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Medium for
plant
growth Source material for
construction,
medicine, art, etc.
Home to organisms
(plants, animals and
others) Filter of water
and wastes
Essential natural resource
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Forming Factors
Biota Parent Material
Topography Climate
What is “Soil?”
Each discipline defines soil in a different way,
depending on how soil affects it.
“In an engineering sense, soil is the relatively loose
agglomerate of mineral and organic materials and
sediments found above the bedrock.”
• R.D. Holtz and W.D. Kovacs (1981)
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Physical Nutrient
Characteristics Characteristics (Soil
Soil Texture, Chemistry)
Consistency, & Chemical bonding
Structure pH
Soil Compaction
Cation Exchange
(Bulk Density) Capacity (CEC)
Soil Moisture
Nutrient Availability
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
frisbee
dime
Silt Clay
(feels floury) (feels sticky)
(< 0.002 mm, USDA)
(0.05 - 0.002 mm, USDA)
Sand (< 0.002 mm, ISSS)
(0.02 - 0.002 mm, ISSS)
(feels gritty)
(2.00 - 0.05 mm, USDA)
(2.00 - 0.02 mm, ISSS)
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Texture Triangle
100 0
Triangle Key:
S = sand or sandy
Si = silt or silty
C C = clay
L = loam or loamy
SC SiC
CL SiCL
SCL
L SiL
SL
0 S LS Si 100
100 0
% Sand
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Effects of Soil Texture:
Soils are more cohesive when they have more fine particles
(Clays).
Soils are more loose when the have more coarse particles
(Sand).
Different combinations of coarse and fine contents produce
different soil textures.
A loam is a mixture of sand, silt and clay: sandy clay loam is
best in landscapes.
Many other inclusions, such as cobbles, boulders.
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Consistency
Describes the general organization of the soil.
Hold a moist sample between the thumb and
forefinger, and gently squeeze it until it falls apart.
The soil is classified by the following categories
• Loose: You have trouble picking out a single sample and the
structure falls apart before you handle it.
• Friable: The sample breaks with a small amount of pressure.
• Firm: The sample breaks when you apply a good amount of
pressure and dents your fingers before it breaks.
• Extremely Firm: The sample can't be crushed with your
fingers (you need a hammer!).
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Consistence
Loose* Friable
Columna
r
Prismati Platy
c
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Structure: without Structure
1.43
Plow Layer
1.90
7 inches
8 inches 1.87 Compacted Zone
9 inches 1.84
10 inches
1.80
Uncompacted
1.60 subsoil
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Basic Soil Components
4
Inches
of 3
Water
Per ft. 2
of Soil
1
Non-
Compacted
Compacted
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Sand Over Clay
Impermeable Layer
H2O H2O
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Clay Over Sand
Perched Water Table
H2O H2O
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Sandwiches
Wet & Dry Layers
H2O H2O
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Salads
H2O Patchy Soil Moisture H2O
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Summary of Water Movement:
Rate depends on:
pore space (structure) and consitence
particle sizes (texture) and particle size distribution.
French Drains
Old-fashioned, but very effective
Numerous variations;
With or without pipes
Covered or exposed
Often connected to the surface with water permeable
material
Essentially a trench filled with aggregates
Always slope to a lower elevation!
Very useful for draining contained planting sites
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Soil Horizons:
Horizon “A” = topsoil Horizon “B” = transition
Specified by texture, OM zone
content, available nutrients and Constitutes much of the
drainage characteristics. exposed soil in areas where
Critical to landscape success. construction has occurred and
Should be removed prior to in some formerly cultivated
construction and stock piled on portions of Ohio
site Horizon “C” = true subsoil
• Incorporate 1/3 into sub-soils after
construction to create smoother Little or no soil development.
transition zone Often contains accumulated
• Sharp transition between topsoil soluble salts, lime, etc. beneath
and subsoil creates perched water
cultivated areas.
tables.
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Characterization and Sampling Options
Soil Chemistry
Chemical bonding
pH
Nutrient Availability
Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
What is “chemistry?”
Elements: the simplest kind of matter. They cannot
be broken down into anything simpler.
Elements can exist alone. Nitrogen (N),
Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Oxygen (O), are
elements and they can be made to exist alone, but in
nature they seldom do.
Elements tend to combine with each other. These
are called “compounds.” When they combine, it’s
called a “chemical reaction.”
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
What is “chemistry?”
Chemistry is the study of the “how” and “why”
elements combine, and break apart, through
chemical reactions.
Soil Chemistry is simply studying how and why
compounds are formed and broken apart in the soil,
and how these chemical reactions affect plants.
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
(+)
-
The Electron =
negative charge
The Nucleus = positive charge
Hydrogen
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
(+)
-
The Nucleus = positive charge
Hydrogen
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
A Water Molecule
H2O
(+)
(+)
Hydrogen
Hydrogen
(+)
Oxygen
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
What happens when an atom has too many
electrons?
It
has a negative charge ( - )
These atoms are called: anions
Sodium: Na
+
When they meet, they combine to become a
molecule, the simplest compound:
NaCl (sodium chloride = salt).
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Common soil cations and anions, their
chemical symbols and ionic forms
Cation Chemical Ionic Form Anion Chemical Ionic Form
Symbol
Hydrogen H H+
Symbol
Chloride Cl Cl-
Potassium K K+
Nitrate N NO3-
Sodium Na Na+
- - - - - - - - - -
-
- -
- Clay Particle -
-- -
--------
Clay particles carry negative charges
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
With Magnets In Soil
CLAY CLAY
Unlikes Attract
+ +
- - NH4+ K+
Ammonium Potasium
What is pH?:
It’s simply a measure of the relative amount
of H+ ions
In the soil, it is driven by the ionization of
water: H2O H+ + OH-
We us pH to measure the acidity or the
alkalinity (basicity) of a solution (a soil
solution)
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Possible pH Ranges Under Natural Soil Conditions
Neutral
Acid Basic
Very Very
Strong Moderate Slight Slight Moderate Strong strong
strong
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Most desirable
Most agricultural soils
Extreme pH range for most mineral soils
apple: 5.0-6.5
spinach: 6.0-7.5
tomato: 5.5-7.5
cranberry:4.2-5.0
cucumber: 5.5-7.0
carrot: 5.5-7.0
white pine: 4.5-6.0
black walnut: 6.0-8.0
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Clay and organic particles have a negative charge
Soil reactions in neutral to high (alkaline) pH
conditions PO4-3
NO3-
Mg+2 H+ Ca+2
- - - - - Ca+2 NO3-
- -
-
- - -K+
Clay Particle -
- -
Al+3 - - - - -- - - K+
H+ Mg+2
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Clay and organic particles have a negative charge
Soil reactions in low (acid) pH conditions
PO4-3
NO3-
H+ H+ Al+3
- - - - - Al+3 NO3-
- -
- -
- -K+
Clay Particle -
- -
Al+3 - - - - -- - - K+
H+ Al+3
SOIL: Make it Work for You!
Physical and Chemical Characteristics of
Soil: what does it all mean to you?
Soil Texture and physical nature of the soil
Water availability:
soil texture
bulk density
Soil Chemistry:
Charged elements / molecules & soil particles
pH and nutrients
Pesticides
Runoff
Chemical degradation
Volatilize (gas vapor)
Leaching and breakdown in soil
Leaching and degradation by microbes
Photo degradation (sun)
Factors influencing a pesticide’s fate