Soil Profiles
Soil Types
Key Terms from Labs
Random 1
Soil Triangle
100

Surface or subsurface soils which presumably are fertile soils, rich in organic matter humus debris. 

What is Top Soil?

100

Unweathered hard rock that lies directly beneath the soil layers. 

What is bedrock?

100

The mineral and organic surface of the earth capable of supporting upland plants. It has been (and is being) formed by the active factors of climate and biosphere exerting their influence on passive parent material and topography over neutral time. 

What is soil?

100

The act or process of separating a solid from a liquid. 

What is filtration?


100

The shape in which soil peds are formed

What is structure type?

200

A layer of soil, approximately parallel to the surface, having distinct characteristics produced by soil-forming processes. 

What is Horizon?

200

The relative portions of sand, silt, and clay particles in a mass of soil. 

What is soil texturing?

200

A soil separate in the mechanical analysis of soil. 

What is soil particle?

200

A unit of soil structure such as an aggregate, crumb, prism, block, or granule, formed by natural processes (in contrast with a clod, which is formed artificially by compression of a wet clay soil). 

What is a Ped?

200

Soil sample forms a ball with a 3cm ribbon and feels very smooth.

What is Silty Clay Loam?

300

Matter found in, or produced by, living animals and plants, which contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and often nitrogen and sulfur. 

What is Organic Matter?

300

The first change with depth in texture or structure in a soil profile. 

What is subsoil?

300

The ability of a soil to hold water in the root zone. 

What is water holding capacity?

300

A substance in soil, such as organic matter, clay, carbonates or phosphates, which resist changes of pH of soil. 

What is a buffer?

300

Soil Forms a ball with no ribbon

What is Loamy Sand?

400

The horizon of weathered rock from which sediments were derived to form later rocks 

What is Parent Material?

400

The arrangement of primary soil particles into compound particles or aggregates that are separated from adjoining aggregates. 

What is soil structure?

400

The capacity of soil or rock for transmitting a fluid. Degree of permeability depends upon the size and shape of the pores, the size, and shape of their interconnections, and the extent of the latter. 

What is Permeabiltity?

400

The ability of a soil to resist a change in its hydrogen-ion concentration. 

What is the buffering capacity of a soil?

400

Soil forms a ball with a 6 cm ribbon and feels very gritty

What is Sandy Clay?

500

A vertical section of a soil. The section, or face of an exposure made by a cut, may exhibit with depth a succession of separate layers although these may not be separated by sharp lines of demarcation. 

What is a Soil Profile?

500

Soil that consists of less than 52 percent sand, 28 to 50 percent silt, and 7 to 27 percent clay, resulting in a soil texture ideal for gardening. 

What is a Loam?

500

Refers to the extent of voids or openings in the soil that exist between soil particles and soil peds or clods. These pores hold water and air for absorption by plant roots. About half of soil volume which is in a good physical condition for plant growth is pore space. 

What is porosity?

500

The group of processes whereby earth or rock material is worn away, loosened, or dissolved and removed from any part of the earth’s surface. 

What is erosion?

500

How defined or clearly shaped a soil ped is

What is structure grade?

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