Same matter, new place: Soil is a system, and matter flows through it. A transfer moves matter from one place to another: across the soil's horizons, into the soil or out of it. What moves stays the same.
The points to remember
- A transfer moves matter to a new place without changing what it is.
- Water that soaks in is still water; a dissolved mineral washed down is still that mineral.
- Transfers happen across horizons, into the soil and out of it.
- A transformation changes what the matter is (rock into clay, leaves into humus).
- In the exam, label each process as a transfer or a transformation, and tie it to the soil.
Remember it as: Transfer = moves. Transformation = changes.
Transfer (moves)
- Rain soaking into the soil
- Earthworms carrying leaves down
- Minerals washed to the B horizon
Transformation (changes)
- Leaves rotting into humus
- Rock weathering into clay
- Ammonium turned into nitrate
Real example: after a summer storm in London's Hyde Park, rainwater soaks into the lawn, seeps down past the grass roots and reaches the gravel below. At every step it is still water, only in a new place: each step is a transfer.
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Most transfers in soil are water on the move. Water arrives by infiltration, sinks by percolation and joins the groundwater.
The points to remember
- Infiltration: rain or meltwater soaks into the soil surface.
- Percolation: water seeps down through the soil into the rock below.
- Groundwater flow: water moves slowly sideways through saturated rock to rivers and springs.
- Capillary rise: in dry weather, water is drawn up through tiny pores towards the surface.
- Gravity drives the downward flows; the water does not change, so these are transfers.
Infiltration
- Rain falls on the grassy chalk downs and soaks straight into the thin soil.
Percolation
- It seeps down through cracks in the chalk, which holds water like a sponge.
Groundwater
- It flows slowly sideways through the chalk aquifer for months.
River
- It comes out in springs that feed clear chalk streams such as the River Itchen.
Up as well as down: In hot, dry weather water can move up: it is drawn through tiny pores towards the surface by capillary action. That is also a transfer.
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As water seeps down it takes dissolved minerals with it. This is leaching, and it moves nutrients from the top of the soil to lower horizons or right out of the soil.
The points to remember
- Leaching: water carries dissolved minerals and nutrients down the profile.
- It moves them from the upper horizons to the B horizon, or out to groundwater.
- Eluviation washes material out of a layer; it collects lower down (illuviation).
- Heavy rain and sandy, open soils leach the most.
- Leaching and percolation mean the same movement of water: count them once.
Real example: under the conifer forests of Sweden, rain made acidic by the pine needles leaches iron and humus out of the upper soil. It leaves a pale grey layer and builds an orange band lower down. Soil scientists call this soil a podzol.
Do not count it twice: Leaching, drainage and percolation describe the same movement of water. In 'two transfers', give leaching and a different one, such as biological mixing.
Living things move soil too. Animals carry matter between horizons, and their burrows let air in and out. Both are transfers.
The points to remember
- Biological mixing: earthworms, ants, termites and moles carry soil between horizons.
- They pull leaves down and push subsoil up, mixing organic and mineral matter.
- Animals ingesting organic matter and moving it is a transfer too.
- Aeration: air moves into the pores (oxygen in) and out (carbon dioxide out).
- Burrows and roots make channels that speed up aeration and infiltration.
- People translocate soil too: ploughing mixes the top 20-30 cm.
Earthworms
- Pull fallen leaves down from the O horizon.
- Bring subsoil up as casts on the surface.
Ants and termites
- Carry soil up to build nests and mounds.
- Leave tunnels that let in air and water.
People
- Ploughing turns over the top 20-30 cm.
- Digging and building move whole layers.
Real example: Charles Darwin studied earthworms in a field at his home, Down House in Kent. He found that stones spread on the surface had sunk under several centimetres of fine soil within decades, as the worms brought soil up from below and dropped it on top. His last book, in 1881, was about worms.
Aeration is a transfer: Oxygen moving into the pores and carbon dioxide moving out are gases changing place, not changing form. Name the gas and the direction.
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Some transfers carry matter right out of the soil, or across the land to another soil.
The points to remember
- Erosion: wind or water moves soil particles across and out of the soil.
- Deposition: the moved particles settle somewhere else, adding to another soil.
- Uptake: roots absorb water and dissolved minerals, moving them into plants.
- Erosion and uptake carry matter out of the soil, so they are also outputs.
- If a question says within the profile, give a flow that stays inside: leaching, mixing.
Within the profile
- Leaching to the B horizon
- Percolation
- Mixing by earthworms
- Capillary rise
Into or out of the soil
- Infiltration of rain
- Erosion by wind or water
- Deposition of silt
- Uptake by roots
Real example: for thousands of years the Nile flooded each summer and dropped a layer of silt on Egypt's fields: soil eroded in Ethiopia, carried thousands of kilometres and deposited. Since the Aswan High Dam was finished in 1970, the silt settles in Lake Nasser instead.
Read the question's boundary: 'Transfers in soil systems': erosion counts. 'A transfer within the soil profile': erosion is an output, so give leaching or biological mixing instead.
How this comes up: Paper 2, Section B (a): outline two transfers and two transformations [4]. At most two marks for each kind, and each must be labelled and tied to the soil.
Wytham Woods near Oxford, England, is an oak and beech woodland where scientists have studied the soil since the 1940s.
Outline two transfers and two transformations that occur within the soil system.
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What does not count: Rainfall, falling leaves, flooding, transpiration and photosynthesis do not happen within the soil. 'Leaching' or 'respiration' on its own, with no link to the soil, gets no mark.