List and briefly describe the various physical properties used to differentiate soils
What will be an ideal response?
Soil color is an important indicator of composition and chemical make-up of soil. However, it can also be misleading. For instance, dark soils tend to indicate high organic matter. However, not all dark soils have high organic matter.
Soil texture refers to the mixture and proportions of sand, silts, and clays (i.e. the mineral separates that are smaller than 2 mm in size.
Soil structure refers to the size and shape of the aggregates of particles of soil (as compared to the size of soil separates). Peds separate from each other, creating voids, which is important to porosity and permeability.
Soil consistence describes the consistency of soil (cohesion of its particles). Consistence reflects a soil's resistance to breaking and manipulation under varying moisture conditions.
Soil porosity refers to the available air spaces within soil material, typically occupied by water or gases.
Soil moisture is a variable property. Plants operate most efficiently when soils are at field capacity.
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A) water vapor B) silicates C) oxides D) metal dust
"Renewable energy" means that this energy resource can be replaced by nature in only a few hundreds of years.
a. true b. false
One of the main roles of plants in biogeochemical cycles is to
A. harden the soils. B. decrease the amount of time that water remains in contact with rocks and soils. C. reduce the rate of weathering. D. extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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A) following Leopold's land ethic B) preservationists C) conservationists D) relativists E) universalists