Summary of Important Concepts

1. Summary of Important Concepts • Soil is a layer of weathered rock, minerals, and organic matter at the earth’s surface that supports plant life. • The main factors that determine the characteristics of a soil are climate (mainly temperature and rainfall), topography, type of parent rock material, organic activity, and the amount of time that the soil has been forming. • Soil forms from regolith - broken up rock material at the earth’s surface. Soil forms as regolith undergoes weathering - the physical and chemical breakdown of rock. • - Physical weathering is breakdown of rock by physical forces. Example: rock wedged apart by freezing water or by plant roots. • - Chemical weathering is breakdown of rock by chemical reactions. Examples: solution, oxidation, and hydrolysis reactions.

3. Summary of Important Concepts, continued • A soil profile is a set of distinct layers, or soil horizons, that occur in a soil. These horizons have different features in different types of soil. • The main types of soil on earth are: • - Loess (pronounced “luss”): fertile soils developed on wind-blown glacial silt deposited during the Ice Ages. • - Laterites: red, iron oxide-rich soils of wet, hot tropical areas, created by intense chemical weathering of parent rock material. • - Pedalfers: rich soils with brown color, high in aluminum and iron; typical of cooler, wet temperate climates world-wide. • - Pedocals: soils typical of warm, arid regions; high in calcium and commonly contain caliche (white deposits of calcium carbonate) • - Tundra soils: soils forming in polar climates of permafrost (permanently frozen ground). Remember : These are NOT soil orders !!!

4. What is SOIL? It has been said that soil represents “a few inches between humanity and starvation”. This phrase puts the importance of soil in perspective. Soil is a layer of weathered rock, minerals, and organic matter at the earth’s surface that supports plant life. Without soil, human life would not be possible. This figure illustrates the composition of a typical soil. Soil is composed of mineral matter from weathered rock; water, gases, and organic matter (the remains of plant and animal material and bacteria).

5. The water table or phreatic surface is the upper limit of abundant groundwater. In the vadose zone, above the water table, the interstices between particles of earth are filled by air, or by air and water (with the exception of the capillary fringe). Below it, every available space is saturated with water. The definition of the water table is surface where the pressure head is equal to atmospheric pressure (where gauge pressure = 0).

7. Soil’s main important uses for humanity are summarized here.

9. Soil Profiles Digging down into a soil, you would notice that the soil zone has a layered appearance. This layering is called a soil profile. Each layer of a soil profile is called a horizon. Soil profiles vary between different types of soils, but one can often recognize the “O”, “A”, “B”, and “C” horizons in many soils.

10. Simplified Soil Profiles

11. Nickerson Haven Castelleia Birchwood Examples of Soil Profiles

12. Creek versus floodplain soil profiles

13. horizon description of detailed soil horizons O consists mainly of organic matter from the vegetation, which accumulates under conditions of free aeration. A eluvial (outwash) horizon consisting mainly of mineral matter mixed with some humified (decomposed) organic matter. E strongly eluviated horizons having much less organic matter and/or iron and/or clay than the horizons underneath. Usually pale coloured and high in quartz. B illuvial (inwashed) horizon characterised by concentrations in clay, iron or organic matter. Some lime may accumulate, but if the accumulation is excessive, the horizon is named K. K horizon containing appreciable carbonate, usually mainly lime or calcium carbonate. G gleyed horizons which form under reducing (anoxic) conditions with impeded aeration, reflected in blueish, greenish or greyish colour. C weathered parent material lacking the properties of the solum and resembling more the fresh parent material. R regolith, the unconsolidated bedrock or parent material.

14. Types of Soils • Many schemes have been proposed for classifiying soils. For our purposes, we can recognize FIVE great soil types on earth. • Loess • Laterites • Pedalfers • Pedocals • Tundra soils • Loess (pronounced “luss”) covers about 10% of the earth’s land area, and is perhaps the most fertile soil on earth. Vast areas of farmland in the U.S. and in Asia are underlain by loess. • Loess is formed on deposits of wind-blown glacial silt that were laid down over vast areas of the continents during the Ice Ages. As glaciers moved across the high northern latitudes they ground up rock material to a powder. This was washed out from the glaciers by streams, then picked up by winds and blown over great distances. Some would consider this heretical !!

15. This map shows the world-wide distribution of loess. Notice the vast areas of the U.S. and Asia that are covered by loess. These areas are some of the world’s most productive farmland.

16. Loess is tan to yellow in color, and porous and light. The small mineral grains weather readily, producing nutrients that get taken up by plants. The porous soil drains well, and is easily tilled to make fields. This photo shows an excavated layer of loess in China -- home to the largest loess deposits in the world.

17. Loess is a soil defined by its origin (deposits of wind-blown glacial silt). The four other great soil types we will consider are defined not by their origin, but by the climate in which they form. The two climatic factors that are most important here are precipitation and temperature. As shown in the figure below: • Laterites form in hot, wet climates. • Pedalfers form in cool, wet climates. • Pedocals form in hot, dry climates. • Tundra soils form in cold, dry climates. Very generalized !

18. Soil Order Formative Terms Pronunciation Alfisols Alf, meaningless syllable Pedalfer Andisols Modified from ando Ando Aridisols Latin, aridies, dry Arid Entisols Ent, meaningless Recent Gelisols Latin gelare, to freeze Jell Histosols Greek, histos, tissue Histology Inceptisols Latin, incepum, beginning Inception Mollisols Latin, mollis, soft Mollify Oxisols French oxide Oxide Spodosols Greek spodos, wood ash Odd Ultisols Latin ultimus, last Ultimate Vertisols Latin verto, turn Invert

20. Crater Lake Puerto Rico Saint John Rocky Mountains

29. Also don’t forget parent material and Time !!!

30. Transported versus Residual Overburden Residual = soil ( developed from bedrock ) Transported ; may have a soil developed on it !

35. Laterite

36. Terra rossa clay replaces Salem limestone, Bloomington, via a set of moving alteration zones – a unique outcrop

37. Clay+FeOx replace calcite, terra rossa, Bloomington: early start of a diffuse FeOx patch

38. Weathering’s crucial feedback, deduced by adjusting bottom reaction on volume (since it’s a replacement) Merino et al, Am J Sci 93

39. Gibbsite partly replaces Plagioclase, left, and Quartz, below

40. The peaty gley is found on a low lying flat land, the vegetation cover consists of wetland vegetation such as sedges, marsh type plants and rushes. The texture of this soil is course and sandy with lumpy particles of wood etc. Within the structure there is capillary action from ground water taking place. The peaty gley is a very dark colour this is because their is alot of organic matter, the surface layer is 40cm which is not mixed in through the A horizon. Also as it is very wet so no oxidation can take place. The bioto found in the gley is limited because it is too cold and too wet. There are very few stones in this soil profile. The parent material is the material deposited by melt water at the end of the ice-age. The ground water provides moisture and the water table is near the surface. Soil ProfilesPit 1 - Peaty Gley

41. Soil Profile Pit 2 - Cultivated Gley The land is used for crops with grass present. The land form is hollow and low-lying. The texture of the soil is fine and has clay particles. The structure of the soil profile is wet and heavy on the top layer. The next layer has humus which binds the fine soil together. The C Horizon has got wet sticky clay. The colour of this soil is grey with orange specs on the A Horizon and on the B Horizon it is an orange colour with bits of iron compounds. The organic matter is a thick layer but it is mixed in with the A Horizon and the biota consists of worms and there are also small stones in the soil. The soil is also poorly drained.

42. Soil ProfilePit 3 - Cultivated Podsol The cultivated podsol is found in a gently sloping field. The vegetation cover consists of trees and crops. The texture of this profile is coarse and sandy. The structure is better than podols because of humus, there are small rounded particles and the structure is stable. The colour in the A horizon is dark, then there is an iron pan and the B horizon is dark aswell. The soil is acidic and the humus has been mixed through the top thirty centimetres. There are many worms because the weather is warmer here. This helps to make it less acidic than it could be. Within this soil profile there are small stones and it’s well drained.

43. Soil Profiles Pit 4 - Iron Podsol

44. Parent Material The parent material is significant in the early development of the soil and it’s mineral content. It can vary from bedrock to a range of deposits including alluvium and sand. The parent material in Podsols are weathered rock and are acidic. The parent material in Gley soils are impermeable clay which results in waterlogging.

45. Time Time is important in the development of soils before they fully mature. When they are young soils retain the features of the parent material. As time increases the young soils gradually change their characteristics from their parent material to form their own type of soil.

46. Conclusion Peaty gley is useful for nothing due to it’s covering of heather and marsh. This covering ensures that no other crops would be able to grow there. Cultivated gley is used for growing crops as it is low lying so that it is warmer as it is further down. Crops can grow in warmer conditions. Cultivated podsol is used for farming because it has a better, smaller stable structure. It also has remnants of rich iron material. Iron podsol is not used for anything as it is an acidic soil and is covered in dry heather, long grass and conifers. It is also very bumpy, hilly and stony.

47. Chapter 7Clay structure and properties

48. Soil Colloids • “Organic and inorganic matter with very small particle size and a correspondingly large surface area per unit mass” (“Soil bank”) • Four categories: • Crystalline silicate clays (phyllosilicates) • Noncrystalline silicate clays • Iron and aluminum oxide clays • Organic matter (humus)

49. “Clay” is . . . • A particle size class (<0.002 mm) • A mineral type with specific properties and characteristics (secondary mineral)

50. Relative Size Comparison of Soil Particles “Big”  smaller  really small Sand  silt  clay