Field Skills Exam - Soils

What are the 10 soil orders in Canada?

How to tell mineral soil from organic soil?

what is the chroma vs. value of the Munsell colour chart

Chroma: Intensity of the colour (pigment)

Value: Shade of the colour (how light or dark it is)

What do different coloured soils indicate?

What are the four soil forming processes

Additions: Adds organic matter, water, ions

Removals/Losses: Leaches ions/releases gasses

Transfers/translocations: Movement in and out of the soil

Transformations: Alterations in a soil horizon

What are the benefits of mesofauna in the soil? What do we look for to know they’re there?

BENEFITS:

• break down SOM (Soil Organic Matter)

• Feed on organic matter and stimulate decomposers

• Control pests

• Modify soil structure

HOW WE KNOW THEY ARE THERE

• look for frass/castings from mesofauna

How to distinguish different soil horizons

Change of colour, texture, organic content

Where do we delineate the “0” of the
soil depths?

For mineral soils: The "0" depth (the soil surface) is the top of the mineral material.

For organic soils (or mineral soils with a significant O horizon): The "0" depth is considered the top of the organic horizon itself