Intro to Soils Essay

Introduction to Soils

Introduction

The Land Use Project (LUP) is designed to get us thinking about soils in a ‘real life’ setting.   In groups we will be assigned a large tract of land, which we will then evaluate for different types of land use.   After developing a summary of the land, including soil types and their sustainability, each group will then get to decide how to use the land.   Whether it be for farming, development, hunting, or some more exotic, such as an elk/bison farm.
The Monoliths Lab had several purposes as our first lab.   Not only did it introduce us to the basic features and principles of the Soil Survey of Centre County (Braker, 1981), the lab also gave us a basic understanding of soil layers, and soil profiles.  

Results

Soil Survey Worksheet*:
MuB- Murrill Channery silt loam, 3%-8% slope; a deep well drained soil that developed from sandstone colluviums and limestone; used primarily as crop land, limitations include possible sinkhole formation; comprised of 6 layers.
Discussion
Horizon Designations (Table 1) *:
Monolith Soil Survey
Horizon Depth Horizon Depth
Ap 8.5” Ap 11”
A3 4” B21t 11”
B1 11.75” B22t 11”
B21 10” B23t 7”
B22 14.5” IIB24t 11”
IIB3t 15”

Horizon Colors (Table 2) **:
Monolith Soil Survey
Horizon Color Horizon Color
Ap Brown, 7.5yr 4/3 Ap Dark Brown, 10yr 3/3
A3 Brown, 7.5yr 5/3 B21t Brown, 7.5yr 5/4
B1 Reddish-Yellow, 7.5yr 6/6 B22t Strong Brown, 7.5yr 5/6
B21 Yellow-Brown, 10yr 6/4 B23t Strong Brown, 7.5yr 5/6
B22 Very Pale Brown, 10yr 7/3 IIB24t Yellowish-Red, 5yr 5/8
IIB3t Yellowish-Red, 5yr 4/8

The first noticeable difference between the monolith and soil survey, is the layering system used; the monolith only shows that there are five horizons, whereas the soil survey depicts six.   Another difference between the two is seen in Table 1; taking notice that the depths of similar horizons are not the same, it can also be seen that the monolith shows the soil to have a total depth...