W3- Soil Genesis, Morphology & Classification Flashcards
What are the processes of soil formation?
Soil formation is a combination of different processes in profile development: • Additions • Removals • Transformations • Translocations
What internal and external factors influence soil formation?
The factors that set and limit rate of soil formation (profile development):
- parent material
- climate
- topography
- time
- plant & animals
How does this understanding help us to explain the variation in soils?
Soil formation allows us …
How can we key out soils in a classification system?
What is soil genesis?
- The study of the origin and formation of soil (Earth Systems and Environmental Science)
- Pedogenesis (Ped)
What is the soil formation formula?
Soil Formation = f(parent material, climate, topography, organic activity)time
What is soil formation AND What factors control soil formation?
Soil formation is a combination of different processes in profile development: • Additions • Removals • Transformations • Translocations
The factors that set and limit rate of soil formation (profile development):
- parent material
- climate
- topography
- time
- plant & animals
- all inputs on soil
- Rates of soil formation are slow (2-3 cms/1,000 yrs)
List the important periods of soil formation
- Northern Hemisphere = Pleistocene
- Southern Hemisphere = Pliocene (Quaternary) Paleocene (Early Tertiary)
What are the methods by which parent material can be transported?
- Colluvium - material which accumulates at the foot of a steep slope
- Aeolian
- Fluvial
- Alluvium - a deposit of soil (clay, silt, and sand) by flowing water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is typically geologically young and is not consolidated into solid rock.
