Unit 7 Day 2

Soil Formation
Objective  Many such as
fungi,
1 Explain the process of soil formation to include key bacteria, and insects begin to live in these broken pieces
terminology: soil horizon, soil profiles, humus and and add nutrients through life processes.
leaching.
Enduring Understandings
 We
athering, erosion, and are
interrelated processes that form a cycle of forces that
wear down and build up the Earth’s surface.
 S
oil is formed from the of  is the decaying organic
rocks and organic activity. matter that mixes with the rock particles to make soil
Soil Formation
 Soil is an important . It is
essential to life on Earth. Without soil we would not
have land based plants and numerous other vital
organisms
Development of Soil
 Soil is the loose organic covering of
and
overlying the bedrock of Earth’s surface
Soil Types
 The composition of the parent bedrock determines
the type of soil formed as well as the length of time it
takes to form. The process generally takes a very long
time

 It can take hundreds of years for only of

soil to form

 Soil does not necessarily remain in the same place.

 Soil is the result of and . . The agents of and can move
weathering and biological soil and the materials that make it from place to place
activity over very long periods of time
 The soil forming process begins with the  Residual soil is soil that is located above its parent
weathering of solid bedrock breaking it into material

 soil is soil that has

been moved away from its parent bedrock to a new
location

 The soil in is mostly transported

soils 9
 Soil Profiles  Horizon O
 An important feature for any area of land is it’s .
 Horizon B forms under the A layer and contains
. This can be found by
digging a hole in the ground to expose the layers that and holds many of the .
make up the local soil that have been washed down
from above

 is the process of
minerals washing out of the topsoil into the lower
layers

 The soil horizons form in the order from

to make up the soil profile.
 Soil Profile is the of
soil layers  Not all horizons are present in a given soil!

Soil Horizon
 Soil Horizon is or
zone within a soil profile

 In terms of soil texture, soil type usually refers

to the different sizes of mineral particles in a
particular sample. Soil is made up in part of
finely ground rock particles, grouped according
to size as sand, silt and clay. Each size plays a
significantly different role.

1. The size of the three particles that make up soil

are broken down by size
2. Gravel is the largest of soil particles
3. Sand is the next largest of soil particles
4. Silt is the middle size of soil particles
5. Clay the smallest of the soil particles

 Horizon C is the layer just above the .

and is the least developed soil.

 Horizon A is the top layer and is the most developed

soil and contains the most
materials
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