Download Soil Science Big Ideas

Soil Science Big Ideas
There are different types of rocks under the ground.
From these rocks different types of soils over time have formed.
Rocks are made of a mineral or cemented minerals.
Soil is made up of many different components – either
disintegrated rocks and living or dead organic matter.
Organic matter is made of the organic compounds – carbon /
oxygen / phosphorus / nitrogen / sulphur
Soil composition is also dependent on weather elements such as
temperature and rainfall.
Within the soil there are ecosystems where the organisms, (living
or non living, plant or animal) are interdependent. They are also
dependent on climatic conditions.
Forming of soil is an ever changing slow process which can be
hugely impacted by natural events and human actions.
Humans are totally dependent on soil to grow food.
Plants contribute to soil making by breaking down rocks – through
the roots by physically growing into them and by releasing acids
onto the rocks to get them to release the minerals.
Animals contribute to soil making by eating dead organic material
(plants and animals) and minerals then they poo it - which makes a
mixture of organic compounds and minerals.
Some animals, like earthworms and dung beetles, as they live in
the soil mix their poo through the existing soil which creates top
soil. They drag other organic parts up and down too as they move
through the soil.
A living soil needs organic and inorganic material plus water and
air.
Compiled by Esther Dijkstra and Gill Stewart