SOIL Notes

Weathering
1. PHYSICAL: Mechanical breakdown of rocks and minerals
•Abiotic causes: water, wind, temperature variations
•Biotic causes: plant roots, burrowing animals
Increases surface area, leads to…
2. Chemical
• Releases essential nutrients from rocks
• Important part of phosphorus cycle
Anthropogenic chemical weathering
Fossil fuel combustion 🡪 Sulfur and nitrogen
oxides 🡪 react with water vapor 🡪 sulfuric acid
🡪 acid precipitation (acid rain)
Acid rain effects
1. Limestone, marble
(statues, gravestones)

2. Acidification of soils
and trees
3. Impaired Visibility
4. Human health:
asthma, bronchitis,
emphysema
Soil development
•From below: Physical breakdown of rocks and primary materials
(newly exposed minerals) provide raw material
•From above: Deposition of organic material from dead organisms
and their waste
•Mature soil has more organic material and more nutrients
•BUT very old soils may be nutrient-poor due to plants and water
leaching nutrients
Soil Horizons

Onion
And
Everything
Bagels
Cause
Rigor mortis
O Horizon = “Organic”
• Decomposed organic material
• Sometimes called humus (lower layer)
• Most pronounced in forests
A Horizon = topsoil
•Surface soil/topsoil
•Organic mixed with
mineral material
•Most biological
activity
E Horizon = “Eluviated”
• In some acidic soils
• Metals and nutrients are leached, or eluviated, from above (iron,
aluminum, organic acids)
B Horizon = Subsoil
•Mineral material –
zone of
accumulation of
metals and nutrients
 C Horizon
•Least weathered
•Similar to parent material
 Soil Services 2. Cycling of
nutrients

3. Habitat
1. Plant growth

5. Water storage 4. Engineering

and filtration medium
SOIL FORMATION
AND EROSION
Properties of Soils determined
by…

1. Parent Material
2. Climate
3. Topography
4. Organisms
5. Time
Properties of Soils determined by…
1. Parent Material
•Quartz🡪 Nutrient-poor
(Atlantic coast)
•Calcium carbonate🡪
high calcium, high pH, high
agricultural productivity
 2. Climate
•Too cold: Much undecomposed
organic material
•Humid tropics: Rapid weathering,
leaching of nutrients, decomposition
of organic detritus

Permafrost Amazon
 3. Topography
•Slope and arrangement of landscape
•Amount of erosion, depth of soil
4. Organisms
•Plants: Nutrient removal, excretion of
acids
•Animals: Tunneling and burrowing
(earthworms, gophers, voles)
•All organisms: Cycling of nutrients
(fungi, bacteria)
•Humans
5. Time
Anthropogenic Soil Degradation
•Topsoil plowed and removed,
increases erosion
Compaction of soil by machines,
humans, livestock

•Drying due to
compaction—loss
of ability to retain
water
Less vegetation, erosion increases
(POSITIVE FEEDBACK!)
Agriculture🡪 depletion of soil
nutrients
Pesticides🡪 chemical pollution
Properties of Soil: Physical

1. Size and weight of particles

🡪 Sand/silt/clay
Soil Texture
Chart
Properties of Permeability:
Soil: Physical
Sand > Silt > Clay
Many landfills are lined with clay
Greater risk of groundwater contamination
when dominated by sandy soils (Long Island)
Best agricultural soil: Mixture of
sand/silt/clay (loam)
•Balanced water drainage and
retention
Peninsula Soil:
•Floodplain soil that has nutrient-holding
clays and also the good drainage of silt and
sand
•Fertile loam
 1. CEC (Cation Exchange
Properties of Capacity)
Soil: • Nutrient holding capacity
Chemical • Clay, acidic pH, organic
material
Properties of 2. Base saturation
Soil: Chemical • Proportion of bases to
acids, expressed as
percentage
• Bases = essential for
nutrition (Ca, K, Mg, Na)
• Acids = detrimental (Al, H)
Properties of •Fungi, bacteria, protozoans =
80-90%
Soil: •Rodents, earthworms, snails, slugs
Biological (detritivores)🡪 mixing, breakdown
of material
•Nitrogen-fixing bacteria