T5 (Soil) Definitions Flashcards
A Soil Profile
A vertical section through a soil, and is divided into horizons (distinguishable layers).
Weathering
The decomposition and disintegration of rocks in situ.
Soil Structure
The shape and arrangement of individual soil particles.
A loam
A well-balanced soil with significant proportions of sand, silt and clay. (ideal soil for cultivation w/ balance between water-holding ability and freely draining, aerated conditions)
Agribusiness
When food production is not to satisfy the community’s needs but is to ensure profitable return for capital investment.
Commercial Farming
Farming for profit - often of a single crop.
Subsistence Farming
Produces only enough to feed the farmer and his/her family, with none to sell for profit.
Intensive Farms
Generally take up a small area of land but aim to have very high output (through large inputs of capital and labour) per unit area of land.
Extensive Farms
Large in comparison to the money and labour put into them (e.g. the cattle ranches of central Australia, where only a few workers are responsible for thousands of acres of land).
Organic Farming
An ecocentric approach to farming by achieving an ecological balance.
Buffer Zones
Areas of land containing native vegetation that are adjacent to or surround agricultural land.
Deforestation
The removal of some or all of a cover of trees.
Soil exhaustion
When a soil becomes depleted of a particular mineral.
Fertile Soil
Non-renewable resource due to rate of use compared to length of time to replenish.
Soils
Open systems in steady-state equilibrium.
Leaching
Downward movement of soluble material.
Calcification
The accumulation of calcium salts in a body tissue (or soil).
Salinization
Increasing salt content in soil.
Chemical Weathering
The erosion or disintegration of rocks caused by chemical reactions.
Biological Weathering
Process in which plants and animals chemically alter rocks and physically break rocks through their growth and movement. (disintegration and decomposition)
Macronutrients
Needed in large quantities - Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen
Micronutrients
trace elements such as magnesium, phosphorus needed in small doses
Decomposition
Changes leaf litter into humus
Mineralization
The decomposition or oxidation of the chemical compounds in organic matter releasing the nutrients contained in those compounds into soluble inorganic forms that may be plant-accessible.
