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By: Patrick Oney, Melissa Moody, Lacey Dickens,
and Jordan Hall
•Soil is an earthly material made up of
organic material (once living or still living
things) and inorganic material (never living
things) such as rocks.
Soil
•Soil is formed by organic material, such as worms
or dead animals. It is also formed by inorganic
material, such as rocks. The weathering breaks
down the rocks over time and the minerals sink into
the ground. Then the microbes eat the bacteria and
unliving things. After that, the earth worms mix the
soil, feed on the leaves, and leave behind castings
to fertilize the soil.
• If you want to become a soil scientist you need to
know about soil.
• If you want to plant a garden you need to know
what type of plants grow in your soil.
A soil profile is a vertical section that reveals all of the soil’s
horizons, or layers.
Each layer of the soil profile is formed by:
• Additions- Materials such as leaves, dust, and chemicals may
be added to the soil
• Losses- Materials may be lost from the soil as a result of
erosion or deep leaching
• Translocations- Materials may be moved in the soil due to
upward movement by evaporating water
• Transformations- Materials may be changed in the soil by
organic matter decay, chemical reactions, and weathering of
minerals
The topsoil layer, the layer right below the
ground level, has the most organic material.
A soil scientist is a person who studies soil and is qualified to
do this.
The task they perform is to evaluate and interpret soils and
soil-related information.
Credits:
Microsoft PowerPoint 2003
Clip Art
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil
www.cnr.berkeley.edu
www.ask.com
Holt Science and Technology Earth Science textbook