SLM 507 SOIL MORPHOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION (3 UNITS) Course Team: Dr. Obasi, Sunday Nathaniel (Course Writer) Department of Crop and Soil Sciences – NOUN Prof. Grace Jokthan (Programme Leader) – NOUN NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA National Open University of Nigeria Plot 91, Cadastral Zone, University Village Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway Jabi, Abuja Lagos Office 14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island Lagos e-mail:
[email protected] URL: www.nou.edu.ng 1 Published by: National Open University of Nigeria CONTENTS PAGE Introduction ……………………………………………………. iv What You Will Learn In This Course …………………………. iv Course Aims …………………………………………………… v Course Objectives ……………………………………………… v Working through this Course …………………………………... v Course Materials ……………………………………………….. vi Study Units ……………………………………………………… vi Assessment ……………………………………………………… vii Tutor-Marked Assignment ……………………………………… vii Final Examination and Grading ………………………………… viii Course Marking Scheme ………………………………………... viii Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials …………………………………viii Summary ………………………………………………………… ix 2 INTRODUCTION Soil is of interest to man because virtually all activities on the earth take place on the soil, ranging from man’s existence, his movement and sources of livelihood. Soil impacts the quality and quantity of our food, and serves as foundation of our structures, as well as interacts with the hydrosphere and atmosphere. When the concepts of soil are being studied in the field of soil science, we look at soil from two perspectives; Soil and it relationship to plants and Soil as a natural body. An understanding of soil properties and processes of formation is therefore critical to the evaluation of the criteria to be adopted for the soil management. The key contents of the course are as follow; the concepts of soil, its full definitions, the processes and factors of soil formations, the field study of soil which has to do with soil morphological properties.