Download Soil and Water Conservation - White River Watershed Project

Soil and Water Conservation
A Merit Badge Teaching Aid
Created and compiled by
Ross Kinsler –NREM 405
2002
What is Soil?
• soil - The
unconsolidated
mineral or organic
material on the
immediate surface of
the earth that serves as
a natural medium for
the growth of land
plants.
Miami Soil
How is soil formed?
•
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Soil Ingredients
• Sand is the largest particle in the soil. When you rub it, it feels rough.
This is because it has sharp edges.
• Silt is a soil particle whose size is between sand and clay. Silt feels
smooth and powdery. When wet it feels smooth but not sticky.
• Clay is the smallest of particles. Clay is smooth when dry and sticky
when wet. Soils high in clay content are called heavy soils.
• Organic matter or Humus is the part of soil that comes from the
leaves, branches, animal wastes, and everything organic that falls on
the ground. As these are broken down by water, sun, and, small
creatures the organic substances in them are incorporated into the soil.
Humus increases the nutrient holding ability of the soil and improves
soil structure.
Soil Types
• Sand, silt, and clay are • Sand
the basic types of soil.
Most soils are made
up of a combination of
the three. The relative
amount of each
determines the
characteristics of the
soil.
– Good drainage
– Poor nutrient retention
• Silt
– Good nutrient retention
• Clay
– Best nutrient retention
– Poor drainage
Soil in Indiana
Miami Soil
Fine-loamy, mixed, active,
mesic
Oxyaquic Hapudalfs
• Surface layer: brown silt
loam
Subsurface layer: brown
silt loam
Subsoil: dark yellowish
brown clay loam
Substratum: brown loam
Primary Nutrients
• Nitrogen
– Proteins and amino
acids
• Phosphorus
– Nucleic acids, ATP,
Chlorophyll
• Potassium
– Catalyst, ion transport
Nutrient Recharge
• Nitrogen Sources
– Ammonia Fertilizer
– Nitrogen Fixing Plants
• Alfalfa
• Legumes
• Phosphorus Sources
– Phosphate Fertilizer
– Manure
• Potassium Sources
– Potash
– Bone meal
Erosion
• Erosion is a process
that removes soil
layers and carries them
away from farmer's
fields to bodies of
water or other land.
This results in loss of
nutrients and organic
matter.
Examples of Erosion Control
Methods
Straw mulch application
Terra farming
What is a watershed?
• It's the area of
land that catches
rain and snow
and drains or
seeps into a
marsh, stream,
river, lake or
groundwater.
Diagram KJ
Includes parking lots, roofs
fields, lawns
The Water Cycle
How water moves
• percolation--(1) The movement of water through
the openings in rock or soil. (2) the entrance of a
portion of the streamflow into the channel
materials to contribute to ground water
replenishment
• capillary action--the means by which liquid
moves through the porous spaces in a solid, such
as soil, plant roots, and the capillary blood vessels
in our bodies due to the forces of adhesion,
cohesion, and surface tension. Capillary action is
essential in carrying substances and nutrients from
one place to another in plants and animals.
More water movement
• evaporation--the process of liquid water
becoming water vapor, including vaporization
from water surfaces, land surfaces, and snow
fields, but not from leaf surfaces.
• precipitation--rain, snow, hail, sleet, dew, and
frost
• transpiration--process by which water that is
absorbed by plants, usually through the roots, is
evaporated into the atmosphere from the plant
surface, such as leaf pores.
Role of vegetation
• Vegetation holds soils
and slows surface
water movement.
Copyright © 2002 Missouri Botanical Garden
– Slows erosion
– Improves infiltration
– Improves nutrient
holding
– Improves quality of
surface water
Water Pollution
• Water pollution occurs when a body of water is
adversely affected due to the addition of large
amounts of materials to the water. These materials
could include: toxic substances, fertilizers, organic
matter, sediments, or animal wastes. Runoff
carries harmful chemicals great distances and
causes them to be concentrated in water ways and
lakes.
Types of Pollution
• Non-point source
– occurs when there is
runoff of pollutants
into a waterway, for
instance when fertilizer
from a field is carried
into a stream by
surface runoff.
http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/
• Point source
– occurs when the
polluting substance is
emitted directly into
the waterway. A pipe
spewing toxic
chemicals directly into
a river is an example.
Common Sources
• Industry
– Soil Erosion
– Toxic effluents
– Mine runoff
• Farming
– Fertilizer run-off
– Animal waste run-off
• Residential
– Lawn care fertilizer run-off
– Improper sewage treatment
Local Pollution Reduction Efforts
• Uses Federal grant money
to determine methods of
reducing non-point source
water pollution in a
community based effort
through the Soil and Water
Conservation District of
Delaware County.
• http://www.co.delaware.in
.us/watershed/
Water Treatment
• Primary
– removes
suspended solids
in settling tanks
• Secondary
– Removes organic
matter using
bacterial agents
Water Treatment
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Bibliography
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/dictionary.html
http://mbgnet.mobot.org/fresh/cycle/
http://www.epa.gov/water/
http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0768.html
http://www.pirg.org/reports/enviro/poison/
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case2/c2facts2.html
http://www.co.delaware.in.us/watershed/
http://soils.usda.gov/
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/BainCalif/calwe
stsubjects.html
• http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/urbanexp/vuosaari.htm
• http://www.usscouts.org/usscouts/mb/mb106.html