Soils

Question 1

Why are soils important ?

Answer 1

As they’re the foundation of global food production.

Essential for achieving food security and nutrition.

Mitigate negative impacts
of climate change - play a role in carbon cycle.

Pharmaceuticals

Question 2

How much foood production do souls sustain ?

Answer 2

95%

Question 3

How much biodiversity do soils host?

Answer 3

1/4

Question 4

What % of soil degradation is there ?

Answer 4

33% globally.

Threaten food security and send people in poverty.

Question 5

Why do we need to make sustainable soil management ?

Answer 5

Makes more healthy food globally.

Question 6

What does the FAO want ?

Answer 6

International soil community and policy makers to work together and reduce soil degradation

And restore degraded land

Question 7

What 5 functions does soil perform.

Answer 7

1. Cycling nutrients
2. Regulating water
3. Sustaining plant and animal life
4. Filtering/ buffering pollutants
5. Physical stability / support

Question 8

Cycling nutrients

Answer 8

Carbon
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Stored / transformed and cycled

Question 9

Regulating water

Answer 9

It helps control where rain and snow melt and irrigation water goes.

Either flow over land or into through soils

Question 10

Sustaining plant and animal life

Answer 10

Diversity and productively of living things depends on soil.

Habitat.

Question 11

Filtering / buffering pollutants

Answer 11

Minerals and microbes in soil responsible for filtering , buffering , degrading and detoxifying organic and inorganic materials.

Like industrial by products

Question 12

Physical stability and support

Answer 12

Soil structure provides medium for plant roots

Question 13

What is a ZONAL soil?

Answer 13

Major soil group classified as covering a wide geographic region and are well developed and mature.

Dynamic equilibrium with climate , vegetation and parent matter.

Question 14

Name 2 zonal soils

Answer 14

Chernozem

Red/ yellow latosols of tropical rainforests

Question 15

Where are chernozem soils found?

Answer 15

Continental climate ( cold winters / hot summers)

Flat plains with tall grass natural vegetation.

Eurasia / N America

Question 16

How much land for chernozem soils cover ?

Answer 16

230 million ha worldwide.

Question 17

What are chernozem soils ?

Answer 17

Deep black rich in organic matter.

Mineral content comes from wind blow sediments.

High organic Mayer and nutrient content. Ammonia.

1m deep and clay like structure.

Question 18

Why is a clay like structure good?

Answer 18

Retains water.

Question 19

Where is a location where chernozems are found ?

Answer 19

Russia - steppes.

Allows planting in both winter and spring.

Question 20

Chernozem crops include ??

Answer 20

Cereal - wheat / barley.
Oilseed plants - sunflower
Potatoes

Question 21

What agriculture uses do chernozems have ?

Answer 21

Arable cropping.

Cattle ranching

Question 22

Where are latosols found ?

Answer 22

Hot
Wet
Thick forested areas

Question 23

Where are nutrients stored in latosols ?

Answer 23

Vegetation and not the soil

Question 24

Name a way of farming on latosols ?

Answer 24

Shifting cultivation.
Indigenous people clear areas of vegetation.
Burn it as ash provides nutrients for fertile soil.
Land is then farmed for 2/3 years before they love on to another area of rainforest.
Allows forest / soil to recover

Question 25

How deep are latosols ?

Answer 25

40m

Question 26

The hot wet climate of rainforest provides perfect conditions for latosols why?

Answer 26

Allows chemical weathering of bed rocks

Constant supply of minerals from latent rock to soil.

Question 27

What is ferrallitisation?

Answer 27

Process by which bedrock is broken down by chemical weathering into clays and minerals

Latosols ^

Question 28

Colour of latosol ?

Answer 28

Red

Iron and aluminium minerals

Question 29

Because in rain forests there is a lot of precipitation which exceed potential evaporation, what does this mean for latosol?

Answer 29

Soil moisture surplus.

Soil saturated.

Water cannot infiltrate down into soil so leads to surface run off.

Rivers flooding

Question 30

How is nutrient cycling better for latosols?

Answer 30

As hot wet conditions of forest floor allow for rapid decomposition of deal plant material - provides nutrients and absorbed by roots.

Question 31

What happens in upper limit of soil ?

Answer 31

(Boundary between soil and air)

Shallow water / live plants where they haven’t begun to decompose

Question 32

What happens in lower boundary of soils?

Answer 32

Separates soils from weathering rock layer underneath.

Less well defined.