ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Cation-Exchange Capacity, Soil Horizon, Soil Texture

• School: UTM
• Department: Environment
• Course: ENV100Y5
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

Sunday, november 8, 2015. Central case: mer bleue bog. A 35 km2 protected wetland. Peat soils formed over 8000 years; up to 6m thick. Interdisciplinary research project studying the influence of climate on carbon balance (and vice versa) Soil is a complex material. Mineral matter, organic matter, water, gases. Bacteria, algae, earthworms, insects, mammals, amphibians, reptiles. Basis of terrestrial ecosystems bc it supports plant growth. Soil formation starts with bedrock. Parent material = base geologic material of soil. Parent material = gives birth to the soil. Bedrock = continuous mass of solid rock (the earth"s crust) Regolith (sediment) = broken- up rock. Lunar regolith - astronaut footprint example. Weathering = processes that break down rocks. Physical (mechanical) = no chemical changes in parent material (force acting on it) Wind, rain, thermal expansion and contraction, water freezing. Chemical = substances chemically interact with parent material. Biological = organisms break down parent material.