Lecture 4 SST3005

SST3005
Basic Soil Science

Adibah Mohd. Amin, Ph.D
Department of Land Management
Faculty of Agriculture
[email protected]
LECTURE 4
SOIL FORMATION
Factors of Soil Formation
• * Parent Materials
• * Climate
• Vegetation
• Topography
• Time
• Soil varies from place to place because of the
intensity of factors varies from location to
location.
Fundamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 3
Soil Parent Materials
• Residual – Soils formed from Local rock. In
Malaysia we have the followings:
• Sandstone
• Shale
• Basalt
• Granite

Transported Parent Materials
• Water - River = Alluvium

• Wind - eolian = sand or silt (loess)
• Gravity = colluvium
• Ice = Glacial Drift – all materials
transported by ice or results of glacier
activities.
alluvium
Layered Parent Materials
• Water
Outwash - often stratified sand or sand
and gravel
Lacustrine – lake sediment - clay or silt
texture – fine sediment – flat terrain, former
lake bed.
Lake Plain
Beach Ridge

Wind
• Loess – silt flown by wind (0.05 - 0.002mm
diameter)
• Sand - dune sand – sand flown by wind
(eolian sand)

• Parent Material
• Climate
• Vegetation
• Topography
• Time
*Soil varies from place to place because of the

location.

Factors of Soil Formation -
Climate
 Temperature - Warm = fast
- Cold= Slow --> Soil development
 Precipitation – high rainfall = high leaching
 Leaching zone – Determined by CaCO3 in the soil

profile
 Leaching index = Precipitation – Evapotraspiration=
effective rainfall that can cause leaching in soil.

Temperature & Precipitation vs. Clay, Depth to Carbonates & OM

• Parent Materials
• Climate
• * Vegetation
• * Topography
• * Time
• Soil varies from place to place because of the
location.
Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 12
Factors of Soil Formation - Biotic
(Vegetation)
• Animals – mix soil materials ~ earthworms,

crawfish, scorpion, gophers ~ this mixing
destroy soil horizons.

Biotic (continue)
• Vegetation – Addition of
Organic Matter (OM).
• Prairie ~ OM added to the Ap
top 60 cm because of the
fibrous nature of grass
roots A
AB
Bg

Biotic (continue)
• Forest ~ OM to the top 10 cm because

yearly leaf fall on soil surface.

FACTORS OF Soil Formation
– Topography or Position on Landscape
• Catena – A series of
soils with different
horizon due to
differences in depth to
water table.
• Drainage class
• Well drained
• Moderately well drained
• Somewhat poorly
drained
• Poorly drained
Catena – Natural Soil Drainage Classes
NOTE: Natural drainage refers to depth to
water table.
Natural Soil Drainage Classes
• Well Drained - mottles begin > 130 cm.
• Moderately well drained - mottles > 100
cm.
• Somewhat poorly drained -
mottles > 50 cm
• Poorly drained - dark surface
- gray colors in subsoil below
surface (red mottles)

Drainage classes
Grayish
mottles
Grayish mottles in
Browinish B
mottles > 1.3 meter
Moderately Somewhat Grayish color under A
Well drained
well drained Poorly drained
Poorly drained
Importance of catena
 The importance of a catena is the variation of soils
across a small area such as a slope. Understanding the
soils that make up a catena could facilitate the
mapping of soils across a given region.
 Many fields of study are taken into consideration when

studying catenas, studying catenas could help to
understand the influence of soil hydrology on soil
formation.
 Catenas are found to be a great location for the study

of soil science, given that the catena concept focuses
on past history of the land surface, on hydrology,
erosion, sediment transport, and pedogenic
processes
Topography –erosion and deposition
summit
shoulder
Back slope
Foot slope
SUMMIT & BACKSLOPE
• Summit has minimal erosion

and maximum soil
development (rapid
horizonation)
• Backslope same as summit
except when slope > 20%.

Shoulder
 Most rapid erosion – least water percolation –
highest surface runoff – least soil development.
Ap
Bw
Bk
BC

Foot Slope
• Deposition of material from upslope – near
to water table - high leaching from upland
water and rainfall.
Ap
AB
Btg
WATER

Aspect
• Direction the slope faces

- important when slope is
> than 10 %.
• North Slope = 1. colder
soils, 2. less evaporation ,
3. more leaching ~ thus
more soil development
• South Slope = 1. warmer
soils, 2. more evaporation,
3. less leaching ~ thus
less soil development.
Aspect
• Direction the slope faces

• Important when slope > 10 % A
Bt
Bw

Aspect is the direction the The north side tends to have
slope faces relative to the sun more water because there’s
(compass direction), which less evaporation and, as a
affects the amount of water result, potentially more
that moves through the soil. vegetation.
A soil with a southern aspect

In addition, the north aspect’s tends to have grass
colder soil temperatures slow vegetation, warmer soil
soil chemical processes. temperatures and more
evaporation.
The net effect is more soil

aging with a northern aspect
compared to soil with a
southern aspect, even with the
cooler soil temperatures.
Factors of Soil Formation -
TIME
• Vegetation and Climate act upon Parent
Materials on a Topography in the course of
TIME.
• AGE of a soil is determined by its
development and not the number of years it
has been “borned”.
• How long it takes for a soil to become “old”
depends on the intensity of soil forming
processes or the intensity of the influence of
the other 4 factors.
Soil AGE
• Youth = C • Juvana = A
Bw
MATURE = Old
MATURE A “Senile”” C
A
E E
A
Bt1 E
Bt
Btqm
C Bt2
Bqm
Factors that Hinder Soil Profile Development
• Low moisture
• Low rainfall • High Quartz
• High Lime Content content
• High Clay Content • Hard Rock
• Steep slope • High Water Table
• Cold Temperature • Continuous
• Destructive erosion Deposition
• Mixed by Animals
Factors that Slow Down Soil Development
• Climate
• Low rainfall
• Low Moisture
• Cold Temperature

Factors that Slow Down Soil Development
• Biota
• Mixing by animals
and human

What happen to soil with TIME
• Loss of nutrients (bases) = low pH or soil

become more acidic
• Increase in Fe or soil becomes redder
• Increase in clay or older soil has higher
clay content
• Deeper weathering into parent materials

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SST3005

Basic Soil Science

Fundamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 4

• Water - River = Alluvium

Fundamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 6

Fundamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 7

*Soil varies from place to place because of the

Fundamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 8

 Leaching zone – Determined by CaCO3 in the soil

Fundamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 9

Fundamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 10

• Animals – mix soil materials ~ earthworms,

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 13

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 14

• Forest ~ OM to the top 10 cm because

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 15

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 17

 Many fields of study are taken into consideration when

 Catenas are found to be a great location for the study

• Summit has minimal erosion

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 21

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 22

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 23

• Direction the slope faces

• Direction the slope faces

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 25

A soil with a southern aspect

The net effect is more soil

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 30

Funadamentals of Soil Science (SST3005) 31

• Loss of nutrients (bases) = low pH or soil

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