Pedology In Hydropedology

Introduction

Environmentally soils have a huge significance in stopping pollutants through its structure and the different processes that take place on soils. Soils have the ability to influence he environment but they are also influenced by the environment (Ellis and Mellor, 2005). They are the medium in which we get all our food and they are also the sinks for our wastes (Wild, 1993). Soil is constituted of different properties which could be physical or chemical and these determine how soils will react when exposed to different elements. In this assignment I will be looking at the hydropedological behaviours of soil profiles, the dominant hillslope hydropedological processes dominating the landscape in the Highveld region of South Africa. And

This question relates to the soils role in water quality and quantity. 2) How do soil formation, development, variability and role in space and time get affected by these hydrologic processes? This question relates to the waters role in soil quality and quantity (Lin, 2002 and 2012). Hydropedology is an interaction of three major science disciplines which are pedology, hydrology and soil physics. Pedology looks at geomorphology, geology, geochemistry and geophysics. Hydrology looks at hydrogeology, hydro climatology, hydro ecology and hydro geophysics. Whilst soil physics looks at soil chemistry, soil biochemistry, soil biology and soil mechanics (Lin, 2012).

The hydropedological behaviour of the soil profiles

In this section I will be analysing the hydropedological behaviour of soils by looking at three soil properties which are the clay content, hydraulic conductivity and the cation exchange capacity. Definitions will be given and the analysis will be done.

Hydraulic