Lab 5 Essay

332 Words2 Pages
What determines the texture of soil? The amount of soil, sand, and silt in the soil. There are 13 different types of soil, but all types consist of these three components. What changes the type of soil is the amount of each component present in the soil. What is meant by the permeability of a soil? What is porosity and how is it related to permeability? Permeability is how water moves through soil. Porosity is the spaces between soil. They are called pores. These pores are all connected, which allows water to pass through them. Which is also how permeability is measured. Based on your experiment, which type of soil is the most permeable? Which is the least permeable? How do you know? Heavy clay is the least permeable and sand is the most permeable. Explain why surface runoff, or rain not absorbed by the soil, occurs much more often in areas with soils with a high clay content. The water is not easily absorbed into the clay because it is harder for the water to enter the pores. Soil type and texture are very important to farmers. Too little water in the soil may cause plants to wilt and die. Too much water in the soil can disrupt a plant's ability to take in oxygen. Based on your data, which type of soil do you think is best for agriculture? Explain your answer. Loam would be the best kind of soil to plant crops in because it is permeable but it takes low amounts of water to irrigate the soil. Farmers often have problems with soil erosion when they clear their fields after the growing season. Soil type is one factor that influences erosion. Some soil types are more prone to erosion than others. Based on the data you gathered in this experiment, which soil types do you think are the most easily eroded, soils with a high sand content or soils with a high clay content? Explain your
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