1 / 53

What is Soil?

What is Soil?. “a living, dynamic system with organic and inorganic components. Soil is a product of its environment and parent material”. components. By volume: 45% mineral 5% organic material 50% space (air/water) By mass? 0% air 18% water 80% mineral 2% organic material.

mcharles
Download Presentation

What is Soil?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. What is Soil?

  2. “a living, dynamic system with organic and inorganic components. Soil is a product of its environment and parent material”.

  3. components By volume: • 45% mineral • 5% organic material • 50% space (air/water) By mass? • 0% air • 18% water • 80% mineral • 2% organic material

  4. 1. The mineral component • inorganic • “mineral”: definition? • Primary: original components of earth crust • Secondary: new minerals made by weathering of earth’s crust • divided by particle size: • Sand, silt, clay

  5. mineral make-up due to: a. Parent Material b. How resistant minerals are c. Climate d. “Age”

  6. a. parent material material on and in which soil develops

  7. Examples of soil developing IN rather than ON parent material: 1. Apostle Islands

  8. 2. Boundary Waters

  9. 11 different parent materials …..

  10. Regolith/bedrock:weathered rock

  11. Alluvium:deposits on a flood plain from a river

  12. Marine deposits:shell, reef and other “bits” formerly at bottom of ocean that have been uplifted

  13. Lacustrine deposits: clay deposits originally laid down at the bottom of a lake; lake is no longer there

  14. Example: glacial lakes in MN

  15. Till:unconsolidated material deposited by glacial ice

  16. Outwash:unconsolidated, sorted material deposited by meltwater from a glacier

  17. Organic sediments: peat

  18. Volcanic ash

  19. Loess:deep deposits of silt that have been deposited by wind

  20. Sand:beach sand, dune sand

  21. Colluvium;material that moved downslope, as in a landslide

  22. mineral make-up due to: a. Parent Material b. How resistant minerals are c. Climate d. Age

  23. b. resistance of minerals • Soluble minerals are readily LEACHED from soil profile (Ca,Mg,Na) • Certain minerals tend to accumulate in soil • (oxides of Fe, Al, Si)

  24. mineral make-up due to: a. Parent Material b. How resistant minerals are c. Climate d. Age

  25. c. Climate • Amount of leaching • Rate of weathering

  26. mineral make-up due to: a. Parent Material b. How resistant minerals are c. Climate d. Age

  27. d. Age • Parent material is (usually) less influential in “older” (more highly developed) soil

  28. 2. Organic Component • Living (primarily decomposers) • Non-living (dead and all in-between stages of decomposition)

  29. …about decomposers: • Nutrient recycling • Respiration

  30. decomposer activity depends on: climate soil moisture conditions Micro-environmental factors (relief, drainage)

  31. decomposers and climate: 1) climate vegetation, litter (amount, type) 2) rate of decomposition hot,wet >> cold, dry

  32. soil moisture conditions • Hot, wet preference of decomposers

  33. micro-environmental factors (relief, drainage) • Slope aspect affects temperature • Drainage affects anaerobic/aerobic decomposition

More Related