Soil

Front 1

What are the 4 functions of soil?

Back 1

Habitat Function (nutrition, microorganisms, growing space)
Regulatory function (buffer zone/storage)
Archive function (fossils)
Economics function (basis fir agriculture and forestry)

Front 2

What are the 5 factors of soil development?

Back 2

Time, Climate (including water and temperature), Biota (human), Relief, Parent Material

Front 3

What factors influence relief?

Back 3

(Topography) slopes, morphology, how weathered the are becomes due to natural development

Front 4

What is the eq. for soil?

Back 4

Rock+Litter ((climate, relief)/(flora, fauana,human, time))
--> soil

Front 5

What is parent material?

Back 5

Bedrock that provides the minerals that are necessary for soil development.

Front 6

What is the depth of weathering soils (tundra v tropical forest)?

Back 6

tundra least amt 5-50 cm
savanna most 100-200 cm

Front 7

how is material physically weathered?

Back 7

Frost shattering, lossening/breaking
Caused by: insulation, temperatures freezing/thawing, water/ice, salt

Front 8

How is material weathered physio-chemically?

Back 8

loamification, brunicifcation
Caused by: water, and humic substances

Front 9

What different ways can parent material be weathered?

Back 9

Physically, physio-chemically, chemically

Front 10

What is brunicification?

Back 10

high amounts of iron in primary materials followed by oxidation which gives soils and a reddish/brownish color

Front 11

What is loamification?

Back 11

silicate weathering --> the neoformation of clay minerals and grain size decreases, leading to a finer soil texture

Front 12

What processes contribute to cambisoil?

Back 12

brunification and loamification

Front 13

What layers are present in the humic layer?

Back 13

L= litter
Of= partially decomp litter
Oh= organic humuc
Ah= mineral horizon

Front 14

What is cambisol?

Back 14

Cambisols are developed in medium and fine-textured materials derived from a wide range of rocks, mostly in alluvial, colluvial and aeolian deposits.

Front 15

How is aggregation created?

Back 15

biologically and physio-chemically.
Excrements clay-humus-complexes by earthworms
Developments of aggregates --> crumb structure
PC: Clay and organic molecules, swell-shrink of clay masses.

Front 16

What type of rock will decalcify?

Back 16

Limestone

Front 17

What is a universal effect of decalcification?

Back 17

secondary CaCO3 concentrations to all soil types

Front 18

What is podzolization?

Back 18

dissolved organic matter into metal-organic complexes to create podozol

Front 19

What is lessivation?

Back 19

Clay translocation, the movement of clay, creating luvisol

Front 20

What is gleysol ?

Back 20

a hydrologic soil gray/blue tinted soil with O2 and Fe/Mn-ion exchange

Front 21

What is bioturbation?

Back 21

The reworking of soils and sediments by animals or plants

Front 22

What is krotovina?

Back 22

filled in tunnels made by small animals

Front 23

What is peloturation?

Back 23

high levels of clay with extremely deep and dry crevies caused by shrinking/expansion(of water content)

Front 24

What is cryturbation?

Back 24

ice in the ground causing crevices, found in high elevations, affected by the permafrost table

Front 25

How do humans mix soil and why?

Back 25

Agriculture between 20-30 cm Ap = plowing
Top layer is homogenous

Front 26

What is a typical soil profile?

Back 26

O horizon
A (first mineral layer)
B
C
Bedrock
(Organic Apples Bring Cheer)

Front 27

What is hte definition of soil?

Back 27

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers (horizons) of mineral and/or organic constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties and their biological characteristics.

Front 28

Define histosols

Back 28

soils with thick organic layers

Front 29

What are soils with strong human influence by intensive agricultural use called?

Back 29

Anthorosis

Front 30

What is it called when a soil contains many artifacts?

Back 30

Technosols

Front 31

What are leptosols?

Back 31

shallow or extremely gravelly

Front 32

When soil has limited rooting due to shallow permafrost is called ________.

Back 32

a cryosol

Front 33

What are two examples of soils influenced by water?

Back 33

(just examples) gleysols and fluvisols

Front 34

A soil with stagnate water is a ...

Back 34

Stagnosol

Front 35

What is the German soil profile method called? What are the schematic 4 parts and what is it based on?

Back 35

KA5
A water regime
1. Terrestrial, 2. semi-terrestrial, 3. semi and sub- hydric,4.peat

Front 36

What is peat?

Back 36

Runoff, partially decayed vegetation. Dark brown. (ombrogenic mires and topogenic mires)

Front 37

What is the single most important physical property of soil and why?

Back 37

soil texture
water potential, water holding capacity, fertility potential, sustainability for urban areas

Front 38

What are 3 physical properties of soil?

Back 38

color, texture, structure

Front 39

What are three influences of soil color?

Back 39

OM content, water content, presence and oxidation states of iron and manganese oxides

Front 40

What do you know about sand?

Back 40

high porosity low, high drainage
high amount of quartz grains (dominating in rocks)
low cation exchange capacity
most soils are infertile and prone to drought

Front 41

What do you know about silt?

Back 41

smooth and silky
retarins more water and plants, has a slower drainage rate than sand
highly susceptible to erosion by wind and water
higher potential to absorb irons, and silt holds more nutrients than sands

Front 42

What is Loess?

Back 42

Silt dominated sediment of oblian orgin

Front 43

What do you know about clay?

Back 43

mainly weathered residuals and secondary silicats formed by mineral transformation and (re-)crstallization
important for chem/phyz processes.
large water absorption
intensive swelling/shrinking cycles

Front 44

Are soil seperates and soil texture classifications the same?

Back 44

NO NO NO NO !!!!!!!

Front 45

What are some ways to determine the textural classes?

Back 45

-Field estimation (feel method)
-Lab ana. multiple protocols
- laser defraction
-sedigraph
-lab particle size ana.

Front 46

What are the 4 textural classes?

Back 46

sand, silt, clay, loam

Front 47

What methods can be used to determine physical properties of soil?

Back 47

Munsell color chart (color)
soil triangle (soil texture)

Front 48

What is the international system for soil classification?

Back 48

FAO system

Front 49

What are the activities of soil organisms?

Back 49

-Burrowing and molding, activities of soil animals,
-Enmeshment of particles by sticky networks of roots and fungal hypae,
-Producer of organic materials by microogranisms esp. bacteria and fungi,
-influence of organic matter; supply of substances for biological activities

Front 50

What is the significance of soil?

Back 50

-essential for water balance
-ground stability
-ground water recharge
-retention of pollutants
-accessibility of nutrients for plant roots

Front 51

What are the types of soil seperates?

Back 51

size division of mineral particles (sand, silt, clay)

Front 52

What is a soil aggregate?

Back 52

A group of soil particles adhering to oneanother, the smallest strucural unit, ped, of soil

Front 53

What is a ped, and what are different types of peds?

Back 53

unit of soil structure (such as aggregate, crumb, prism, block, granule)

Front 54

What is a colloid?

Back 54

substances of a very small particle size, either mineral (clay) or organic (humus), which have a large surface area per unit of volume. provided high cation exchange capacity and also exhibit and instability controlled by soil chemistry.

Front 55

What is cation exchange?

Back 55

The intercharge between a cation in solution and another cation on the surface of any surface active material, such as clay or organic matter.

Front 56

How is cation exchange capacity defined?

Back 56

The sum total of exchangeable cations that a soil can absorb. Sometimes called total exchange capacity, base exchange capacity, or cation adsorption capacity. Expressed in (cmol/kg) of soil (or of other adsorbing material, such as clay).

Front 57

What planning may be required for field work?

Back 57

Planning for fieldwork: lit, maps, sampling strategy, permission from public authorities, inform owner of the property, info about electrical lines, gas pipelines etc., equipment

Front 58

What is the importance of water in soil?

Back 58

-biological functions: plant growth, water supply and dissolved nutrient salts for plants, critical for livign organisms within soil and OM decay
-pedogenic functions:chemical weathering of minerals (clay formation), translocation of materials within soil
-mechanical mizing of soils: desiccation cracks due shrink-swell, cyroturbation
-physical properties: moderates soil temp, general hydrologic exchange (evapotrans), infiltration into ground water

Front 59

Where are the options for water to go in soils?

Back 59

-surface run off
-percolation
-old root channels and earth worm burrows (preferential flow paths)

Front 60

Wat is capillary movement determined by?

Back 60

Pore size distribution

Front 61

How does the soil water potential move?

Back 61

From high to low energy states

Front 62

What are the forces (3) affected potential energy in soil water?

Back 62

Matric Forces: attraction of water to soil solides, absorption and capillarity
Osmotic forces: Attraction of water to ions and other solutes
Gravity always pulls water forward (elevation)

Front 63

What is the soil water potential?

Back 63

The work nesscary to move a certain volume or mass of water from a given point of a force field to another point

Front 64

What measurements are used to determine water content in soil water?

Back 64

Volumetric volume content (volume water/volume soil)
GRavimentric water content (m water -m dry/m soil)

Front 65

Tensiometer, time-domain reflectometry, and a neutron probe are all methods to measure water in a __________ way.

Back 65

geophysical

Front 66

What are three qualitative descriptions of soil moisture?

Back 66

Max retention capacity
Field capacity
Permanent wilting ppercentage

Front 67

What is field capacity?

Back 67

The percentage of watter remaining in a soil two or three days after its having been saturated and after free drainage has practically ceased.

Front 68

What is the permanent wilting percentage of a wilting coefficient?

Back 68

The moisture content of soil, on an over-dry basis, at which plants wilt and fail to recover their turgidity when placed in dark, humid atmosphere.

Front 69

What is loam?

Back 69

soil composed of sand, silt and clay (40-40-20) and considered ideal for gardening and agricultural purposes. High water retention.

Front 70

What is the Munsell color system?

Back 70

A color designation system that specifies the relative degrees of the three simple variables of color: Chroma, Hue, Value

Front 71

What is particle size determined?

Back 71

The equivalent diameter of primary particles, as determined by sieving, sedimentation or any other method used in mechanical analysis of soil samples.

Front 72

What are the two degrees of organic matter? (According to their degree of transformation)

Back 72

1) Non-humic substances (litter): tissue structure still distinguishable
2) Humic substances: 3 classes (fulvic acids, humic acids, humins)

Front 73

Define decomposition of soil.

Back 73

The biological process including physical breakdown and biochemical transformation of complex organic molecules of dead material into simpler organic and inorganic molecules

Front 74

What products are released during the decomposition of soil?

Back 74

CO2, energy, water, plant nutrients and re-synthesized organic C compounds

Front 75

What the speed of decomposition determined by?

Back 75

Soil organisms, physical environment and quality of the organic matter. Dead organic material will all compose.

Front 76

What is humification?

Back 76

the successive decomposition of dead material and modified organic matter resulting in the formation of a more complex organic matter (aka humic substances)

Front 77

What is mineralisation?

Back 77

The complete degradation by microoganisms into inorganic compounds (CO2, H2O) and the release of nutrients (Mg, Fe, N, S)

Front 78

What can resist against decomposition?

Back 78

Sugar, starch, proteins < cellulose < legnin, wax, resin, tannins

Front 79

What are the sub-classes of soil organic matter?

Back 79

Living organisms (function as a soil engine) and partially decomposed plant and animal residues (potential food for organisms, nutrient bank, buffer, energy)

Front 80

What are the 3 influences on soil color?

Back 80

OM content, water content, presence of Fe/Mn ions

Front 81

What is the definition of soil acidity?

Back 81

A quantitative term used to describe the total acidity in soils or soil horizons as a capacity factor

Front 82

Why is soil pH relevant?

Back 82

Soil quality, nutrient availability, plant nutrition, microbial and soil faunal activity

Front 83

What are differences between acidifying and alkalizing processes?

Back 83

Acidifying processes: produce H+ ions
Alkalizing processes: consume H+ ions or produce OH- ions

Front 84

What are some soil acidifying processes? (Name at least 3, and their eq.)

Back 84

1) carbon acids (CO2+H2O-->H2CO3)
2) accumulation of OM
3) oxidation of nitrogen
4) oxidation of sulfur
5) plant uptake of cations

Front 85

What are some soil alkalizing processes? (Name at least 3)

Back 85

1) Weathering of non acid cations from minerals
2) Accumulation of non acid cations
3) production of base production anions
4) CO2 and varbonates

Front 86

What is pH buffering? Why is it important?

Back 86

The resistance to change by cation exchange, pedogenic oxides and hydroxides, and carbonate and silicate weathering.
Important because it ensures stability in soil pH and influences hte amount of amendments

Front 87

What are anthropogenic influences that increase acidification rates?

Back 87

- Acidic deposition
- Land use
- Fertilization
- Mining activities