1. Don’t SOIL yourself…

2. Some Soil

3. Yep, that’s some more soil

4. Soil Creation
Soil is the top layer of the earth’s crust that has been physically and chemically weathered into small particles

5. Soil-forming processes
Decaying vegetation in humus
Organic matter is broken down to form a dark, sticky, partly decomposed layer at the soil surface.
Soil high in humus are generally very fertile and ideal for agriculture

6. Soil-forming processes
Leaching
As water infiltrates the soil, it carries dissolved minerals deep into the weathered particles.
In areas with a great deal of rainfall, leaching is excessive and valuable minerals are lost in the soil.

7. Soil-forming processes
Capillary Action
Occurs in dry desert and grassland areas where the surface is so dry, that water is transferred from deep in the ground to the surface

8. Soil-forming processes
Translocation
The movement of solid material from one place to another by moving water.

9. Formation of Soil Profiles: -
Formation of Soil Profiles
physical and chemical weathering from parent material
-broken material and organic matter (vegetation)
-profiles are soil layers developed in different climates
-horizons are the layers that form due to water and vegetation presence

11. TOPSOIL,
upper or A
horizon
SUBSOIL,
middle or B
PARENT
MATERIAL,
lower or C horizon

12. Horizons:
A horizon: is the topsoil layer
-darker it is, the more humus
-lots of humus is healthy, fertile
soil
B horizon: it the subsoil
-brown or red in colour(Fe)
-more clay than A horizon
-lose fertility quickly
C horizon: partially weathered rock
-rocky and fractured
Bedrock: parent material

13. Main Soil Types
Chernozem
Podzol
Laterite
Sierozem
Tundra

14. Chernozem Soils
-prairie grasslands
-thick-humus filled topsoil
-leaching is not a problem
-capillary action brings nutrients to surface
-small animals burrow to keep warm and mix soil

15. Podzol

16. Podzol Soils
-formed in coniferous forests
-humid continental with cold winters, warm summers
-heavily leached and acidic
-thin humus layer of evergreen needles
-not very fertile

17. Laterite: -hot, tropical climate, deeply leached, heavy rainfalls, iron-oxide concentrations, most infertile soils in the world (nutrients are in the vegetation (rain forest vegetation)

18. Sierozem Soils
-desert soils (dry)
-limited vegetation, low organic content
-poorly defined because of lack of water
-could be fertile if irrigated because capillary action brings nutrients to surface

19. Tundra Soil, peeled back to show layer

20. Tundra Soils:
-permafrost below surface
-not well defined profile
-vegetation cover is limited because of climate
-partially decomposed peat layer is slow to develop because of climate

21. Key Soil Profiles