Soil And Land Managment Essays - Environmental Soil Science, Soil

Soil And Land Managment Soil and Land Management The soil triangle is graph that helps the person determine the type of soil they are testing. This type of graph being a triangle has three sides. The first side, or right side is the percent of silt found in the soil sample. The second side, or the bottom is the percent of sand found in the soil sample. The third side, or the right side is the percent of clay found in the soil sample. You read the graph from right to left being silt, sand, to clay. There are twelve different classes of soil. The classes are sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, loam, silt loam, silt, sandy clay loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, sandy clay, silty clay, and clay. The particle size analysis we did I thought was very confusing, and unnecessary. The view of the soil underneath the microscope wasn't very much different from the view without it, or at least I couldn't tell much difference. The two millimeter mark on the paper was also very confusing. I had no idea of what I was doing during the particle size analysis. The mechanical soil analysis was much more to my liking. I understood the whole process and loved the project we did with it. From the begging when we went outside to collect the soil samples to when we were finished waiting the 24 hours for the water and soil particles to settle. After we mixed the right amount of dirt and water into the sample tube we had made two recordings of the percent of sand, silt, and clay. After that we took the readings over to the soil triangle to determine the type of soil that we had collected. The way soil is formed is not all that complicated. First soil begins as a rock and then is broken dependent upon the weathering factors. Soil types are based upon the type of rock from which they are made. Rock particles are further broken into various smaller sizes of rocks and minerals, then small plants such as lichens and mosses begin to grow on the rock surfaces. Dead plant materials or organic matter are mixed with rock fragments, and as more organic matter is formed, larger plant forms such as ferns, grasses, and shrubs take root. After that process bacteria and fungi break down the organic matter into simpler nutrients that are released into the soil, further aiding plant growth. The downside to this is that it is a very slow process. Surprisingly there are only three types of rocks. The first type is igneous which is a rock that is formed by hardening of molted volcanic materials. The second type of rock is metamorphic which is a rock that is formed as a result of changes in other rocks under heat and pressure. The third type of rock is sedimentary which is a rock that is formed by a consolidation particles laid down over the years. There are three ways soils are deposited. Glacial soils are deposited by glaciers for example rich farmland soils of the Corn Belt. Loess soils are deposited by wind for example rich Paloose soils of the Pacific Northwest. Alluvial soils are deposited by moving fresh water for example Delta regions at the mouth of rivers. The functions of organic matter are much better than the man made fertilizers, and organic matter. The compost are class made ?other wise known as Sheedy? has proven to grow plants much faster than scientific organic mulch. Sheedy has many more of the major nutrients in it than that other stuff. That other stuff has more minor nutrients in it. There are three major nutrients that some plants need they are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. There are also ten minor nutrients that some plants need. These nutrients are zinc, manganese, boron, copper, iron, molybdenum, calcium, sulfur, chlorine, and magnesium. There are two types of erosion and they are wind and water. There are many causes of erosion for example moving water, topography including slopes of the land, lack of vegetation, dry climate conditions, wind, and human activities such as construction, mining, agriculture, recreation that distributes or removes the vegetation. The effects of erosion on our land is that it reduces fertility of the land, it increases sediment in water bodies, it increases water filtration expenses, it destroys spawning beds of game fish, it reduces fish food supply, it fills pools where fish live, and it increases the damage caused by floods. Controlling erosion on the farm and in the urban countries wouldn't be very hard.