Soil Profile Homework

Daniel Hirmas, University of Kansas

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Initial Publication Date: June 6, 2013

Summary

This is one of 4 homework assignments given to students throughout this introductory soils course. The main goal of these assignments are to give the students practice with the mechanics of problem solving, conversion, and soil profile descriptions.

Surface Chemistry, Geochemistry, Chemistry and Mineralogy, Profile ...(more) | College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional

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Context

Audience

This is a piggy back undergraduate/graduate introductory soil course taught in the department of Geography and the Environmental Studies program. The audience is usually a 50-50 undergrads and grad students.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Students must have participated in a soil monolith description laboratory and field trip in order to complete the first problem in this homework assignment. Attendance in lecture where I provide examples of the kinds of problems represented by 2-4 is also crucial for completing those problems.

How the activity is situated in the course

The first in a sequence of homework exercises.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Use of horizon nomenclature to interpret and synthesize many soil properties in a description.
Application of Stoke's Law in determining particle-size of soils.
Crystallography of clay colloids and charge imbalance.
Analyses and determination of cation exchange capacity.