soils are alive
NOOOOOOOOOOOO 🤬
In a contest, should you leave boxes blank on your scorecard?
NO!!!!!!! Always dash any blank boxes.
What soil order is this? Give your best guess.
Entisol - very little horizon development.
What type of epipedon is this?
Depth: 0-34cm
Color: 10YR 2/2
Base saturation: 67%
Mollic epipedon.
Depth: minimum of 25cm
Color: less than value/chroma of 3/3
BS%: ≥ 50%
Where is the national soil judging contest held this year (2025)?
Double points if you can name the county it's in.
Stevens Point, WI.
Portage County
Who did this? Broadly.
Burrowing animals.
The third horizon.
I am an inceptisol. Below my A horizon, I only have Bw horizons. What textures can I not have?
What type of epipedon is this?
Depth: 0-34cm
Color: 10YR 3/4
Base saturation: 67%
Ochric epipedon.
Depth: minimum of 25cm
Color: more than value/chroma of 3/3
BS%: ≥ 50%
What is the singular form of lamellae?
Double points if you can define it.
Lamella.
What feature is found between 140-150cm in this profile?
Lamellae - horizontal lines of clay in the subsurface, carried down by water in a sandy profile
What is the minimum coarse fragment percent that a horizon needs to have in order to get a textural modifier?
Modifier examples: gravelly, cobbly, stony, bouldery, channery, flaggy, very _, extremely _
15%
What soil order is this?
+100 points if you can name 2 notable horizons
Spodosol.
E and Bhs
What is a Bhs horizon?
+100 points if you can identify the soil order these are commonly found in.
A subsurface horizon with illuvial OM accumulation AND illuvial sesquioxides.
Spodosols.
Yes and yes. Practice your polka, pookies.
What bacteria forms nodules on legumes?
Rhizobia.
What is the pit rotation for individual pits at a contest? We're looking for minutes in and out of the pit.
+100 points if you can also list the team pit rotation.
5, 5, 10, 10, 5, 5, 20. Ex: 5 minutes in, 5 minutes out, 10 minutes in, etc.
Team: 5, 5, 5, 5, 10, 10, 10.
My soil has the following horizons:
A, E (10% clay), Bt1 (21% clay), 2Bt2 (24% clay), 2C.
My A horizon is 15cm thick. What soil order do I have?
Alfisol.
Reasoning: I have an argillic subsurface, but my epipedon is not thick enough to meet mollic criteria.
My soil profile has the following horizons.
A, E (10% clay), Bt1 (21% clay), 2Bt2 (24% clay), 2C.
What subsurface features are present?
Argillic horizon, lithologic discontinuity.
Define HTM.
Human transported material.
What process has occurred in this profile?
Hint: this site is in Alaska... permafrost....
Cryoturbation - as the ground freezes and thaws in a cycle, the soil is mixed.
Define texture by gander. Does the UMN Soil Judging Team endorse it?
Texturing a soil horizon only with your eyes (not during a windstorm). If a soil pit is present, you must not enter it. No, we do not condone this.
Draw a diagram showing the difference in vegetation and horizonation between a typical alfisol and a typical spodosol. Depths are not required.
We will not judge harshly 💋
We're looking to see coniferous trees with the spodosol. The spodosol should also have a Bs and/or Bhs horizon. The alfisol should have mixed or broadleaf vegetation and Bt horizons.
Describe what a Cd horizon entails. Include structure and parent material.
Referencing page 16 of the national contest guidebook.
- typically structureless massive, may be very coarse prismatic
- root-limiting layer due to structure
- parent material: till (for this contest, in the real world, this can very)
Hint: there are six.
Summit, shoulder, backslope, footslope, toeslope, and NONE