Reading Guide Part Two
Soil links the rock cycle to the biosphere.
1. What is soil?
The Formation of Soil
What five factors determine the properties of soils?
Parent Material 1.How does parent material impact soil quality?
Climate 1.How does climate influence soil formation?
Topography 1. How does climate influence soil formation?
Organisms 1. How does topography influence soil formation?
Time 1.How does time influence soil formation?
Soil Horizons and Properties
1. What are the characteristics of the different soil horizons – O, A, B, C?
2. What is eluviation?
3. Topsoil?
4. Subsoil?
Physical Properties of Soil
1. What are the three types of mineral particles making up soil?
2. How do they differ in size?
3. How can you tell what type of soil you have using the chart in Figure 8.22?
4. What is porosity and how does each type of soil perform in this area?
5. What is the best mixture of an agricultural soil?
6. How does soil act as a filter and what soil type is good for cleaning up contamination spots?
Chemical Properties of Soil
1. What are cations?
2. What type of charge do clay particles carry?
3. What is the CEC and what is it based on?
4. What do calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium do in soils that tend be acidic and high in
aluminum and hydrogen?
5. What is the base saturation?
6. Why are these properties important to plants in soils?
Biological Properties of Soil
1. What three groups of organisms account for most of the life found in soils?
2. How do larger organisms contribute to improving soil conditions?
Soil Degradation and Erosion
1. What is soil degradation?
2. What types of activities contribute to compaction? Mineral loss?
The uneven distribution of mineral resources has social and environmental consequences.
1. What is crustal abundance?
2. What are ores? Metals?
3. What are disseminated deposits?
4. What s a reserve?
Types of Mining
1. What are the two types of mining?
Surface Mining
1. How does strip mining impact the environment?
2. What are mining spoils or tailings?
3. What is open-pit mining?
4. What is mountaintop removal?
5. What is placer mining?
Subsurface Mining
1. What is subsurface mining?
Mining, Safety, and the Environment
1. What environmental problems arise form the different types of mining
Make sure you study Table 8.2
Mining Legislation
1. What is the Mining Law of 1872? General Mining Law?
2. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977?
Working Toward Sustainability – Mine Reclamation and Biodiversity
1. Explain what reclamation attempts to do with mines.
Work the FRQ and the Measuring Your Impact to practice your math essay writing skills. The multiplechoice questions are great examples of what you will see on the APES exam.