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Learn about soil properties including soil horizons, porosity, and permeability. Discover the different layers of soil and how particle size, shape, and packing affect its characteristics. Test your knowledge with interactive lab activities.
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Add To Table of Contents: Soil Lab Pg. 50 Soil Properties Pg. 51
Review-What are the Soil Horizons? Horizon O - organic-mostly dead plant matter. Horizon A - Topsoil. Contains the most organic matter (humus) and is dark in color. Horizon B - Subsoil. The layer under A that contains clay and minerals and is usually brownish or reddish in color. Horizon C - The deepest layer of soil. Contains the largest and least weathered rocks. It is usually yellow-brown. Horizon D – Bedrock below soil.
Review Soil is a mixture of 4 materials: • Weathered rock particles (sand, silt, and clay) • Organic matter • Water • Air
POROSITY ANGULAR ROUND ROUNDNESS 1. Porosity - amount of space between sediments. A. Shape-Rounded particles have greater porosity than angular.
POROSITY UNPACKED PACKED PACKING B. Packing- The closer the particles the lower the porosity.
POROSITY SORTING C. Sorting-The more sorted the higher the porosity. - Same size=sorted. - Different sizes = unsorted (poorly sorted)
Particle Size alone does NOT affect porosity!!!!! (Shaping, Packing, Sorting does)
Which column has the least porosity? 1 2 3 4 1
PERMEABILITY PARTICLE SIZE 2. Permeability-ability of water to pass through. -Tighter packing/smaller particles = less -Looser packing/larger particles = more
Impermeability(not permeable) is due to: A. Tight packing of particles B. Cementing by clay or ice
CAPILLARITY PARTICLE SIZE 3.Capillarity-water sticking to soil particles and moving up from the water table. (capillary action). - Smaller particles have more capillarity.
Infiltration rate Infiltration rate Permeability Slope Porosity 4. Infiltration – water soaking into the ground. Infiltration rate