SOMEONE HELP WITH SOILS, COMPLETE USING SOIL AROUND AREA Lab 1—Soil Composition
ID: 803587 • Letter: S
Question
SOMEONE HELP WITH SOILS, COMPLETE USING SOIL AROUND AREA
Lab 1—Soil Composition
In this exercise, you will determine the soil composition at three different locations in your local area. You will compare soil composition at sites that have different topography, and (possibly) different vegetation.
Materials
small spade or shovel
3 glass jars (approximately 1 L in volume)
permanent marker
ruler
Instructions
Choose sites for the following samples:
hill sample, taken from the side of a hill (the steeper the better)
yard sample, taken from a level surface (e.g., backyard)
river bank sample, taken from the side of a creek or river
Note: You will need to use some judgment here. For example, don’t remove soil samples from other people’s property without permission.
Collect a soil sample from each site, and place each sample in a separate jar. You only need to fill each jar approximately one-third full of soil. Label each jar with its contents (source), using a permanent marker.
Record the slope and types of vegetation at each site. Take a digital photograph of each site.
Add water to the soil in the jars until each jar is almost full (leave an air space). Shake each jar vigorously and then let the jars sit undisturbed for a full day (24 hours).
Layers of clay, silt, and sand should be visible. Clay will be the top layer, silt will be the middle layer, and sand will be at the bottom. Any small rocks or pebbles will be at the very bottom of the sand layer. Take a digital photograph of each jar, to show the layering. Measure the depth of each layer with a ruler, in millimeters, and record your data in a table that looks like this:
hill sample
yard sample
riverbank sample
total depth (mm)
depth of clay (mm)
depth of silt (mm)
depth of sand (mm)
% sand
% silt
% clay
soil type
Note: If your layers are not very clear, you may want to try shaking the sample again, or start over. If there is too much soil in the jar to begin with, it is more difficult to generate a homogeneous slurry when you shake the jar.
For each sample, calculate the percentage of each soil component and record it in the table above.
Identify the type of soil by matching the percent soil components in the soil texture triangle found at the link below. Record each soil type in the table. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/home/?cid=NRCS142P2_054167
Report
Your report should consist of the following components:
A brief introductory statement (i.e., what were you investigating?)
A short description of each site, with digital photos of each site
The soil composition table with your results
Digital photos of the settling jars
A discussion of the results. Explain any variation in soil composition among the three sites. How does topography appear to affect soil composition?
hill sample
yard sample
riverbank sample
total depth (mm)
depth of clay (mm)
depth of silt (mm)
depth of sand (mm)
% sand
% silt
% clay
soil type
Explanation / Answer
Answer:
The reason of doing this exercise is to analyze the difference among the variety of soil of different places. The samples takens from the different sites can be distinguished by analyzing their composition as the sample from hilly region would be the mixtures of pebbels and sand, the yard sample consists of silt, sand and limited pebbles and riverbank sample consists of fine soil means mostly consists of clay and silt.
The percentage of individual layers can be calculated by measuring the total thickness of all layers in the jar by scale in mm, and measure the individual layer in mm and finally divide the individual layer by the total layer and multiply by 100. Example as follows;
Suppose total thickness of all layers = 15 mm and we want to calculate the percentage of sand which is 5 mm therefore,
Percentage of sand= (5/15)*100= 33.33 %
After measuring all the layers, now put these value in the blanks of given referenced website and download the resulting triangular diagram.
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