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Earth Science Praxis Exam: Earth Unit > The Solid Earth - Chapter 2: Soil > Flashcards

The Solid Earth - Chapter 2: Soil Flashcards

1
Q

____ and other processes create soil

A

Weathering

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2
Q

What carry out the intermediary role of assimilating the necessary elements and making them available to animals and people to support life?

A

Plants

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3
Q

The earth’s land surface is covered by ___, the layer of rock and mineral fragments produced by weathering

A

Regolith

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4
Q

Soil is a combination of ____ and ____ matter, matter, and air

A

Mineral

Organic

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5
Q

About ____ percent of the total volume of a good quality surface soil is a mixture of disintegrated and decomposed rock and humus

A

50

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6
Q

The decayed remains of animal and plant life (organic matter)

A

humus

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7
Q

The remaining half (not rock and humus) consists of ___ spaces for air and water to circulate

A

Pore

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8
Q

Humus enhances the soil’s ability to ___ ____.

A

Retain water

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9
Q

Soil water is a complex solution containing many ___ nutrients

A

soluble

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10
Q

This refers to the relative portions of different particle sizes in a soil

A

Soil texture

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11
Q

What do sandy soils do too rapidly?

A

Drain

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12
Q

The pore spaces of clay-rich soils might be too small for adequate ___

A

drainage

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13
Q

This type of soil is 10 percent silt, 40 percent clay, and 50 percent sand

A

Sandy clay

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14
Q

What are soils called that have no single particle size predominating?

A

Loam

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15
Q

Which type of soils are best suited to support plant life?

A

Loam

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16
Q

Soil particles often form clumps called

A

peds

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17
Q

Name four basic soil structures:

A

platy
prismatic
blocky
spheroidal

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18
Q

Prismatic and blocky peds usually allow for moderate ___ ____

A

water infiltration

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19
Q

Platy and spheroidal structures are characterized by slower ____ ____

A

infiltration rates

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20
Q

The source of the weathered mineral matter from which soils develop is called the ___ ___ and is a major factor influencing a newly forming soil

A

Parent material

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21
Q

When the parent material is bedrock, the soils are termed

A

residual

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22
Q

Soils developed on unconsolidated sediment are called

A

transported

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23
Q

transported soils form __ ___

A

in place

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24
Q

Transported soils form in place on parent materials that have been carried from elsewhere and ___ by gravity, water, wind, or, ice.

A

deposited

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25
Q

True or false: the parent material of the soil affects how it weathers.

A

True

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26
Q

Can the parent mineral influence the rate of chemical weathering?

A

yes

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27
Q

The chemical makeup of the parent material will affect the ___ of the soil

A

fertility

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28
Q

Name a factor that is more important than parent material in determining characteristics of a soil

A

climate

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29
Q

True or false: Regardless of time, a parent material will always have the same strong effect on soil

A

False

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30
Q

The longer a soil has been forming, the ___ it becomes and the less it resembles the parent material from which it formed

A

thicker

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31
Q

____ is considered to be the most influential control of soil formation

A

Climate

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32
Q

The chief function of plants and animals is to supply ____ _____ to the soil

A

organic matter

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33
Q

When organic matter is decomposed, it supplies important nutrients for plants, as well as food for the animals and _______ living in the soil

A

microorganisms

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34
Q

The decay of plant and animal remains causes various organic ___ to form

A

acids

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35
Q

Complex acids (quicken/slow) the weathering process

A

quicken

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36
Q

On steep slopes, soils are often ____ developed

A

poorly

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37
Q

True or false: the reason for poor soils on steep slopes is mostly because of a lack of water

A

true

38
Q

Water logged soils in bottomlands are usually very thick and (dark/light)

A

dark

39
Q

What makes the dark coloring in the water logged soils?

A

Organic matter

40
Q

What is the optimum slope for soil ddevelopment?

A

flat to undulating upland surface

41
Q

The direction the slope faces

A

Slope orientation

42
Q

In the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere, a south facing slope will receive (less/more) sunlight than a north facing slope

A

more

43
Q

Differences in the amount of solar radiation in a soil will cause difference in ___ and ___

A

moisture

temperature

44
Q

The vertical differences in soil, which usually become more pronounced as time passes divide the soil into zones or layers … AKA ___

A

horizons

45
Q

A vertical section through all of the soil horizons constitutes the ___ ____

A

soil profile

46
Q

Name the horizons from top to bottom

A

OABC

47
Q

The __ horizon consists largely of organic material

A

O

48
Q

The name of the partly decomposed organic matter in the lower portion of the O horizon in which plant structures can no longer be identified

A

humus

49
Q

This zone is largely mineral matter with some biological activity is high and humus is generally present

A

A

50
Q

As water percolates downward from the surface through the __ horizon, finer particles are carried away with it.

A

A

51
Q

The washing out of fine soil components

A

Eluviation

52
Q

The texture of the A horizon gradually becomes ___ because a portion of the fine particles is removed

A

coarser

53
Q

The depletion of soluble materials from the upper soil

A

leaching

54
Q

A nickname for the B horizon

A

subsoil

55
Q

Because much of the material is removed from the A horizon by eluviation and deposited in the B horizon, it is often referred to as the zone of ____

A

accumulation

56
Q

True or false: the accumulation of fine clay particles from the A horizon makes it harder for the subsoil (B) to retain water

A

False

57
Q

Sometimes clay accumulation can form an extremely dense and impermeable layer called ___

A

hardpan

58
Q

The O, A, and B horizons constitute the “true soil” AKA the _____

A

solum

59
Q

It is in the ____ that soil forming processes are active and that living roots and and other plant and animal life are confined

A

solum

60
Q

Which layer is characterized by partially altered parent material and little if any organic matter?

A

C

61
Q

A ____ _____ is easily recognized or identified in the C horizon even if it is altered in the solum

A

parent material

62
Q

A well developed soil profile indicates that a soil is (mature/immature)

A

mature

63
Q

Soils that lack horizons are called ____

A

immature

64
Q

Immature soils are characteristic of steep slopes where ____ continually strips away the soil

A

erosion

65
Q

A type of soil characterized by iron oxides and aluminum rich clays in the B horizon

A

Pedalfers

66
Q

____ is characterized by the accumulation of calcium carbonate in the soil

A

Pedocal

67
Q

The whitish accumulation in a soil that has an abundance of calcium carbonate

A

Caliche

68
Q

In the hot and wet climates of the tropics, soils called ____ develop

A

laterites

69
Q

Laterites develop with chemical weathering, so these soils are usually ____ than soils developing in the mid latitudes

A

deeper

70
Q

What might give soil a distinctive red color?

A

Iron

71
Q

Bacterial activity is very high in the tropics, so ____ contain practically no humus

A

laterites

72
Q

laterites are (good/not good) for growing crops

A

not good

73
Q

In cold or dry climates, soils are generally very ___ and poorly developed

A

thin

74
Q

What is a climate associated with laterite?

A

rainforest

75
Q

Water in thin sheets moving soil away is called:

A

sheet erosion

76
Q

tiny channels formed in a soil

A

rills

77
Q

Deeper cuts in the soil that are created as rills enlarge

A

gullies

78
Q

What we call the soil particles once they are transported downstream and are eventually deposited

A

Sediment

79
Q

True or false: plants have a stabilizing effect and can help stop erosion

A

True

80
Q

Erosion caused by surface runoff may be estimated by determining the sediment loads of the ____ that drain the region

A

streams

81
Q

When ___ conditions prevail, strong winds can remove large quantities of the soil from unprotected fields

A

dry

82
Q

True or false: there are no concerns when soil is deposited into reservoirs

A

False

83
Q

The contamination of soil particles with ___ can create a threat when those particles into a lake or reservoir

A

pesticides

84
Q 
Which of the following is not a technique for erosion control?
A. Windbreaks
B. Dunes
C. Terracing
D. Contour Farming Techniques
A

Dunes

85
Q

The name of the transformation from weathering that creates mineral deposits from minor amounts of metals

A

secondary enrichment

86
Q

the principal ore of aluminum

A

bauxite

87
Q

Aluminum is often tied up in ___ minerals, from which it is hard to extract

A

silicate

88
Q

Many copper and silver deposits result when weathering processes concentrate metals that are dispersed through a low-grade ____ ore

A

primary

89
Q

____ is important because when it chemically weathers, sulfuric acid forms, which enables percolating waters to dissolve the ore materials

A

Pyrite

90
Q

____ takes place because of changes that occur in the chemistry of the solution when it reaches the groundwater zone

A

Deposition

Earth Science Praxis Exam: Earth Unit (70 decks)

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