CheMUDstry

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Collecting soil samples

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You might think that sampling soil is just a case of digging up a bit of soil, but there
is much more to it than that.
Soil sampling is vital to the success of any soil geochemistry project and must be
done correctly.

Instructions
1. The first thing to do is to find some soil. It is
easiest to use an area of bare soil, such as a
vegetable patch or a flower border in a garden.
Equipment
If you can’t find bare soil, use your trowel
or spade to remove some grass and a few • A trowel or spade
centimetres of soil. • A strong plastic
bag
2. When you have decided where to take your soil • A field notebook
and pen
sample, you need to label your bag. To label
• A permanent
the bag you need to write your name, the date marker
and where you are. Where you are, could be
your house number and street name or a short
description (‘by the trees in the park’ or ‘the
grass verge by the school’).

3. Dig up some soil and put a few big trowelfuls into your plastic bag.

When we collect samples or information outside it is called fieldwork. A

scientist might say ‘I’m in the field’, even if they’re not in a field, but up a
mountain or standing in a stream!
Someone who collects soil samples (like you are doing) is called a field
geochemist.
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1. In your notebook, write down all the information that you labelled the bag
with, plus extra information about your sample or where you took it from.
Reversed logo This extra information could be:
• the type of place you took the
soil from (vegetable garden; TOP TIP
flower bed; park; grass
verge) — this is known as land Writing down information like
use this is an important part of a
• what natural the environment scientific study. We call this
was (are there houses nearby; information field observations.
was your sample taken from If the answer to any of these
near a road; had other things observations is ‘there isn’t any’,
been added to the soil — like it’s really important to say so. It
fertiliser in a veg patch?) shows other scientists that you
• any local knowledge that you have looked for something, but
or a grown-up knows; for there wasn’t anything there, rather
example, did there used to be than you forgot to look for it.
factories in this area? This is called a null observation.
• how wet was the soil?
• what the weather has been
like recently?
• when did it last rain?
• is there any plant life in the soil, or any bugs?
• have you seen anything else in your sample besides soil (for example stones
or bits of pottery)?
• anything else you have noticed?

2. Transfer your field observations from your notebook here:

• Land use .......................................................................................................

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• Environment ..................................................................................................
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• Local knowledge ...........................................................................................

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• Soil wetness ..................................................................................................

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• Recent weather .............................................................................................

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• Plant life ........................................................................................................

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• Bugs ..............................................................................................................
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• Anything else in the soil? ..............................................................................

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• Anything else you’ve noticed? ......................................................................

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Teacher's notes
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Depending on the situation of your class, you can either ask the students to bring in
some soil from home, a relative’s house, or somewhere near to them; or collect the
samples together as a class, for example on a walk around the local area. For the
most interesting results as you work through this pack, it is advisable to collect a
number of different soils in the hope you get a good variety.
If you are asking your class to bring in a sample of soil, you can photocopy the
instructions to send home. As long as the soils are labelled, they can be kept until
you have chance to allow all students the opportunity to collect some soil.