By: Patrick Oney, Melissa Moody, Lacey Dickens,

and Jordan Hall

•Soil is an earthly material made up of organic material (once living or still living things) and inorganic material (never living things) such as rocks.

Soil

•Soil is formed by organic material, such as worms or dead animals. It is also formed by inorganic material, such as rocks. The weathering breaks down the rocks over time and the minerals sink into the ground. Then the microbes eat the bacteria and unliving things. After that, the earth worms mix the soil, feed on the leaves, and leave behind castings to fertilize the soil.

• If you want to become a soil scientist you need to know about soil.

• If you want to plant a garden you need to know what type of plants grow in your soil.

A soil profile is a vertical section that reveals all of the soil’s horizons, or layers.

Each layer of the soil profile is formed by:

• Additions- Materials such as leaves, dust, and chemicals may be added to the soil

• Losses- Materials may be lost from the soil as a result of erosion or deep leaching

• Translocations- Materials may be moved in the soil due to upward movement by evaporating water

• Transformations- Materials may be changed in the soil by organic matter decay, chemical reactions, and weathering of minerals

The topsoil layer, the layer right below the ground level, has the most organic material.

A soil scientist is a person who studies soil and is qualified to do this.

The task they perform is to evaluate and interpret soils and soil-related information.

Credits:

Microsoft PowerPoint 2003

Clip Art

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil

www.cnr.berkeley.edu

www.ask.com

Holt Science and Technology Earth Science textbook