ERT 354

SOIL ENGINEERING
3 Cr lectures + 1 Cr Laboratory

Ir Dr Ayob Katimon
Biosystem Engineering @ UniMAP

ERT 354 Introduction to soil science 1

 Preamble
• Soil is one of the most important engineering
materials. Determination of soil conditions is the
most important first phase of work for every type of
agricultural-biosystem-civil engineering facilities.
Soil properties are determined by both field and
laboratory test methods. In this course, you will
learn several engineering properties soil (static and
dynamics). These properties are essential for the
design of foundation and earth structures, off-road
vehicle, agricultural machines, etc.
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 Introduction to the subject
 Part 1: This course introduces the fundamental
concept of engineering properties of soil in
relation to agricultural water management. It
includes the basic principle of water movement
within the soil profile, earth embankment and
shallow foundation.
 Part 2: It also introduces the fundamental
theories involve in various methods of soil
dynamics in relation to agricultural machine

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 Week 1: Intro to Soil Science
• Upon completion of this topic, student would
be able to:
– A brief definition of soil
– appraise the important of soil in agricultural and
non-agricultural production
– Obtain general soil resources available in the
world & nation
– Understand some basic soil terminology used

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 The soil is the nation
• Soil is something you can explore with your
senses, see it, feel it, smell it, taste it
• Without soil, we
– Wouldn’t have plant/crops/agriculture
• Without plants/crops, we
– Wouldn’t have people
• Without people, we
– Wouldn’t have the nation/country

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 Reasons why studying soil
• Soils influences most of your daily life
• Built house on soil
• Steps/walks on soil
• Growing crops on soil
• Burry in soil
• Made of soil
• Fighting/war for more soil

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Eventually…….

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 The important of soil
• Medium of plant growth
– The unconsolidated mineral matter on the
immediate surface of the earth that serves as
natural medium for the growth of land plants

Physical support Nutrient to plant

To plant

Water to plant O2 to root

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 Soil is a natural body

• The unconsolidated material on surface of the earth

that has been subjected to and influenced by genetic
and environmental factor of climate and organism
acting upon parent materials
• 5 basic soil forming factors:
– Climate
– Organism
– Relief (topography)
– Parent materials
– Time factor

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 Soil is a natural resources
• Soils are the skin of the earth
• Soils (pedosphere) links the other spheres of earth’s
environment
• Soil is an important construction materials for human
and animal habitat

Atmosphere
Biosphere

Pedoshere Hydrosphere

Lithosphere

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 Conclusions about Soil
• Whether our interest is plant production, environmental
protection, land-use planning, civil engineering or water
resource engineering, you need to be knowledgeable in “the
affair of the soil”
• That the reason why we have subjects such as:
– Soil science (general)
– Soil mechanics (civil & Biosys Eng)
– Soil physics (Civil, Bio, Agric)
– Soil chemistry (Agric, Bio)
– Soil conservation (Agric, Bio)
– Soil dynamics (Civil, mech, Biosys)
• Soil & Water are co-exist and always inter-related

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 Verses in Al-Quran about Soil
• “And the earth He has established for living
creatures.” (Quran 55:10)
• “And among His signs is that He has created
you from dust; then behold, you are humans
scattered widely.” (Quran 30:20)
• “And God has made you grow, as a plant from
the earth; then to it He returns you, and He
will bring you forth a new...” (Quran 71:17-18)

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 What is soil?
• Soils is a mixture of solids, liquids and gases
• Solid consists of minerals and organic matters
OM
(5%)
Liquid
(15-100%)

Mineral
(45%)
Gasses/Air
(0-85%)

Solid phase Pore phase

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 What is soil
• Soils is colorful
• As with people, soils is colorful; red, brown,
black, white, grey, motted, olive, green, blue,
purple
Munsell Soil Color Chart

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 Soil is structured
• Soil particles are formed into idealized soil structural units called Ped
(aggregates) with various shape; granular, blocky, prismatic, platy
• The arrangement of the aggregates plays a significant role in water, air
and plant root movement through soil

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 Soil is layered & 3-D
• Soil profiles show that soils can be layered like a cake
• Soil is a 3-D (Pedon).
• a "Pedon" as a 3-D structure (minimum 1 m2 surface
up to 10 m2) that contain all the properties of the
studied soil.

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 Soil is highly variable (Dynamics)
• Soils may be similar but are never identical,
depending on landscape, parent materials,
climate, vegetation, etc.

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Soil at Swan River, Perth, AU

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Citrus Farm, AU

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 Assignment # 0
• Pick a photograph about soil found in your
hometown or kampung and send it to
ayob57@gmail.com
• Provide your name and the exact location of
the site (eg. Kg Kuala Gula, Bagan Serai, Perak)

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