LAB 1: Maps, Rocks and Soil Profiles CRSS/FANR 3060 LAB 1: Maps, Rocks and Soil Profiles

What You Are Going To Do.... 1) Use the topographic and soil maps in this handout, and those provided in lab, to complete the hand in sheet attached to this lab; 2) Look at the rock and mineral displays set up on the lab benches, and answer the questions related to these displays; 3) Look at the soil profile monoliths set up in the lab, and answer any questions on the hand in sheet related to these profiles

Topographic Maps Display information about landscape features: Topography Drainage Swamps Roads/Buildings Watersheds

Topographic Map Green= forest, white=cleared… contour lines…. Top of hill down to river…. Roads and houses.

Topographic Map Contour lines - points of equal elevation Contour interval - distance between contour lines.

Topographic Maps Scale – relates the distance on the map to the distance on the ground. 1:1,200 scale means: 1in (map) = 1,200 in (ground) OR 1” (map) = 100’ (ground) 1,200 in x 1 ft/12 in = 100ft

Topographic Maps Calculating Slope Gradient: [Elevation difference / Horizontal distance] x 100 Rise - elevation difference Run - horizontal distance Rise/Run x 100 = % slope 8/60 x 100=13% Run: 60’ Rise: 8

Topographic Map

Topographic Map Finding a watershed on your topo map

Soil Survey Maps: Grey=forest. Light color= crop/pastureland. Permanent vs. intermittant streams. Soil mapping unit symbols.

Soil Survey Maps: Reading soil maps: Mapping Unit Symbol: AnC3 An- soil series (“Appling”) C- slope class (6-10%) 3- how much soil is lost by erosion (1: uneroded, 2: mod. eroded, 3: severely eroded) Soil Survey Clarke and Oconee

Soil Survey Maps: Guide to Mapping Units - p.58 Soils Series, slope, and erosion Capability - p.22 Estimated Yields - p.28-29 Woodland - p.30 Wildlife - p.32 Engineering - p. 35

Soil Profile Soil profile - is a vertical section through a soil with depth down to the rock layer. Horizons - are layers of soil with varying properties such as texture, color and structure.

Soil Profile - Horizons O - decomposing leaf litter A - topsoil, colored brown or black humus, low in clay (sandy or silty), has a granular structure E- Leached out (light-colored), low clay, below the A, low in humus and iron. B- horizon of accumulation of material from the A and E, higher in clay and iron C- weathered parent material, lower in clay and iron, contains rock fragments. R- hard bedrock

Rocks Minerals Igneous – molten mantle of the earth from magma p.3 Metamorphic – the re-melting of igneous or sedimentary rocks p.4 Sedimentary- particulates that accumulated in thick beds and consolidated into rock either through pressure, cementation, or both p.4 Primary minerals- form from molten materials. (Quartz, and Feldspars) Secondary minerals- form at the earth’s surface from chemical breakdown/weathering (clay minerals)