Soil Characteristics

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Soil Characteristics

• Natural Resources II
• Mr. Cole

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Soil Characteristics

• Terms we will discuss
• Soil
• Organic Matter
• Parent Material
• Loess Deposit
• Alluvial Deposit

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Soil Characteristics

• Terms we will discuss (continued)
• Marine Deposit
• Weathering
• Original Tissue
• Humus
• Soil Horizons

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Soil Characteristics

• Soil
• Layer of natural materials that is capable of
  supporting plant life
• Made up of
• Inorganic and organic materials
• Water
• Air

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Soil Characteristics

• Organic Matter
• Made up of both dead plant and animal materials.
• Amount varies from one soils type to another.

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Soil Characteristics

• Why is organic matter important?
• It helps to serve as a cementing agent to keep
  the soil in place.
• It returns plant nutrients to the soil.
• It helps store soil moisture.
• It makes soil more tillable.
• It provides food for soil microorganisms.

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Soil Characteristics

• Original Tissue
• Portion of organic matter that remains
  recognizable.
• Examples Twigs, leafs.

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Soil Characteristics

• Humus
• The organic matter that is decomposed to the
  point where is it unrecognizable.

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Soil Characteristics

• Parent Material
• Materials that underlie the soils and from which
  the soil was formed.
• Five Categories
• Minerals and rocks
• Glacial Deposits
• Loess Deposits
• Alluvial and Marine deposits

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Soil Characteristics

• Loess Deposit
• Wind blown materials

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Soil Characteristics

• Alluvial Deposit
• Deposits left by moving freshwater

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Soil Characteristics

• Marine Deposit
• Soils with sediments left by receding ocean like
  water.

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Soil Characteristics

• Weathering
• The process of breaking down rocks and minerals
  through the actions of weather, such as
  freezing/thawing or rain.

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Soil Characteristics

• Soil Horizons
• Classified by using the letters O, A, B, C to
  signify the master horizons

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Soil Characteristics

• Soil Horizons (continued)
• O- Organic Horizon
• Usually on surface
• Contains leaf litter and organic material
• Color is dark due to the decomposition occurring
  there.

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Soil Characteristics

• Soil Horizons (Continued)
• A- Topsoil
• Various amounts of organic matter
• Most productive horizon

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Soil Characteristics

• Soil Horizons (Continued)
• B- Subsoil
• Light colored
• More dense

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Soil Characteristics

• Soil Horizons (Continued)
• C- Substratum
• Transition area between soil and parent material.

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Soil Characteristics

• Soil Horizons (Continued)
• E-
• Subsurface horizons that have significant loss
  of minerals
• R- Rock
• Hard bedrock (not soil)