A Riddle

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A Riddle

• I am light and I am heavy.
• I am strong enough to hold up a skyscraper.
• I am fragile enough to be blown away in the wind.
• I am an anchor. I am a home. I am a sponge.
• I am one substance made of many different things.
• I am loose enough to flow like a river.
• I am solid as a mountain.
• I can be fertile. I can be barren.
• I am living and I am dead.
• What am I?

DIRT!
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The DIRT On Soil!

• Pam K. Roach
• Kennesaw State University
• ECE 8814/01

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Dirt or SoilWhats the Difference?
Dirt is what you get under your finger nails.
Soil is what we stand on and plant in.
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Table of Contents

• What is soil?
• Major soil types
• Layers of soil
• How do soils differ?
• Why is soil important?
• How soil is harmed?
• How can people conserve soil?
• Whats your soil IQ? game (hyperlink)
• Glossary

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Georgia Performance Standards
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What is Soil?

• Soil is a complex, living system, composed of
  living and non-living materials, comprising a
  very thin layer on Earth.

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Living and non-living components
interact, change, and combine over thousands of
years to create soil.
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Soil is the loose material on the upper layer of
the Earth. Soil is formed from
air
water
Rocks and minerals
humus
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Major Soil Types

• Clay has small grains and holds
• water easily
• Sand has large grains and large air
  spaces between the grains allowing water
• to leave quickly
• Loam has large and small grains, lots of
  humus, holds enough water for plants but
  also drains well

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Soil takes a long time to form

• It takes about 500 to 1,000 years to make just
  2.5 centimeters
• (1 inch) of soil.
• Deep soil takes thousands of years to form.

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Soil Forms in Layers

• Topsoil is made up of the smallest grains and the
  most humusit is the richest layer of soil.
• Subsoil has larger grains and less humus than
  topsoil.
• Bedrock is the solid rock under soil. It is made
  of different minerals in different places.

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How Do Soils Differ?

• By their color soil can be black, brown, gray,
  red, yellow or white
• By their grain size some soil has large grains
  and feel gritty, others have small grains
• and feel smooth and powdery
• By the minerals they contain
• By the amount of water they hold

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Why is Soil Important?

• Soil is important to all living things
• It contains the minerals all living things need,
  its part of the circle of life.

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Soil is Important to Plants and Animals

• Soil provides a home to many animals.
• Soil provides the minerals that plants need to
  grow.
• Soil provides the foods we need to eat!

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Dig Deep! Scoop up some soil, what might you see?
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Soil Helps Provide Plants With

• Support
• Nutrients
• Water
• Air

SOIL
SOIL

• All of these are necessary for a plants life.

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What Makes up our Topsoil?
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How Soil is Harmed

• By cutting down too many trees
• Planting the same crop for many years on the same
  land (over-cropping)

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How Can We Conserve our Soil?

• Soil is a natural resource that we cannot live
  without!
• Farmers use various methods to conserve the soil
  and use it wisely
• Strip cropping
• Contour plowing
• No-till farming

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Check out this websites to see if you know the
dirt on soil!

• http//www.biodiversity911.org/FunandGames/funandg
  ames.html
• Play the Whats Your Soil IQ? Game, Good Luck!

Click on this website to see how scientists use
new techniques to study the soil to learn more
about earthquakes.ZOWIE!!!! (right click on the
sight and open up the hyperlink)
http//www.harcourtschool.com/articles/video_updat
es/010/010_160_80.html
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Glossary

• bedrock layer of solid rock under soil
• clay soil that has small grains and hold water
  easily
• conservation saving resources by using them
  carefully
• humus material made up of decayed parts of
  once-living
• things
• loam rich soil with a lot of humus
• resource material found in nature that
  living things use
• topsoil richest layer of soil
• strip cropping planting strips of thick grass
  or clover
• between strips of crops
• contour plowing planting rows of crops around
  the sides hills instead of up
  and down