The Solid Earth - Chapter 2: Soil

Question 1

____ and other processes create soil

Answer 1

Weathering

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Plants

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Regolith

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Mineral

Organic

Question 5

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

Answer 5

50

Question 6

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

Answer 6

humus

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Pore

Question 8

Humus enhances the soil’s ability to ___ ____.

Answer 8

Retain water

Question 9

Soil water is a complex solution containing many ___ nutrients

Answer 9

soluble

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Soil texture

Question 11

What do sandy soils do too rapidly?

Answer 11

Drain

Question 12

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

Answer 12

drainage

Question 13

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

Answer 13

Sandy clay

Question 14

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

Answer 14

Loam

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Loam

Question 16

Soil particles often form clumps called

Answer 16

peds

Question 17

Name four basic soil structures:

Answer 17

platy
prismatic
blocky
spheroidal

Question 18

Prismatic and blocky peds usually allow for moderate ___ ____

Answer 18

water infiltration

Question 19

Platy and spheroidal structures are characterized by slower ____ ____

Answer 19

infiltration rates

Question 20

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

Answer 20

Parent material

Question 21

When the parent material is bedrock, the soils are termed

Answer 21

residual

Question 22

Soils developed on unconsolidated sediment are called

Answer 22

transported

Question 23

transported soils form __ ___

Answer 23

in place

Question 24

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

Answer 24

deposited

Question 25

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

Answer 25

True

Question 26

Can the parent mineral influence the rate of chemical weathering?

Answer 26

yes

Question 27

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

Answer 27

fertility

Question 28

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

Answer 28

climate

Question 29

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

Answer 29

False

Question 30

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

Answer 30

thicker

Question 31

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

Answer 31

Climate

Question 32

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

Answer 32

organic matter

Question 33

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

Answer 33

microorganisms

Question 34

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

Answer 34

acids

Question 35

Complex acids (quicken/slow) the weathering process

Answer 35

quicken

Question 36

On steep slopes, soils are often ____ developed

Answer 36

poorly

Question 37

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

Answer 37

true

Question 38

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

Answer 38

dark

Question 39

What makes the dark coloring in the water logged soils?

Answer 39

Organic matter

Question 40

What is the optimum slope for soil ddevelopment?

Answer 40

flat to undulating upland surface

Question 41

The direction the slope faces

Answer 41

Slope orientation

Question 42

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

Answer 42

more

Question 43

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

Answer 43

moisture | temperature

Question 44

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

Answer 44

horizons

Question 45

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

Answer 45

soil profile

Question 46

Name the horizons from top to bottom

Answer 46

OABC

Question 47

The __ horizon consists largely of organic material

Answer 47

O

Question 48

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

Answer 48

humus

Question 49

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

Answer 49

A

Question 50

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

Answer 50

A

Question 51

The washing out of fine soil components

Answer 51

Eluviation

Question 52

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

Answer 52

coarser

Question 53

The depletion of soluble materials from the upper soil

Answer 53

leaching

Question 54

A nickname for the B horizon

Answer 54

subsoil

Question 55

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 ____

Answer 55

accumulation

Question 56

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

Answer 56

False

Question 57

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

Answer 57

hardpan

Question 58

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

Answer 58

solum

Question 59

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

Answer 59

solum

Question 60

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

Answer 60

C

Question 61

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

Answer 61

parent material

Question 62

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

Answer 62

mature

Question 63

Soils that lack horizons are called ____

Answer 63

immature

Question 64

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

Answer 64

erosion

Question 65

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

Answer 65

Pedalfers

Question 66

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

Answer 66

Pedocal

Question 67

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

Answer 67

Caliche

Question 68

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

Answer 68

laterites

Question 69

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

Answer 69

deeper

Question 70

What might give soil a distinctive red color?

Answer 70

Iron

Question 71

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

Answer 71

laterites

Question 72

laterites are (good/not good) for growing crops

Answer 72

not good

Question 73

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

Answer 73

thin

Question 74

What is a climate associated with laterite?

Answer 74

rainforest

Question 75

Water in thin sheets moving soil away is called:

Answer 75

sheet erosion

Question 76

tiny channels formed in a soil

Answer 76

rills

Question 77

Deeper cuts in the soil that are created as rills enlarge

Answer 77

gullies

Question 78

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

Answer 78

Sediment

Question 79

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

Answer 79

True

Question 80

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

Answer 80

streams

Question 81

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

Answer 81

dry

Question 82

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

Answer 82

False

Question 83

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

Answer 83

pesticides

Question 84

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

Answer 84

Dunes

Question 85

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

Answer 85

secondary enrichment

Question 86

the principal ore of aluminum

Answer 86

bauxite

Question 87

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

Answer 87

silicate

Question 88

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

Answer 88

primary

Question 89

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

Answer 89

Pyrite

Question 90

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

Answer 90

Deposition