Soil Systems

Chapter 11
Soil Systems

Fertile soil dried and cracked due to a lack of rain, Morocco
Courtesy FAO

Soil is crucial to the functioning of the Earth system. Soil is the foundation upon which vegetation grows and home to a diverse community of organisms. The global mosaic of world soils is a reflection of the geographic variation of climate, vegetation, and geological processes. Soil is a resource easily degraded or destroyed by misuse. Once damaged, it take hundreds of years to regenerate and become productive again.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the chapter you should be able to:

• Create and label a diagram of horizon development process.
• Explain how soil color relates to soil properties.
• Define soil texture, structure and bulk density, and explain their importance to soil development.
• Use the soil texture triangle to determine soil texture class.
• Explain basic soil chemistry and relate it to soil fertility.
• Construct, label, and describe the horizons in a typical soil profile.
• Describe each of the soil development factors and how they influence properties of soils.
• Describe the soil forming (pedogenic) processes and their effects on soil properties.
• Describe the major soil orders and explain their general distribution.

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