1. Soil Color

2. Soil Color… Has little effect on the behavior and use of soil –Exception: Soil warming Provides valuable clues, which helps scientists classify and identify soil types and properties

3. All Soil is Brown, Right? Wrong! Soils vary in color depending on material make-up and location. The Munsell System of Color Notation is a color catalog. Soil scientists compare the soil next to the color chips to find a visual match and assign the corresponding Munsell notation with the soil. The wide use and acceptance of the Munsell System allows for direct comparison of soils anywhere in the world.

4. The Munsell system The system categorizes by three components: hue, value, and chroma. Hue: the specific color Value: the lightness or darkness of color Chroma: the light intensity Written: Hue Value/Chroma 10 YR 3/2 Spectrum of Hues Shown Here:

5. Colorful Soils Red Desert: California, Arizona, and Nevada

6. Gray Desert: Idaho, Utah, & Nevada Colorful Soils

7. White Sands: New Mexico Colorful Soils

8. Green Sands: Atlantic Coast & Hawaii Colorful Soils

9. Red beds: Texas and Oklahoma Colorful Soils

10. Dark surface soils in the Great Plains & the Corn Belt are from rich organic matter. Colorful Soils Hwang Ho River in China carries yellow sediment creating a yellow river bed.

11. Why? Reddish, yellowish, or brownish: Iron oxides –Hematite – red –Goethite – yellowish brown –Ferrihydrite – reddish brown Grey: Quartz and silicate minerals White: Carbonates or other saltsWhite: Carbonates or other salts Green: Potassium Black/very dark brown: Organic matter Black: Manganese oxides

12. Other Uses for Soil Native North American cultures used earth colors as body paints. Modern American culture uses colored earth in cosmetics and ceramics and as pigments for paints.

13. Soil Color Activities Instructions at: http://soils4teachers.org/lessons-and- activities http://soils4teachers.org/lessons-and- activities –Soil Crayons –Soil Painting Examples of mud paintings at: www.mudpainting.com