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Published byHerbert Martin McGee Modified over 9 years ago
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What is Soil? T Webb HHS
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What is Soil? - humus: biotic community - organic/biological materials - minerals - clays and silts - “dirt” * contains air and water; is a media for plant growth and life
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Criteria for Soil? - naturally occurring - more than 10 cm thick - supports plant growth - contains organic materials - variable composition with depth * Soil - “Giver of all Life” - many cultural differences in appreciation
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Statistics and other stuff… - 10% of Canada’s land is agricultural - soils vary within small areas - in a hectare (100 m x 100 m), with a field containing 20 cm depth of soil, the volume will be 2 000 m 3. - for good farming, typical soil has a density of 1.40 g/cm 3 (1400 kg/m 3 ) - average % of organic material: 2 - 3% - you need 28 000 kg of manure to increase organic materials by 1%; manure is ~ 75% water by volume… - farmers need to put on 3x the amount of manure to make up for the water content.
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How long does it take for soil to form? - In N.S. the Pleistocene Glacial age resulted in many depositions of loose till. This occurred ~ 10 - 12 000 years ago. - Parent material takes on average 10 000 years for ~ 50 cm of soil to develop. This data is consistent across Canada. - The rate of topsoil production can be marginally increased by adding peat moss and compost. - soil texture is very important in the classification process, and for understanding development. The texture is based on the percent of sand, silt and clay.
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Characteristics of Soil pHporosity humus contenttemperature water contentparticle size(s) nutrient levels (K, Na, Mg, C, N 2, P 4, SO 4 2-, etc) texturecompaction depth of layersdensity depth of soil% composition drainagecharacter locationorigin of parent material biological activitiescolour
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