Wetlands :: essays research papers

Soil and land managment Soil and Land Management The soil triangle is graph that helps the person determine the type of soil they are testing. This type of graph being a triangle has three sides. The first side, or right side is the percent of silt found in the soil sample. The second side, or the bottom is the percent of sand found in the soil sample. The third side, or the right side is the percent of clay found in the soil sample. You read the graph from right to left being silt, sand, to clay. There are twelve different classes of soil. The classes are sand, loamy sand, sandy loam, loam, silt loam, silt, sandy clay loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, sandy clay, silty clay, and clay. The particle size analysis we did I thought was very confusing, and unnecessary. The view of the soil underneath the microscope wasn’t very much different from the view without it, or at least I couldn’t tell much difference. The two millimeter mark on the paper was also very confusing. I had no idea of what I was doing during the particle size analysis. The mechanical soil analysis was much more to my liking. I understood the whole process and loved the project we did with it. From the begging when we went outside to collect the soil samples to when we were finished waiting the 24 hours for the water and soil particles to settle. After we mixed the right amount of dirt and water into the sample tube we had made two recordings of the percent of sand, silt, and clay. After that we took the readings over to the soil triangle to determine the type of soil that we had collected. The way soil is formed is not all that complicated. First soil begins as a rock and then is broken dependent upon the weathering factors. Soil types are based upon the type of rock from which they are made. Rock particles are further broken into various smaller sizes of rocks and minerals, then small plants such as lichens and mosses begin to grow on the rock surfaces. Dead plant materials or organic matter are mixed with rock fragments, and as more organic matter is formed, larger plant forms such as ferns, grasses, and shrubs take root. After that process bacteria and fungi break down the organic matter into simpler nutrients that are released into the soil, further aiding plant growth. The downside to this is that