Soil Quiz 1 Flashcards
(85 cards)
1
Q
Father of modern soil science
A
V.V. Dokuchaev
2
Q
Came up with Pedology
A
V.V. Dokuchaev
3
Q
“The great communicator”
A
Konstantin D. Glinka
4
Q
Father of modern soil survey
A
Curtis fletcher Marbut
5
Q
Wrote “Factors of Soil Formation”
A
Hans Jenny
6
Q
developed the four soil forming processes and worked on soil behavior and soil classification
A
Roy Simonson
7
Q
Soil
A
- a dynamic body composed of mineral and organic solids, gases, liquids, and living organisms which can serve as a medium for plant growth
- The collection of natural bodies occupying part of the Earth’s surface that is capable of supporting plant growth and that has properties resulting from the integrated effects of climate and living organisms acting upon parent material, as conditioned by topography, over periods of time
8
Q
soil descriptions (horizon, etc.) based on?
A
field observations only
9
Q
Main soil horizons:
A
O, A, E, B, C, R
10
Q
solum
A
surface and subsurface layers that are affected by soil formation
11
Q
Horizons in solum
A
O, A, E, B
12
Q
O horizon
A
organic material
13
Q
A horizon
A
Humidified OM mixed with mineral fraction
14
Q
Horizon that exhibits effects of cultivation, pasturing, and other similar disturbance
A
A horizon
15
Q
Eluviated zone horizon
A
E horizon
16
Q
E horizon
A
-mineral horizon, zone of eluviation
17
Q
E horizon color?
A
Albic: white color
18
Q
E horizon loss:
A
silicate clay, iron, aluminum, or a combo
19
Q
E horizon remain:
A
sand, silt, quartz, other resistant materials
20
Q
Illuviated zone horizon
A
B horizon
21
Q
B horizon has a concentration of?
A
soluble salts, silicate clays, iron and aluminum oxides, and humus (alone or in concentration)
22
Q
B horizon structure:
A
blocky or prismatic structure
23
Q
What gives the B horizon a darker, richer, or redder color?
A
presence of iron and aluminum oxide coatings
24
Q
C Horizon
A
- unweathered parent material
- Mineral horizon
- relatively unaffected by biological activity
- parent material can be alike or different than the solum above it
25
R Horizon
Hard Bedrock
26
R Horizon Hard Bedrock includes:
granite, basalt, quartzite and indurated limestone or sandstone that is sufficiently coherent to make hand digging impractical
27
1 inch of soil takes ____ years to form.
1,000
28
Transitional Soil Horizons: AB
- Dominated by properties of one master horizon but has subordinate properties of another
- First letter designates which master horizon has dominant properties in the horizon
- 2 capital letters
29
Transitional Soil Horizons: A/B
- "Virgule"
- Horizon has distinctly recognizable properties of both master horizons.
- The first symbol is that of the horizon that makes up the greater volume
- A/B has more volume of letter in front, not just distinct properties
30
Subordinate distinctions
- Lowercase letters are used to identify components present in significant amounts
- Found after the Master Horizon capital letter
- Example: Ap horizon (p= plow layer)
31
can every subordinate distinction go with every main horizon?
no
32
The Prime (')
- signifies a split horizon
| - not enough for a subdivision
33
Lithologic discontinuities
- A change in particle size or mineralogy that existed prior to soil formation
- The number in front signifies the change in lithology
- Massive change, break in formation
- Ex: glacial effects
- Not the same throughout the whole profile
34
Soil has 6 key roles (ecosystem services):
1. Support plant growth
2. Regulate water supplies
3. Functions as nature's recycling system
4. Habitat to living organisms
5. Influence atmospheric conditions
6. Engineering medium
35
Pedon
smallest volume that can be called a soil
36
Environmental Services- Support plant growth:
- physical support
- air
- water
- temperature moderation
- protection from toxins
- nutrient elements
37
Nutrient elements
C HOPKNS CaFe ClZn; MoB CuMn Mg
38
Environmental Services- regulation of water supplies
- infiltration
- lateral flow
- through flow
- filters water
39
Pedosphere
interaction of four spheres
40
"Clorpt"
```
*Soil Formation*
Climate
Organisms (biota)
Relief (topography)
Parent material
Time
```
41
How many steps needed to form a soil?
11
42
supporting higher plant life
pedological view that this is where we begin seeing soil profiles, morphology
43
Assumptions in soil formation:
- closed system
- no human influence
- consistent climate
- variation in type and intensity of biota
- effects of variable parent material
44
Eluviation
loss, translocation
45
Illuviation
addition, translocation
46
leaching
loss, translocation, and in some situations, transformation
47
Erosion
loss, translocation
48
cumulization
addition, translocation
49
calcification
addition, translocation
50
decalcification
loss, translocation
51
salinization
addition, translocation
52
desalinization
loss, translocation
53
alkalization
addition, translocation
54
dealkalization
loss, translocation
55
lessivage
translocation; physical movement of clay
56
pedoturbation
translocation; mixing of the soil through biological activity
57
decomposition
transformation
58
synthesis
transformation
59
melanization
transformation
60
littering
additions
61
humification
addition, transformation
62
mineralization
transformation
63
gleization
transformation
64
Parent materials
residuum, colluvium, alluvium, lacustrine, marine, glacial till, glacial outwash, glacial moraine, aeolian, organic
65
What minerals are resistant to weathering?
silicate minerals
66
What works with O to create oxides (red v. gray)?
Fe and Al
67
What "bases" weather quickly?
Ca, Mg, Na, and K
68
Minerals:
- Naturally occurring inorganic substances that have a specific chemical composition and structural arrangement
- Made up of elements
69
Rocks:
Mixtures of minerals occurring in various proportions
70
Primary minerals:
- From under conditions different than those at Earth's surface
- Often formed by solidification of magma
71
Secondary minerals:
- Mineral which forms at or near Earth's surface
| - Often formed from weathering products of primary minerals
72
Physical properties for identifying minerals:
- Hardness
- Luster
- Streak
- Color
- Density
- Crystal systems
- Cleavage and fractures
- Transparency
- Special Properties
73
Most important physical properties for identifying minerals?
- Hardness
- Luster
- Streak
- Cleavage and fractures
74
Why do soil scientists care about rocks and minerals?
* Contributes to Pedology
* Most parent materials were rocks at some point in their lives
* Minerals continue to contribute to soil fertility long after the rocks are gone
* Minerals provide volume and mass to soil
75
What charge (+ or -) does soil have?
negative
76
Minerals: hardness
- Minerals resistance to being scratched, but not same as brittleness.
- Use of Mohs scale (1 to 10), where 2 is softest and 10 is hardest.
77
Minerals: Luster
- Describes how light reflects from the mineral
- Metallic: shines like metal
- Non-metallic: greasy, earthy, pearly
- Terms: dull, pitchy, resinous, submetallic
78
Minerals: Streaking
- Color of the powder left when mineral is scratched on unglazed tile
- Mineral's true color
- Dark streak suggests metallic; light streak suggests non-metallic
79
Cleavage
tendency for mineral to break along smooth planes parallel to zones of weak bonding
80
Fracture
tendency for mineral to break along curved surfaces without a definite shape.
81
Specific minerals to know:
calcite, dolomite, feldspar, fluorite, gypsum, hornblende, pyrite, hematite, biotite, magnetite, quartz, muscovite
82
What other mineral is magnetic, other than magnetite?
Hematite
83
Fertilizer minerals
calcite and dolomite
84
slow release fertilizer
dolomite
85
How do you test which fertilizer mineral is which?
Pour acid on them, will have a slow or fast reaction
