Download Area 3 Envirothon – April 25, 2012 – Soils Test

Area 3 Envirothon – April 25, 2012 – Soils Test
Answer Key
1. Topsoil is a mixture of mineral soil and soil organic matter. Which of the following choices best describes the
makeup of soil organic matter?
A. Bacteria and fungi
B. Plant and animal material occupying water filled pore space
C. Dead and decaying plant and animal remains *
D. Residual waste products from respiration
2. Suppose you are working with a soil marked as a CsC; this symbol represents a complex or mixture of which
two soils?
A. Conotton and Sparta
B. Chile and Sebring
C. Coshocton and Guernsey *
D. Canfield and Shinrock
3. The drainage class of a soil refers to the depth of water saturation in a soil profile. Gray colors or iron
depletions in a soil profile are an indication of a water table. What USDA drainage class is Sebring silt loam?
A. Poorly drained *
B. Somewhat poorly drained
C. Moderately well drained
D. Well drained
4. In which of the following soils is the water table closest to the surface during the month of April?
A. Guernsey
B. Chili
C. Rigley
D. Melvin *
5. Within areas mapped as CsC, what other soils could be present as inclusions?
A. Berks and Hazelton *
B. Morristown and Bethesda
C. Sebring and Glenford
D. Orrville and Tioga
6. In the map unit symbol ShC3, what does the 3 stand for?
A. The degree of erosion *
B. The number of soils in the map unit
C. Slope
D. Elevation
7. Soil pH is an important soil property affecting plant growth. Select the most correct statement concerning soil
pH.
A. Soil pH is not affected by parent material.
B. Soil pH cannot be changed by soil amendments.
C. Soil pH is a measure of soil acidity. *
D. Soil pH is independent of other soil properties.
8. What is the name given to the type of soils that can be found in swamps and marshes?
A. muck soils
B. hydric soils *
C. hydrophytic soils
D. non-desoteric soils
9. Soils that form in more recent stream bed material are formed in ____________.
A. old lake bed sediments
B. alluvium *
C. residuum
D. lacustrine material
10. Many areas in eastern Ohio have been affected by surface strip mining. Which of the following soils is
common in areas that have been strip mined?
A. Bogart
B. Berks
C. Bethesda *
D. Hazelton
11. The average rainfall in Tuscarawas County is highest in which month?
A. August
B. June
C. July *
D. May
12. Soils are rated as having slight, moderate, or severe limitations for a number of land uses, included building
sites. A severe rating for a building site means what?
A. It is impossible to build a building on this soil.
B. If a building is built, there are major problems which must be overcome, usually at additional cost. *
C. This soil is well suited to buildings.
D. Rock is at depths less than 20 inches.
13. Some soils are poorly suited for septic tank absorption fields due to ____________________.
A. flooding
B. slow or moderately slow permeability *
C. low organic matter content in the soil
D. sand in the soil forming material
14. There is a layer in the Canfield series profile, which is referred to as a fragipan. What is a fragipan?
A. a zone of gravel
B. a clayey spot
C. a loamy, brittle horizon, with low porosity *
D. an organic layer
15. On which of these soil map units can the highest yield of corn be expected?
A. Elkinsville silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes *
B. Hazleton channery loam, 8 to 15 percent slopes
C. Keene silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes
D. Nolin silt loam, occasionally flooded
16. Permeability is the quality of the soil that enables water to move downward through the profile. Which of
the soils is the most permeable in the second layer of the profile?
A. Berks
B. Hazelton *
C. Keene
D. Wheeling
The following questions are site specific:
17. The soil pit is in which map unit?
A. BnF
B. WhE
C. CsC *
D. FcA
18. The top layer of this soil is darker colored than deeper layers due to what?
A. a coal outcrop
B. a high clay content
C. an accumulation of organic matter *
D. a recent fire
19. The soil at this site formed, and is forming, in what type of parent material?
A. glacial till
B. mine spoil
C. outwash
D. residuum*
20. The layer in this soil profile with the highest percentage of organic matter is the ___ horizon.
A. A*
B. B
C. C
D. R
21. The northern part of the Norma Johnson Center (atlas sheet # 18), has a map unit labeled BnF. What material
was this soil formed in?
A. alluvium
B. mine spoil *
C. loess
D. lacustrine clays
22. The slope at this site is closest to which of the following?
A. 0 to 10 percent*
B. 10 to 20 percent
C. 20 to 45 percent
D. 45 to 60 percent
23. The mottling or redoximorphic features in the soil is an indication of ___________.
A. high clay content
B. leaching of nutrients
C. wetness *
D. strip mining activity
24. Mottles or redoximorphic features are first apparent between which depths?
A. 8 to 12 inches
B. 12 to 20 inches*
C. 20 to 28 inches
D. 28 to 36 inches
25. Texture classes are assigned to soil material based on its particle size distribution. The dominant texture of
the subsoil between the depths of 12 and 24 inches is in which of these texture classes?
A. clay
B. sandy loam
C. silt loam
D. silty clay loam*