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    Soil Forming Processes

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    DylanOSullivan
    Weathering processes like freeze-thaw action and exfoliation impact soil texture and structure. Chemical weathering occurs rapidly in hot climates, breaking down rocks. Leaching removes soluble materials and nutrients from soil, impacting organic matter, pH, and colour. It can reduce nutrients or increase humus content. Laterisation is extreme leaching in tropical regions, leaving iron concentrations near the surface and hardening soil. Podzolisation dissolves soil constituents, leaving an ash-grey A-horizon and dark brown B-horizon. It changes soil structure, colour, pH, and water retention.

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    Soil Forming Processes

    Uploaded by

    DylanOSullivan
    53 views3 pages
    Weathering processes like freeze-thaw action and exfoliation impact soil texture and structure. Chemical weathering occurs rapidly in hot climates, breaking down rocks. Leaching removes soluble materials and nutrients from soil, impacting organic matter, pH, and colour. It can reduce nutrients or increase humus content. Laterisation is extreme leaching in tropical regions, leaving iron concentrations near the surface and hardening soil. Podzolisation dissolves soil constituents, leaving an ash-grey A-horizon and dark brown B-horizon. It changes soil structure, colour, pH, and water retention.

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    Weathering processes like freeze-thaw action and exfoliation impact soil texture and structure. Chemical weathering occurs rapidly in hot climates, breaking down rocks. Leaching removes soluble materials and nutrients from soil, impacting organic matter, pH, and colour. It can reduce nutrients or increase humus content. Laterisation is extreme leaching in tropical regions, leaving iron concentrations near the surface and hardening soil. Podzolisation dissolves soil constituents, leaving an ash-grey A-horizon and dark brown B-horizon. It changes soil structure, colour, pH, and water retention.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    53 views3 pages

    Soil Forming Processes

    Uploaded by

    DylanOSullivan
    Weathering processes like freeze-thaw action and exfoliation impact soil texture and structure. Chemical weathering occurs rapidly in hot climates, breaking down rocks. Leaching removes soluble materials and nutrients from soil, impacting organic matter, pH, and colour. It can reduce nutrients or increase humus content. Laterisation is extreme leaching in tropical regions, leaving iron concentrations near the surface and hardening soil. Podzolisation dissolves soil constituents, leaving an ash-grey A-horizon and dark brown B-horizon. It changes soil structure, colour, pH, and water retention.

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    Option: Soil-Forming Processes

    Weathering:
    1. Weathering can impact the texture, pH and colour of soil.
    2. Physical weathering, such as Freeze-thaw action and
    exfoliation, influences soil characteristics, impacting on the
    particle size of soil and giving soil a crumbly or platy
    structure.
    3. Freeze-thaw action, or frost shattering, is most effective in
    upland areas, with mountainous soils tending to have a
    sandier texture as the parent material is weathered more
    severely.
    4. Desert areas tend to experience exfoliation because of the
    high fluctuation between daytime and night-time
    temperatures, resulting in soils having a flaky texture.
    5. Chemical weathering occurs at a rapid rate in hot climates
    due to the hot and humid conditions, with the rapid breaking
    down of rocks resulting in great depths of soil.
    6. In carbonation, rainwater reacts with the calcium carbonate in
    limestone, dissolving it and removing it in a solution,
    changing the pH value of the subsequent soil.
    7. Hydrolysis breaks down granite when it causes the feldspar in
    the rock to change into kaolin clay, changing the texture of
    granite-based soil.
    8. Oxidation occurs when oxygen in the atmosphere reacts with
    iron in the soil, the iron is oxidised and gives soil a reddishbrown colour.

    Leaching:
    1. Leaching impacts on the organic matter, pH and colour of
    soil.
    2. Leaching is the removal of soluble material, including
    nutrients, from soil by water.
    3. Limited leaching is important as it washes humus into the
    soil, increasing the organic matter content of the soil.
    4. However, when rainfall exceeds evaporation there is a free
    downward movement of water through the pores in the soil,
    reducing the organic matter content as it is leached down
    through the soil profile.
    5. Where there is excessive leaching, or laterisation, nutrients
    and organic matter are washed out of the A-horizon and
    deposited out of the reach of plant roots.
    6. Laterisation is an extreme leaching process that is widespread
    in tropical and equatorial regions due to the high levels of
    precipitation.
    7. Heavy rainfall washes nutrients out of the reach of plant roots
    and because of the hot climate, the vegetation decays at a
    rapid pace so there is little acid in the soil, affect the pH
    levels of the soil.
    8. As a result, large concentrations of iron remain in the soil,
    close to the surface, giving the soil a reddish colour.
    9. This iron-rich A-horizon may turn into a hardpan on exposure
    to the oxygen in the atmosphere, reducing the soils water
    retention.

    Podzolisation:
    1. Podzolisation affects the pH, colour, structure and water
    retention of soil.

    2. Podzol soils are formed by acidified rainwater dissolving


    almost all the constituents, including clay particles, of another
    soil.

    3. The vegetation of coniferous forest and peat often give the


    rainwater a pH of 4.5 or lower, increasing the acidic pH
    levels of the soil.

    4. The acidified rainwater also drains the soils coloured


    minerals except the more resistant quartz, leaving the Ahorizon an ash-grey colour.

    5. The B-horizon receives the majority of the dissolved organic


    matter and minerals, giving the soil a dark brown colour.

    6. When elements of iron oxide (rust) are in these minerals, it


    can also give the soil a rustic reddish colour.

    7. Podzolisation can also change the structure of the soil as the


    grains of soil in the B-Horizon cement together to form a
    hardpan, changing the structure of the soil.

    8. The development of a hardpan also reduces the soils ability


    to retain water, which can lead to waterlogging and lack of
    aeration.

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