Soil Science Simplified
Ppt 1 - Intro
BHS Envirothon Competition
Team
Soils/Land Use Objectives
This ppt will cover the following objectives:
• U. Recognize soil as an important
resource.
• V. Describe basic soil properties (and
formation factors)
• X. Determine basic soil properties and
limitations, such as mottling and
permeability, by observing a soil pit or soil
profile
Why Study Soil?
• Great Integrator!
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Medium of crop production
Filter water and waste
Producer and absorber of gases
Home to organisms
Medium for plant growth
Waste decomposer
Source material for construction, art, medicine, etc.
Snapshot of geological, climatic, biological, and
human history
– Essential natural resource.
Nature and Function of Soil
• Soil – the unconsolidated cover of the earth,
made up of mineral and organic components,
water and air and capable of supporting plant
growth. Most important function: GROW
PLANTS
• Photosynthesis – plant ability to combine CO2
and H2O from the ground into sugar (C6H12O6).
Light furnishes the energy for this reaction.
Nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus are required for
synthesis of plant proteins too.
• As a medium for plant growth, soil performs four
functions:
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Anchors roots
Supplies water
Provides air
Furnishes minerals for plant nutrition
• The pore space between the solids is taken up by water
and air.
• Air takes up part of the pore space not occupied by
water. As the water increases, the air content
decreases. In respiration (opposite of photosynthesis),
plant roots use oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. So,
soil usually contains less oxygen and more carbon
dioxide than atmospheric air does.
• Millions of microbes live in each ounce of fertile soil.
Without them, soils would become inactive and lose their
ability to support plants.
Physical Properties of Soils
• Soils consist of solid,
liquid, gaseous and
biotic components.
• Sand and silt are
merely broken down
rock frags (consists of
quartz, feldspar, mica,
or other minerals).
Chemically they are
essentially inert
compared with clay and
organic matter, which
are responsible for
most of the chemical
reactions in the soil.
Soil
fraction
Gravel
Sand
Silt
Clay
Diameter
Larger
than 2
mm
0.05 - 2
mm
0.002 –
0.05 mm
Smaller
than
0.002 mm
Descriptio
n
Coarse
Gritty
Floury
Sticky
when wet
• Clay particles are plastic and sticky when wet.
They are highly adsorptive of water, gas, and
dissolved substances. Clays are minute, plateshaped, aluminosilicate crystals consisting of
silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, oxygen,
and hydrogen.
• There are several types of clay. Two of the most
important ones are kaolinite and smectite.
Smectite clays have the ability to swell on
wetting and shrink when dry. Smectite enter
chem rxns more than kaolinitic clays.
• Clay is a negatively charged colloid.
This negative charge is the reason that
positively charged cations surround each
clay particle. The individual cations can
be exchanged for each other.
• If the cations can get close to the surface
of the clay, the neg charge on the clay is
largely neutralized and the clay particles
will cling together or flocculated. Calcium
and magnesium are dominant in this area.
They are small and effective in holding
clay particles together.
Soil Texture
• Texture – relative proportion of the
various grain sizes in a soil.
• To describe soil texture, names, such as
loamy sand, silt loam, clay loam and
silty clay are used.
• The best soils are generally those which
contain 10 to 20% clay, with silt and sand
in approximately equal amounts, and a fair
amount of organic matter.
• The content of
sand, silt, and clay
for the twelve main
soil texture classes
can be found on this
triangle. Ex. Point
A is in the sandy
loam texture class
with 65% sand,
25% silt, and 10%
clay. Not that soils
with relatively small
clay contents (<40)
are in the clay
texture class bc the
properties of clay
readily predominate
over the coarser
fractions.
Soil Texture Triangle
Surface Area
• In comparing clay with sand and silt, it is important
to be aware of the relative amount of surface area
of these particle size groups, bc it is on the surface
that many chemical and physical processes take
place.
• Smaller = more surface area (clay is tiny!)
Kind of
Particle
Sand
Diameter of # of
Particle
Particles in
1 gram
2 mm
90
Silt
0.02 mm
Clay
0.0002 mm 9x1013
Surface
area of 1
gram
11 cm2
90,000,000 1130 cm2
(9x107)
113,000
cm2
Soil Structure
• Structure – arrangement of individual particles in
relation to each other. Soil structure is the arrangement
of particles into small groups, or aggregates.
• Aggregates may be bound together with other
aggregates in larger masses called peds.
• Peds come in different shapes that roughly resembel
sphere, blocks, columns and plates.
• If the individual particles are arranged in small
aggregates with rounded edges, we speak granular
structure. This is very desirable for plant growth bc it
provides both large and small pores.
• Some soils lack structure. Sandy soils the individual
grains act independently of each other. No binding
substances hold the particles together, so the soil has no
peds.
Pore Space
• Large pores are readily drained of water and
filled by air after a heavy rain. They are valuable
as an aeration system.
• Small pores hold water against gravity and pull
water up from a water table by capillary action.
They are necessary for the water supply of
plants.
• Ideal structure includes large and small pores in
proportions that corresponds to the water/air
needs of the crop plants given for that culture or
climate.
Soil Temperature
• Just as important to plant growth as air temp.
The temp of the surface soil fluctuates greatly
both during a 24 hr period and with the seasons.
• Where soil is covered by a dense growth of
plants or a thick layer of mulch, temperature
variations are much less severe and do not
penetrate deeply
• Soil temperature has a direct effect on plant
growth and also influences microbial activity.
• Freezing and thawing of the soil water also
affects soil structure. Slow and occasional
freezing and thawing (like under mulch) is
beneficial for soil structure.
Soil Color
• Color of soils tells us much about some of its other properties.
• The color of a surface soil horizon depends mainly on its organic matter
content – the darker the soil, the more organic matter it contains. This
organic matter imparts favorable properties to the soil, such as better
aggregation and a high water-holding capacity. Also, dark soils absorb
more radiation during the day, and radiate more heat during the night.
• In subsoil horizons, soil color indicates the wetness and aeration
conditions of the soil.
• In general, reddish and brownish subsoils indicate good aeration and
little water logging (you see the iron red)
• Grayish and olive colors indicate much water logging and a chemical
reduction of iron.
• A mottled subsoil, one with a splotchy pattern of brownish and grayish
colors, is indicative of a fluctuating ground water table.
Munsell Color System
• Defined color in terms of Hue, Value and
Chroma.
• Hue was defined as the actual color, red, blue,
green, etc.
• Value was defined as how light or dark a color
is.
• Chroma was defined as how strong or weak a
color is.
• Soil scientists use the Munsell Color book to
determine the color of the soil to help determine
in what type of soil it is along with using texture.