GEO 210 – Module Five Assignment (25 points)

Part I: Soils (8 points) Using your textbook, module resources, and this website, http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/soil/, answer the questions below: Define soil. An infinitely varying mixture of weathered mineral particles, decaying organic matter, living organisms, gases, and liquid solutions Provide a description of each of the following horizons: Ground level –Its where plants grow. a thick cover of plants keeps the soil cool and from dieing Top Soil –Called the organic layer. its where plants grow and animals live on top of the soil Subsoil –This is a mix of mineral particles and some humus near the top. Subsoil is very low in organic matter compared to the topsoil. This is the layer where most of the soil's nutrients are found.

Weathered Parent Material –Thishorizoncan be very deep. There's no organic matter here at all. Bedrock – formed before the soil above it. It will wait here until erosion or an earthquake exposes it to the surface.

True or False? There is no soil on Mars or Venus.
True
What is a general recipe for soil?
Moister, and parts of weathered mineral particles Give a description of the following soil particles: Sand – Sand is a natural granular material consisting of grains of rock, mineral particles, or coral Silt – It is fine sand, clay or even other material carried by running water and then deposited as sediment Clay – a natural earthy material that is plastic when wet Loam – soil medium that is commonly used for gardening, potted plants and even large-scale farming

Under the Field Guide link found at ‘The Dirt on Soil” website, select one soil organism and then describe its vital statistics and natural history.
A night crawlers life span is 3-6 years. They can be as big as 9 to 30 cm long. largest and most common species of earthworm is not native to North America. Night crawlers stowed away with European settlers bringing their favorite plants. Since then they've spread everywhere people have gone

Part II: Weathering, and Karst (12 points)
Weathering is the breakdown and decomposition of earth material, namely rocks. Weathering is an important mechanism to destabilize surface materials for their eventual removal by erosive processes. Weathering of rock-forming minerals can create new products from pre-existing rocks. The physical disintegration of rocks affects soil development and texture. Weathering releases chemical compounds that become available for biological processes. The weathering of carbonate minerals releases carbon to the atmosphere which impacts atmospheric chemistry and temperature. And the list goes on. Weathering, needless to say, is an important environmental process that bridges all elements of our physical environment and sustains the notion of a changing Earth. Weathering occurs in two ways. Physical weathering, also called mechanical weathering, involves the disintegration of rock materials. Physical weathering incurs no change in the chemistry of the material being altered. Instead, it simply breaks large pieces into smaller ones. Chemical weathering involves the decomposition of rocks and sediment. In this case, a chemical change occurs and a new product is created from the material that has undergone weathering. Weathering processes are determined by the climate and vegetation of a place. Dry locations tend to be dominated by physical weathering and moist places by chemical weathering. The chemical weathering of carbonate-rich rocks creates a unique landscape abounding in caves, disappearing streams, and springs. Karst develops in regions underlain by limestone and to a lesser extent dolomite. Chemical solution of the limestone, especially when fractured, wears away the bedrock leaving fissures and possibly undermining the surface. Some of the most