What is Soil?
Is soil the upper layer or lower layer of the Earth's surface?
Upper layer
What does soil provide for animals and organisms?
Habitat
What type of soil remains wet and cold in the winter, dries out in the summer, does not drain well, and can be more difficult to plant with?
Clay
Helpful substances add what to the soil?
Nutrients needed for healthy plant growth.
Can humans help the soil?
Yes
How many layers of soil are there?
Soils absorb and ______ water
Purify
What type of soil is light, warm, and dry, low in nutrients, and drains water quickly and easily making growing some types of plants difficult?
Sandy
What are helpful substances called?
Fertilizers
What process that starts with C can humans do to help the soil?
Composting
What makes soil healthy?
Healthy soil contains living organisms such as earthworms, fungi and bacteria that help break down organic matter in the soil.
All buildings
What type of soil contains higher amounts of lime in its structure, and does not easily support the growth of plants?
Chalk
True or False: Composting is bad for your soil
False
What should humans avoid spraying in their gardens?
Pesticides and Herbicides.
How many organisms live in the soil?
Billions
True or False: Soils are an important component of engineering materials needed for building foundations, roads and dams.
True
What type of soil is a mixture of sand, silt and clay? When these types of soils are mixed together, they create a fertile, easy to work with, well draining soil. This soil is considered one of the best types of soil to support plant life!
Loam
What do unhelpful substances do to the soil?
Pollute/Contaminate the soil
True or False: Tilling is a very effective practice to improve soil health?
False
Soil is made of what 4 things?
Rocks and minerals, organic materials, air, and water
Soil absorbs what from the atmosphere?
Carbon
What type of soil is very high in organic matter? It holds onto water very well. This type of soil is often created and packaged to use as an optimum soil for planting.
Peaty
Wind, water, and human activities cause what unhelpful process?
Erosion
What human activity causes erosion in home gardens?
Overwatering.