1 What Am I Walking On? By: Lynn Vaughan

2 Soil Soil is something you walk on and over everyday, but do you ever stop to wonder what makes soil? Why is it there? Why is it important to us?

3 What Does Soil Do That Makes It So Important?

4 Soil is what holds plants up so they do not fall over. Plants would look silly lying on the ground.

5 Soil makes food for plants to grow big and strong.

6 Soil also helps rain soak into the ground. That way plants can get a drink when they are thirsty.

7 Rain soaks into the ground and soil helps prevent flooding.

8 Is Soil Alive? Soil is not alive. However, there are lots of critters who live in the soil.

9 Where Did All The Soil Come From? Most of the soil here on earth has been around a long time.

10 Soil is like the turtle when it comes to making new soil, it can take hundreds or thousands of years to make just one-inch more.

11 Where Does Soil Start? Soil forms from its “parent material”. This can be rocks, dead leaves, broken tree limbs lying on the ground, or dead bugs.

12 Heat, rain, ice, snow, wind, sunshine and organisms help to break the parent material down into smaller and smaller pieces until it becomes soil.

13 What Are Soil “Horizons?”

14 O-Horizon Soil horizons are the layers in the soil. The top layer is the O horizon. The O horizon is the organic material. It is only about an inch thick, but it is very healthy. However, it may not always be present.

15 A-Horizon The A horizon, or top soil, has roots and lots of other small creatures (like worms) running around in it.

16 Next, is the B horizon which is hard and not many plants and animals can get through it.

17 C-Horizon At the bottom is horizon C. C is the parent material that was used to form the other three layers. It is even harder than B and not many things live there.

18 What is a “Ped?” A ped is a single unit of soil structure. A ped will vary with different types of soil.

19 Soil Has Texture The way a soil feels when you touch it is called its “texture”.

20 Gritty A soil that feels “gritty” is made up of sand, the largest pieces of soil.

21 Soft Soil A soil that feels soft, silky, or “floury” is made of the medium size soil pieces called silt.

22 Sticky Soil The smallest size soil pieces are clay. Clay feels “sticky” and is hard to squeeze.

23 The amount of sand, silt, and clay tells us a story about the soil.

24 First, it tells us how much water can be stored in the soil.

25 Second, it tells us what kind of creatures lives in the soil.

26 Third, it tells us what kind of plants can grow.

27 Next, it tells us how deep plant roots can grow.

28 Then, it tell us how much water can pass through.

29 Finally, it tells us how the soil has changed over time.

30 Soil Colors Soil can be many colors.

31 Dark Brown Soil Usually, the darker brown colors have more rotted bits of leaves, pine needles and twigs.

32 Red Soil If the soil is red, that means it has lots of iron in it.

33 White Soil If the soil is white, it may have calcium in it.

34 How Does Water Get Into The Soil? When it rains, the rainwater pours into the pores in the soil.

35 Pores are spaces in the soil that come in different sizes.

36 They also let air in so that small animals and insects can breathe.

37 Why Do Plants Grow So Well In The Soil? The soil has many things in it that plants need to grow.

38 Roots Help Soil Roots help make soil, too. They split rocks into pieces that later become soil.

39 Can We Lose Soil? Soil “erodes” (washes or blows away) when there is nothing to help it stay in place.

40 How Can We Keep Our Soil In Place? Plant trees or other plants in areas to keep the soil from eroding.

41 Farmers have ways to keep the soil on the land so that they can grow food for us to eat.

42 They use special machinery when they plant their crops, and they plant windbreaks.

43 Windbreaks are rows of trees that are planted next to fields to keep the wind from blowing the soil away.