EARTH SCIENCE For K12 STEM Students INVENTORY Soil DR. AHMED ABDEL SALAM Prof of Earth Science Scanned with CamScannerSoil 4 armed Aba Salar 1000763778 Soil and Land Use soil Classifyin ways of classifying soil vary as well, ome way to classify sos is by textures @ Texture refers to the distribution ofthe sizes ofthe partic § sos svils area mixture of gravel, sand, sit and lay sizes, as well as organs materials. @ Teature controls many properties of sol @ e-dotemnines how fast water will drain through i, how much water it ean hold, or how much it compacts under heavy loads. oil composed of rough! @ Soil that contains about equal parts of sand, silt, and clay. ‘The soil texture triangle | 100,.0 percent sand @ Itshows how soils are classified and named on the basis ofthe various percentages of grain sizes contained. ® Loam is a permeable soil. @ Water can readily penetrate loam. @ tis excellent for growing plants because it does not drain water too rapidly or slowly and contains organic materials, Scanned with CamScannerib / on yan AR. Slan “Sy Soil For or000 769973 mi © Soil isa tin layer of rock, mineral fag ation @ It covers most of Earth’s land s oe @ Soil is formed by weathering of rocks and 8 and minerals and decaying organie material, hanges in temperature, and sunlight ar 8 Boogie processes are also important in forming soil Some of the chet , . he chemicals produced by chemical weathering are important nutri ® Plants grow in the broken-down rock. They attract animals. ee ® They undergo decomposit i \position by bacteria and other microorg: ® This process adds organic matter to the soil. . @ Itecan take anywhere from a few hundred to several hundred thousand years for «soi (0 form. bedrock type, amount of vegetation, and @ The time needed to form a soil depends on climate, topography. @ Warm, humid climates tend to produce soil the fastest, this is because both chemical and physical weathering processes are very active. contributing soil particles at different rates. ® Different kinds of bedrock weather at different rates, @ Plants help make soil formation possible. © Therefore, the more vegetation, the faster soil tends to develop. @ Typically there is litle or no soil on steep mountain slopes. wt the sediment @® This is because gravity and water transpot produced. @ Valleys usually contain thick soil deposits, as do broad, flat areas. to lower elevations as fast as it is Scanned with CamScannerTeeand snow can act to break down rocks o produce soil Soil Horizons topsoll: humus plus living organisms leaching: removal of nutrients ‘subsoll: accumulation of minerals and organic materials parent materi weathered rock Soll Horizons ® The top layer, called the A horizon, contains more organic matter than the other layers. ® This layer provides nutrients to plants and contains enormous numbers of insects, microbes, and earthworms. @® The next layer down, called the B horizon (or subsoil), is a transition layer between the layers above and below. @ It contains less organi material than the A horizon. @ In the lowest layer, the C horizon, partially broken-up bedrock is easily identified. ® Organic material and organisms are scarce or absent there. @® The thickness of the layers varies greatly from location to location. Scanned with CamScanner® During earthquakes, some water-saturated sand they temporarily behave like a liquid. 'y oF muddy soils undergo liquefaction. That is, ® They therefore cannot support structures. You may have modeled this atthe beach by ® jiggling wet sand, For a short time, it flows like a liquid before becoming firm again, @ This happencdinthe! 989LomaPrietacurthquakein Califor @® Much of the damage during that earthquake was caused by liquefaction, @ Many buildings that were built over old, water-saturated landfill deposits collapsed, @® This happened because shaking, caused the soil below them to liquefy and flow, Scanned with CamScanner