Topic 5.1: Soil Systems Questions

Before the Aswan High Dam was finished in 1970, the Nile flooded the fields of Egypt every summer. Outline two inputs to a soil that come from other ecosystems.

Soil particles are sorted into three size groups. State the size range of sand, silt and clay particles.

After a cold winter, the rock face beside a mountain road in the Alps shows many new cracks. Identify the type of weathering most likely responsible and outline how it breaks the rock.

Vineyards near Bordeaux, France, are sprayed against fungal disease, and growers add lime to soils that have become too acid. State two anthropogenic inputs to this managed soil system.

A field becomes waterlogged after heavy rain and is sticky when wet and hard when dry. Suggest which soil texture is most likely, and give one reason.

A gardening magazine says 'know your soil texture before you plant'. Define the term soil texture.

Which practice raises soil fertility rather than lowering it?

Figure 1 shows soil profiles under an old woodland and under a field beside it that has been ploughed every year for 60 years. Using Figure 1, describe two differences between the two soil profiles.

In the Ifugao rice terraces of the Philippines, farmers flood the terraces with water channelled from the forest above and work rice straw back into the mud. State two anthropogenic inputs to this managed soil system.

In Almería, Spain, vegetables are grown in plastic greenhouses on sandy soil, watered by drip pipes from wells. State two anthropogenic inputs to this managed soil system.

A farmer in Iowa, USA, ploughs maize stalks back into her field, and the limestone under the field slowly weathers. Distinguish between inputs of dead organic matter and inputs of inorganic minerals, using this field.

A large tree may contain several tonnes of carbon, yet the soil around it does not lose several tonnes in mass. Outline where the tree's carbon comes from.

Soil quality is important for food production. Figure 1 shows the relationship between vegetation cover and the increase in evaporation from three soil types.

A gardener notices that after rain, water disappears quickly from a light, gritty soil and the plants wilt soon after. Identify the soil texture most likely present.

What is weathering?

Which soil property is most typical of a highly productive agricultural soil?

Rothamsted's Broadbalk field in England has been farmed for wheat since 1843, and some plots get farmyard manure every year. Distinguish between an input and a storage in this soil system, with an example of each.

Tea bushes in Assam, India, grow on slopes that receive heavy monsoon rain. Growers spread fertiliser and leave pruned leaves on the ground. The soil system includes storages of inorganic nutrients. Identify two inputs to these storages.

A beech forest grows on slate in the Harz mountains of Germany. Its soil is covered by a deep layer of fallen leaves. The soil system includes storages of inorganic nutrients. Identify two inputs to these storages.

Springtails live in the leaf litter on a woodland floor, where they graze on fungi. Distinguish between the habitat and the niche of the springtails.