopes.
-Good farming techniques need to be practised including crop rotation, terracing, mixing cropping - so soil fertility is not lost, mulching and contour ploughing.
-Management of the amount and types of plants can be achieved by afforestation and replanting trees, which reduce wind speed and protect the soil from heavy rainfall.

Question 4

Effects of Soil Erosion and Conservation on Caribbean and Culture.

Answer 4

-The hilly and remote terrain in the interior of Caribbean countries can limit settlement. This is because these areas are harder and more expensive to clear.
-Thin soils are also not favorable to the expansion of farming in the Caribbean and this has historically made the flatter areas more useful as thicker soils have formed around river valleys as alluvial deposits.
-When large amounts of soil are washed

Question 4

Effects of Soil Erosion and Conservation on Caribbean and Culture.

Answer 4

-The hilly and remote terrain in the interior of Caribbean countries can limit settlement. This is because these areas are harder and more expensive to clear.
-Thin soils are also not favorable to the expansion of farming in the Caribbean and this has historically made the flatter areas more useful as thicker soils have formed around river valleys as alluvial deposits.
-When large amounts of soil are washed