Soils – Fundamental Concepts
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Basic Soil Science W
Basic Soil Science W. Lee Daniels See http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/430/430-350/430-350_pdf.pdf for more information on basic soils! [email protected]; 540-231-7175 http://www.cses.vt.edu/revegetation/ Well weathered A Horizon -- Topsoil (red, clayey) soil from the Piedmont of Virginia. This soil has formed from B Horizon - Subsoil long term weathering of granite into soil like materials. C Horizon (deeper) Native Forest Soil Leaf litter and roots (> 5 T/Ac/year are “bio- processed” to form humus, which is the dark black material seen in this topsoil layer. In the process, nutrients and energy are released to plant uptake and the higher food chain. These are the “natural soil cycles” that we attempt to manage today. Soil Profiles Soil profiles are two-dimensional slices or exposures of soils like we can view from a road cut or a soil pit. Soil profiles reveal soil horizons, which are fundamental genetic layers, weathered into underlying parent materials, in response to leaching and organic matter decomposition. Fig. 1.12 -- Soils develop horizons due to the combined process of (1) organic matter deposition and decomposition and (2) illuviation of clays, oxides and other mobile compounds downward with the wetting front. In moist environments (e.g. Virginia) free salts (Cl and SO4 ) are leached completely out of the profile, but they accumulate in desert soils. Master Horizons O A • O horizon E • A horizon • E horizon B • B horizon • C horizon C • R horizon R Master Horizons • O horizon o predominantly organic matter (litter and humus) • A horizon o organic carbon accumulation, some removal of clay • E horizon o zone of maximum removal (loss of OC, Fe, Mn, Al, clay…) • B horizon o forms below O, A, and E horizons o zone of maximum accumulation (clay, Fe, Al, CaC03, salts…) o most developed part of subsoil (structure, texture, color) o < 50% rock structure or thin bedding from water deposition Master Horizons • C horizon o little or no pedogenic alteration o unconsolidated parent material or soft bedrock o < 50% soil structure • R horizon o hard, continuous bedrock A vs. -
Soil Acidification the Unseen Threat to Soil Health and Productivity
Soil Acidification The unseen threat to soil health and productivity www.ces.vic.gov.au February 2009 Fact Sheet No. 7 This fact sheet is one of a series, developed from material presented in Victoria’s first comprehensive State of the Environment Report. The Report is a major undertaking of the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability and covers a broad range of environmental issues affecting the State. Its purpose is to improve community understanding of Victoria’s environment, and through the use of recommendations, to ensure its protection for present and future generations. The report was released in December 2008 and is available at www.ces.vic.gov.au Key findings Acidification is also linked to erosion, salinity, and loss of soil biodiversity. Bacteria, earthworms and other soil organisms are • The cost of lost productivity to Victoria due to soil generally sensitive to soil pH and tend to decline as soils become acidification is estimated at $470 million per year. more acidic. • Soil acidification is accelerated by some land management practices and the area of acid soil is increasing. Victoria has up to 8.6 million ha of acidic soils including • Naturally acidic soils can’t be distinguished from soils 4–5 million ha of strongly acidic soils, which mostly occur acidified by agriculture. naturally and are indistinguishable from those with accelerated • The use of acidifying fertiliser, to support more intensive acidification. agriculture, is increasing in Victoria. • Only 5.5% of the area requiring treatment with lime to restore Coastal acid sulfate soils are a different category of acid soils and critical soil pH levels is sufficiently treated. -
Advanced Crop and Soil Science. a Blacksburg. Agricultural
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 098 289 CB 002 33$ AUTHOR Miller, Larry E. TITLE What Is Soil? Advanced Crop and Soil Science. A Course of Study. INSTITUTION Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg. Agricultural Education Program.; Virginia State Dept. of Education, Richmond. Agricultural Education Service. PUB DATE 74 NOTE 42p.; For related courses of study, see CE 002 333-337 and CE 003 222 EDRS PRICE MF-$0.75 HC-$1.85 PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS *Agricultural Education; *Agronomy; Behavioral Objectives; Conservation (Environment); Course Content; Course Descriptions; *Curriculum Guides; Ecological Factors; Environmental Education; *Instructional Materials; Lesson Plans; Natural Resources; Post Sc-tondary Education; Secondary Education; *Soil Science IDENTIFIERS Virginia ABSTRACT The course of study represents the first of six modules in advanced crop and soil science and introduces the griculture student to the topic of soil management. Upon completing the two day lesson, the student vill be able to define "soil", list the soil forming agencies, define and use soil terminology, and discuss soil formation and what makes up the soil complex. Information and directions necessary to make soil profiles are included for the instructor's use. The course outline suggests teaching procedures, behavioral objectives, teaching aids and references, problems, a summary, and evaluation. Following the lesson plans, pages are coded for use as handouts and overhead transparencies. A materials source list for the complete soil module is included. (MW) Agdex 506 BEST COPY AVAILABLE LJ US DEPARTMENT OFmrAITM E nufAT ION t WE 1. F ARE MAT IONAI. ItiST ifuf I OF EDuCATiCiN :),t; tnArh, t 1.t PI-1, t+ h 4t t wt 44t F.,.."11 4. -
Dynamics of Carbon 14 in Soils: a Review C
Radioprotection, Suppl. 1, vol. 40 (2005) S465-S470 © EDP Sciences, 2005 DOI: 10.1051/radiopro:2005s1-068 Dynamics of Carbon 14 in soils: A review C. Tamponnet Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety, DEI/SECRE, CADARACHE, BP. 1, 13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance Cedex, France, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract. In terrestrial ecosystems, soil is the main interface between atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. Its interactions with carbon cycle are primordial. Information about carbon 14 dynamics in soils is quite dispersed and an up-to-date status is therefore presented in this paper. Carbon 14 dynamics in soils are governed by physical processes (soil structure, soil aggregation, soil erosion) chemical processes (sequestration by soil components either mineral or organic), and soil biological processes (soil microbes, soil fauna, soil biochemistry). The relative importance of such processes varied remarkably among the various biomes (tropical forest, temperate forest, boreal forest, tropical savannah, temperate pastures, deserts, tundra, marshlands, agro ecosystems) encountered in the terrestrial ecosphere. Moreover, application for a simplified modelling of carbon 14 dynamics in soils is proposed. 1. INTRODUCTION The importance of carbon 14 of anthropic origin in the environment has been quite early a matter of concern for the authorities [1]. When the behaviour of carbon 14 in the environment is to be modelled, it is an absolute necessity to understand the biogeochemical cycles of carbon. One can distinguish indeed, a global cycle of carbon from different local cycles. As far as the biosphere is concerned, pedosphere is considered as a primordial exchange zone. Pedosphere, which will be named from now on as soils, is mainly located at the interface between atmosphere and lithosphere. -
Soil Quality Characteristics As Affected by Continuous Rice Cultivation
agriculture Article Soil Quality Characteristics as Affected by Continuous Rice Cultivation and Changes in Cropping Systems in South China Xiangning Ren 1,2,3, Feixiang Chen 1,2,3, Tao Ma 1,2 and Yueming Hu 1,2,3,4,* 1 College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; [email protected] (X.R.); [email protected] (F.C.); [email protected] (T.M.) 2 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Land Use and Consolidation, Guangzhou 510642, China 3 South China Academy of Natural Resources Science and Technology, Guangzhou 510610, China 4 State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +86-186-8888-2020; Fax: +86-20-8528-3140 Received: 12 August 2020; Accepted: 23 September 2020; Published: 30 September 2020 Abstract: This study was conducted to elucidate how changes in critical soil quality characteristics relate to continuous rice cultivation and changes in cropping systems and fertilization in South China over the time span 1980 to 2017. Soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP) and potassium (AK) were determined for the samples taken in 2017 and compared to results from the paired samples collected in 1980 by grouping all samples into four cropping systems: continuous paddy fields, new paddy fields developed from uplands, continuous uplands, and new uplands developed from paddy soils. The results show a significant increase in soil pH, AP and AK in all cropping systems, which was, however, coupled with low fertilizer use efficiency. -
Lnt. Agrophysics,1993, 7,133-140 MEASUREMENT TIME AND
lnt. Agrophysics,1993, 7,133-140 MEASUREMENT TIME AND SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF FIELD INFIL1RATION M. Kutilek, V. Kuraz, M. Krejca Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Czech Technical University in Prague Thaikurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic A b s t r a c t. Infiltration studies were performed on For the estimation of some soil hydraulic arenic chemozems of quartemality fluvial terrace of Labe functions the inverse solution of inftltration is (Elbe). We studied the applicability of infiltration equations of Philip (2-pararnetric ), and 3-pararnetric, of Brutsaert and applicable as an expedient and fast method. Hy Swartzendruber, using 70 inflitration tests performed on a draulic functions and parameters of inftltration regular grid on a plot covered for 4 years by grass. The best are then used for the quantitative discussion on applicability was found for the 3-pararneter equations, but the dynamics of soil structure. Our studies there is no unique recommendation. The probability density function (PDF) of estimates of soil hydraulic characteristics were, therefore, aimed at the evaluation of the is defonned by errors of estimates due to the approximate field inftltration tests. The main problems were: character of equations used. The log-normal distribution is a 1. Field testing of quasi-analytical and ap well-acceptable approximation for sorptivity S, saturated proximative equations of infiltration. hydraulic conductivity Ks and rates of inflitration. Only for 2. Application of the tested equations to the some estimates of hydraulic functions a weak spatial va riability was found for the distance of 7.5 m. Long time va study on the long time alteration of the soil fabric riability of infiltration and its parameters after ploughing and porous system after ploughing. -
Soil Erosion
Soil erosion Soil erosion in sloping agricultural land in Tunisia. Photolibrary on soil erosion processes. The most serious form of soil degradation is from accelerated erosion. Erosion is the washing or blowing away of surface soil, sometimes down to the bedrock. While some erosion takes place without the influence of man, the soil is lost so slowly that it is usually replaced through natural processes of decay and regeneration so soil loss and creation of new soil are balanced. What keeps soil in a natural state from eroding is vegetation. Undisturbed by man, soil is usually covered by a canopy of shrubs and trees, by dead and decaying leaves or by a thick mat of grass. Whatever the vegetation, it protects the soil when the rain falls or the wind blows. The leaves and branches of trees and the cushion of grass absorb the force of raindrops, and root systems of plants hold the soil together. Even in drought, the roots of native grasses, which extend several metres into the ground, help tie down the soil and keep it from blowing away. With its covering of vegetation stripped away, however, soil is as vulnerable to damage as a tortoise without its shell. Whether the plant cover is disturbed by cultivation, grazing, burning, or bulldozing, once the soil is laid bare to the erosive action of wind and water, the slow rate of natural erosion is greatly accelerated. Losses of soil take place much faster than new soil can be created, and a kind of deficit spending begins with the topsoil. -
Micropedology to Reveal Pedogenetic Processes in Technosols Françoise Watteau, Geoffroy Séré, Hermine Huot, Frédéric Rees, Christophe Schwartz, Jean-Louis Morel
Micropedology to reveal pedogenetic processes in Technosols Françoise Watteau, Geoffroy Séré, Hermine Huot, Frédéric Rees, Christophe Schwartz, Jean-Louis Morel To cite this version: Françoise Watteau, Geoffroy Séré, Hermine Huot, Frédéric Rees, Christophe Schwartz, et al..Mi- cropedology to reveal pedogenetic processes in Technosols. Spanish Journal of Soil Science, Universia, 2018, 8 (2), pp.149-163. 10.3232/SJSS.2018.V8.N2.02. hal-02173903 HAL Id: hal-02173903 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02173903 Submitted on 4 Jul 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Micropedology to reveal pedogenetic processes in Technosols Uso de la micropedología en la descripción de procesos edafogenéticos en Tecnosoles Uso da micropedologia na descrição de processos pedogenéticos em Tecnossolos AUTHORS Received: 30.03.2017 Revised: 13.11.2017 Accepted: 23.01.2018 @ 11 Watteau F. @, 1 ABSTRACT francoise.watteau@ univ-lorraine.fr Technosols are characterized by the presence of mineral and organic parent materials of technogenic origin (e.g. agricultural or urban wastes, industrial by-products, building materials, transported 1, 2 Huot H. natural materials). In view of the continual increase of such man-made soils, there is a true need of understanding their functioning and evolution. -
Soil Management for Horticulture
Soil management for horticulture Contents 3 Introduction 4 Improving management of horticultural soils 4 Importance of good soil structure 4 Impacts of poor soil condition 6 Current condition of horticultural soils 8 How to assess soil structure and condition 11 Strategies to improve and maintain soil structure 11 Prevention is better than cure 12 Improving soils 15 Techniques for improving soil management 15 Measuring and managing soil variability 15 Estimating variation in soil texture/type 16 How can we use soil texture maps? 16 Estimating variation in soil pH and nutrient content 17 Targeted agronomy – variable-rate application of fertiliser and lime 18 Measuring and managing crop variability 18 Measuring variation in the crop canopy 20 How can we use information from canopy sensing? 22 Estimating variation in crop yields Image Credits James Room, Barfoot Farms - page 12 SOYL, Precision Crop Production - page 15 NASA - page 18 Yara - page 18 HMC Ltd - page 22 Introduction This soil management guide is a practical manual for Yield monitors provide information on the harvested growers and agronomists. crop and locate it using GPS coordinates to produce Pages 4–14 of the guide focus on soil assessment and spatial yield maps. Variation in crop yield is a result of management in horticultural cropping systems. the combination of spatially-variable soil, environmental and crop factors. Yield maps can be used to identify the Good soil structure is vital for optimising water and highest and lowest yielding areas of the field to target nutrient-use efficiency and for sustaining profitable field investigations (Page 22). horticultural cropping systems (page 4). -
A Method for Assessing Soil Structure
A method for assessing soil structure Viti-note Summary: Soil structure is one of the major factors Soil structure can be modified and • Equipment affecting winegrape production and improved by inputs of organic matter profitability. Poor soil structure can limit such as mulches, composts or cover • Timing root development, water infiltration crops. These help stabilise aggregate • Method and water availability for crop growth. macro-structure. The application of Good soil structure allows water and gypsum to soil stabilises aggregate • Interpreting results air to move freely into the soil therefore micro-structure and prevents clay avoiding waterlogging and run-off. Plant dispersion. Excessive tillage can break roots are able to explore a larger volume down both the macro- and micro- of soil and thus access more water and structure of aggregates leading to nutrients stored in the soil. hardsetting and crusting of surface soils. The deterioration of soil structure occurs by two processes: Equipment • Slaking of aggregates; There is a simple method to measure soil • Dispersion of clay. slaking and dispersion. You will need: Slaking is defined as the rapid • Shallow, clear, open containers; disintegration by pure water (e.g. rain • Rain water or distilled water; water) of large aggregates (>2-5 mm) of soil into smaller aggregates (most of • A handful of soil from each soil layer which are <0.25 mm). As slaked soil being assessed; dries, the small aggregates settle together • Recording sheet and pen. and create smaller soil pores than for the previous larger aggregates. Slaking occurs because of a lack of strong organic bonds Timing between soil particles and micro-aggregates. -
Soil Science 1
Soil Science 1 Soil Chemistry and Plant Nutrition: Nutrient cycling; nutrient recovery from wastewater; molecular visualization of soil minerals SOIL SCIENCE and molecules; soil acidification. The Department of Soil Science provides undergraduate and graduate Professor William Bleam education in the environmental, agricultural, and natural resource Surface and Colloid Chemistry: Physical chemistry of soil aspects of soils. Areas of emphasis include soil ecology; soil erosion colloids and sorption processes, chemistry of humic substances, management; soil fertility and plant nutrition; soil physical and chemical factors controlling biological availability of contaminants to characterization; biogeochemistry; urban soils; soil carbon; soil health; microorganisms, magnetic resonance and synchrotron studies of soil contaminants; waste management; pedology; and land-use analysis. adsorption and precipitation. Soils are a critical natural resource in environmental protection, food Assistant Professor Zachary Freedman and fiber production, turf and grounds management, rural and urban planning, and waste disposal. All of these facets are integrated into the Soil microbiology, ecology and sustainability: Effects of environmental department's course offerings and research programs. Soil Science change on biogeochemical cycles; community ecology and trophic majors prepare for professional, technical, consulting, and project dynamics; forest soil ecology; soil organic matter dynamics; sustainable positions in environmental sciences, ecology and restoration, crop and agroecosystems; bio-based product crop production on marginal lands. timber production, soil informatics, soil conservation, environmental pollution control, turf and grounds management, and land-use planning. Professor Alfred Hartemink Please contact the department for further information on career Pedology and Digital Soil Mapping: Pedology, soil carbon; digital soil opportunities. mapping; tropical soils; history and philosophy of soil science. -
The Soil Story Curricular Guide
THE SOIL STORY CURRICULUM Rebuilding Healthy Soil for Carbon Cycle Balance Earth’s Systems Photosynthesis Healthy Soil Lead Authors: Whitney Cohen | Education Director, Life Lab Food & Farming Carrie Strohl, PhD | Educational Consultant Taking Action Contributors: Annie Martin | Business Program, Kiss the Ground Arlae Castellanos | Sustainability Tracking Program Manager, Green Schools Alliance Craig Macmillan, PhD | Technical Program Manager, Vinyard Team Didi Pershouse | Director, Learning Resources Don Smith | Storytelling Team, Kiss the Ground Emily Harris, PhD | Research Scientist, BSCS Science Learning Finian Makepeace | Co-Founder, Kiss the Ground Ilana Lowe | 5th Grade Lead Science Teacher, Main Street Elementary Jessica Handy, RDN | Education Program, Kiss the Ground Karen Rodriguez | Former Operations Manager, Kiss the Ground A Middle School Lauren Tucker | Executive Director, Kiss the Ground Curriculum by Leslie Rogers | Director of Education, Atlas Organics Liz Henry | Senior Consultant, Crecer Strategies Markos Major | Director, Climate Action Now Paul Hawken | Author and Environmentalist Designer: Michelle Uyeda | Graphic Designer, Kiss the Ground + Thank you to our sponsors: About 1 THE SOIL STORY CURRICULAR GUIDE The Soil Story Curricular Guide was created through a collaborative partnership between Kiss the Ground and Life Lab. It serves as a supplemental material for teaching middle schoolers Next Generation Science Standards. Kiss the Ground (KTG) is a nonprofit with a mission to inspire participation in the regeneration of the planet, beginning with soil. The organization creates educational curriculum, campaigns, and media to raise awareness and empower individuals to purchase food that supports health soils and a balanced climate. KTG also works with farmers, educators, non government organizations, scientists, students, and policymakers to advocate for regenerative agriculture, raise funds to train farmers, and help brands and businesses to invest in healthy soils.