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Russia’s soils

Russia’s soils. The origin of soil science. Lesson 3  Starter. What is soil?. The uppermost layer of the planet Earth Around one metre in depth in the UK Made up of broken-down particles of rocks (sand, clay) and the decomposed organic remains of plants

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Russia’s soils

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  1. Russia’s soils The origin of soil science Lesson 3  Starter

  2. What is soil? • The uppermost layer of the planet Earth • Around one metre in depth in the UK • Made up of broken-down particles of rocks (sand, clay) and the decomposed organic remains of plants • Water and air occupy the tiny spaces between particles • The most fertile soils contain high levels of nutrients such as calcium (from the rock particles and organic remains). Fertile soils are valuable for farming

  3. soil types Soils are described by their: depth fertility colour layers (horizons)

  4. Russian soil science • In the 1800s, Russian scientists studied howandwhy the soils in Russia varied from place to place • Russia’s large range of biomes has given rise to a large range of soil types • The soil scientists gave each different soil type its own name, such as podzol (a forest soil) and chernozem (a grassland soil) • Soil scientists today use a classification system that is based on the early studies made in Russia

  5. Vasily Dokuchaev Lived 1846-1903 ‘The father of soil studies’ His work is still used today

  6. Russian geographers

  7. Investigating soils Russian soil scientists were amongst the first to recognise that: • important soil characteristics, such as fertility, are governed by the climate, particularly the water balance between precipitation and evaporation • large areas of the world’s soils, including Russia’s, are frozen. This frozen ground is called permafrost

  8. Water balance In this lesson, we will learn about the balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration

  9. Frozen soils In this lesson, we will study the distribution of permafrost (frozen ground) and gley soils (waterlogged soils)

  10. Transect mapping In this lesson, we will think about how soils, climate and vegetation change along a line called a transect

  11. Picture credits Slide 3 en.wikipedia.org Slide 5 en.wikipedia.org Slide 6 en.wikipedia.org Slide 8 en.wikipedia.org Slide 9 Flickr creative commons user: Konstantin Zamkov Slide 10 Flickr creative commons user: NASA Goddard

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