oring my soil?

etween the soil component and the color that it adds to soils:
Student Handout
e minerals Black
de minerals The Color of Soil
minerals Student Handout
Red
Munsell Soil Color
Dark Brown
en What’s coloring my soil?
Color of Soil Soil scientist use a Gray
Draw a line between
ords to has three qualitiesWhite
matter Order System
Iron oxide minerals
Munsell Color Chart to describe soil colors. The Munsell Color
is athe soil component and
three-dimensional the color
model thaton
based it adds to soils: that each color
the premise
or attributes: hue, value and chroma. Munsell established
Black
plore numerical scales with visually uniform steps for each of these attributes.
g my soil? Iron sulfide minerals
oil Color Red
een the soil component
Hue (H)and theactual
is the color that it adds
“color” to follows
that soils: a natural order of red
Calcium minerals Dark
(P); Brown
t use a Munsell(R),
inerals Color Chart (Y),
yellow to describe soil colors.
green (G), blue (B)The Munsell
and purple colors use
designated
e Low oxygen
principle hues. Black
Between each were intermediate hues yellow-
minerals Gray
red
Organic
(YR), Red
green-yellow (GY), blue-green (BG), purple-blue
ma (PB) andmatter red-purple (RP). Arranged in anWhite equally divided
erals Hue iscircle,the color: red, yellow,
these colorsDark green
formBrown etc. On the chart,
the Munsell Hue Circle.hue
-drained
is listed as red (R) or yellow-red (YR) or yellow (Y)
ly-drained Munsell
Value (V)Soil Gray
Color
indicates the lightness of a color. The scale of value
ter ranges from 0 White for pure black to 10 for pure white. Black, white and the grays
Soil scientist use a Munsell Color Chart to describe soil colors. The Munsell colors use
between them are called “neutral colors.” They have no hue. Colors that have a
Value
three is the lightness and darkness of the color. It ranges from
parts:
hue are called “chromatic colors.” The value scale applies to chromatic as well as
olor 0neutral
(black) to 10 (white).
colors.
Hue is the color: red, yellow, green etc. On the chart, hue
Chart1 2 3is listed4 as5red 6
(R) or7yellow-red
8 use 9(YR) or yellow (Y)
e a Munsell Color 0 to describe soil colors. The Munsell colors

d you Chroma (C) is the degree

Hue is the color: red, yellow, green
of
etc. is
Chroma
value. Colors of low chroma
departure
Onthe
of a color from the neutral color of the same
thesaturation
chart, hueof the
4 6
is listed as8
red (R)10
orare 12
yellow-red (YR) Value
or isare
yellow the
(Y)
sometimes
lightness and called
darkness“weak,” whileItthose
of the color. rangesof high
from
color. Brighter colors have “strong” or “vivid.” The chroma scale
ow? chroma said to be “highly saturated,”
0 (black) to 10 (white).
higher numbers.
starts at zero, for neutral colors, but there is no arbitrary end to the scale. As new
the ocean,
sands Value
pigments
is
made the
have
lightness
for manyand
become
huesdarkness of
1
available,
0 the
and values.
2 It 3
color. ranges
The chroma
4scale
from
5for normal
6 7 reflecting
8 9 materials
Munsell color chips of higher chroma have been
t together! extends beyond 20 in some cases. Fluorescent materials may have chromas as
time form, 0 (black)
owritten
5YR 6 / 8
to 10 (white).
high as 30.
a minerallike this:
Chroma is the saturation of the
glauconite. 0 12 2 4 3 64 58 6107 12 8 9 color. Brighter colors have
Hue Value Chroma higher numbers.
is! Chroma is the saturation of the
6 8 or10red?
more yellowNow put 12 it together!
color. Brighter colors have
____________________________
higher numbers.
Soil color is written like this:
5YR 6 / 8
e chroma of 5YR
Soil2/4?
color____________________________
is written like this:
gether!
5YR 6 / 8 Hue Value Chroma
e of these is darker: 5YR 2/4 or 5YR 8/4? _________________
ten like this: Answer this!
Credits: Jennifer DeBruyn
Is aHue
5R 6/6 Value
more yellow or red? ____________________________
Chroma
The 4-H Name & Emblem is protected under 18 USC 707.

What is the chroma of 5YR 2/4? ____________________________

re yellow or red?
Which____________________________
one of these is darker: 5YR 2/4 or 5YR 8/4? _________________
roma of 5YR 2/4? ____________________________
Credits: Jennifer DeBruyn
The 4-H Name & Emblem is protected under 18 USC 707.
these is darker: 5YR 2/4 or 5YR 8/4? _________________

Credits: Jennifer DeBruyn

Example Munsell Color Chart

Interpreting Soil Color

Color can be used as a clue to mineral content of a soil. Iron minerals, by far,
provide the most and the greatest variety of pigments in earth and soil (see the
following table).
 Mohs Hardness Scale

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale that characterizes
the scratch resistance of different minerals through the ability of a harder material
to scratch a softer material. It was created by the German geologist and
mineralogist Friedrich Mohs in 1812 and is one of several material science
definitions of hardness, some of which are more quantitative.

The mineral hardness scale of Mohs is

based on the ability of one natural mineral
sample to visibly scratch another mineral.
All different minerals are the samples of
matter used by Mohs. Minerals are
naturally found pure substances. Rocks
consist of one or more minerals.
Diamonds are at the top of the scale as
the hardest known naturally occurring
substance when designing the scale. A
material’s hardness is measured against
the scale by finding the hardest material
that can scratch the given material and/or
the softest material that can scratch the
given material.
“Scratching” a material for Mohs scale
purposes means creating visible to the
naked eye non – elastic dislocations.
Materials lower on the Mohs scale can
often create microscopic, non – elastic
dislocations on materials with a higher
number of Mohs. While these microscopic dislocations are permanent and
sometimes detrimental to the structural integrity of the harder material, for
determining a Mohs scale number, they are not considered “scratches.”

Usage:

Despite its simplicity and lack of precision, the Mohs scale is highly relevant for
field geologists, who use the scale to roughly identify minerals using scratch kits.
The Mohs scale hardness of minerals can be commonly found in reference sheets.
Reference materials may be expected to have a uniform Mohs hardness.