Terms Flashcards
(23 cards)
Pedosphere
The outer most layer of the earth that is composed of soil and subject to soil forming processes
Atmosphere
Layer or set of layers composed of gases that surrounds the earth
Hydrosphere
all of the water on the planet. Surface, underground, and airborne.
Biosphere
Part of the Earth that has life.
Lithosphere
the solid outer part of the earth
Topsoil
Colloquial term to describe the nutrient rich upper layer of the soil. Commonly the A horizon.
Subsoil
Colloquial term to describe what is beneath the topsoil, less nutrient rich. Commonly the b horizon.
Plant Macronutrients
Nutrients used in relatively large amounts, >.1% of dry plant tissue
Plant Micronutrients
Nutrients that are used in relatively small amounts,
List of Macronutrients (11)
Carbon (CO2) Hydrogen (H2O) Oxygen (H20 and O2) Calcium (Ca2+) Magnesium (Mg2+) Nitrogen (NH4+ cation, NO3- anion) Potassium (K+) Phosphorus (H2PO4- and HPO4 2-) Sulfur (SO4 2-) SIlicon
List of Micronutrients (10)
Copper Cobalt Iron Manganese Nickel Sodium Zinc Chlorine Boron molybdenum
Solum
Area of the regolith where plant growth happens, commonly A and B horizons, sometimes the top of the C horizon.
Regolith
The exposed rock at the earth’s surface that has crumbled and decayed to produce a layer of unconsolidated debris overlaying the hard, unweathered bedrock
Bedrock
The unweathered material beneath the soil
Saprolite
When the underlying bedrock has weathered to the point where it can be removed with a spade, commonly part of the C horizon
Weathering
the process of breaking up rocks and minerals, modifying or destroying their physical and chemical characteristics and carrying the finer fragments and soluble products.
Base Flow
water that makes its way through the soil into a water system over the course of months or years.
Root Interception
When roots grow into undepleted soil space
Mass Flow
When dissolved nutrients move along with water being absorbed by a plant.
Diffusion
When nutrients move from areas of high concentrations to areas of low concentration.
Soil Solution
water within soil that carries dissolved nutrients.
Pedon
the smallest sampling unit that displays the full range of properties characteristic of a particular soil. Generally 1 to 10m2 of land area.
polypedon
a group of similar pedons in a given landscape. enogh uniformity of polypedons to be recognized as a landscape component lead to a soil individual
