Soil and Infiltration

Question 1

What is regolith?

Answer 1

A region of loose unconsolidated rock and dust that sits atop a layer of bedrock

Question 2

What is the vadose zone?

Answer 2

The unsaturated soil space between the land surface and the water table

Question 3

What is parent material?

Answer 3

The base geologic material of soil

Question 4

What is organic matter

Answer 4

Living and dad microorganisms as well as decaying plants and animal materal

Question 5

What is a horizon

Answer 5

each layer of soil

Question 6

What is a soil profile?

Answer 6

The cross-section of soil as a whole

Question 7

What is top soil?

Answer 7

Inorganic and organic material most nutritive for plants

Question 8

What is leaching?

Answer 8

Dissolved particles moving through horizons

Question 9

What is litter?

Answer 9

Surface deposits of leaves, branches, mosses, animal waste

Question 10

What is the O horizon composed of?

Answer 10

Organic material

Question 11

What is the A horizon composed of?

Answer 11

Mainly mineral

Question 12

What is the E horizon composed of?

Answer 12

Fine particles move down, water leaches the more soluble minerals

Question 13

What is the B horizon composed of?

Answer 13

Accumulation zone for fine-grained particles

Question 14

What is the R horizon composed of

Answer 14

Unweathered bedrock

Question 15

What is fertilizer?

Answer 15

Substances that contain essential nutrients, but over-application can damage soils

Question 16

What are inorganic fertilizers?

Answer 16

Mined or synthetically manufactured mineral supplements

Question 17

What are organic fertilizers

Answer 17

The remains or wastes of organics

Question 18

What is compost?

Answer 18

Produced when decomposers break down organic material

Question 19

What is weathering?

Answer 19

The physical, chemical or biological processes that break down rocks to form soils

Question 20

What is physical weathering?

Answer 20

Wind, rain, no chemical change in parent material

Question 21

What is chemical weathering?

Answer 21

Substance chemically interact with parent material

Question 22

What is biological weathering?

Answer 22

Organisms break down parent material

Question 23

What is humus?

Answer 23

A dark, spongy, crumbly mass of material formed by partially decompostion

Question 24

What is erosion

Answer 24

The dislodging and movement of soils by wind or water

Question 25

What does soil colour indicate?

Answer 25

Its composition, water content and fertility

Question 26

What does black or dark brown soil indicate?

Answer 26

Rich in organic matter, higher water content

Question 27

What does pale gray or white soil indicate?

Answer 27

Leaching, less water content

Question 28

Soil texture

Answer 28

the size of particles

Question 29

What is the order of soil texture (smallest to largest)

Answer 29

clay, slit, sand, gravel

Question 30

Porosity

Answer 30

Measure of the relative volume of spaces within the material

Question 31

Permeability

Answer 31

Measure of interconnectedness of space and the ease with which fluids can move through the material

Question 32

Does clay have a high or lower porosity?

Answer 32

Highest porosity

Question 33

Does clay have a high or low permeability

Answer 33

Low permeability

Question 34

What is loam?

Answer 34

Soil with an even mixture of clay, slit and sand

Question 35

What is soil structure?

Answer 35

A measure of soil's "clumpiness"

Question 36

What is plowpan

Answer 36

A hard layer resulting from repeated plowing that resists water infiltration and root penetration

Question 37

What is soil pH

Answer 37

Influences a soil's ability to support plant growth

Question 38

What is liquid limit?

Answer 38

Upper limit of water content for the soil to exhibit plastic behaviour

Question 39

What is plastic limit

Answer 39

Lower limit of water content for the soil to exhibit plastic behaviour

Question 40

Shrinkage limit

Answer 40

the transition from plastic to soil behaviour; not volume change with further drying

Question 41

Plasticity

Answer 41

The ability of a soil to undergo unrecoverable deformation at constant volume without cracking or crumbing