Introduction.
I strongly agree with Sommer & Schlichting, 1997 quote “Studying soils along a slope is one of the simplest, yet most elegant ways to discern spatial interrelationships between soil and topography”. Various factors are responsible for the difference in soil characteristics and pattern along a slope. The aim of this assignment is to demonstrate the credibility of this statement by providing relevant information about the different processes along topography that affects the soil and thus enable readers to value the statement. The catena concept is a framework that ties everything together when studying the relationship between soil and topography.
The catena.
According to Shaetzl & Anderson, 2005:469, “A catena is a transect of soils from the top to the base of a hill, perpendicular (or nearly so) to the contour lines”. The concept asserts that a set of soils has been formed from the same parent material but vary along the topography as a result of drainage and relief (Brady & Weil, 1999: 760). It also considers the soil to be a dynamic open system with inputs, processes and outputs. The catena itself is separated into 4 distinct zone namely the Flatter upland(Plateau), Shedding (Degrading or eluviation) zone , Transfer (Translocation) zone and the Receiving ( Accumulation or iluviation) zone each having its own discrete characteristics as illustrated by figure.1 (Waugh, 2009: 276).
Figure.1 shows a catena: The relationship between soil type and slope (Waugh, 2005: 261)
Catenary differentiation.
The variations in soil down a slope are as a result of slope gradient changes as well as the drainage characteristics (Gerrard, 1981:62). The amount of precipitation, cloud cover and wind is highest on the upper slope (W...
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...ndon: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
5. ISRIC. 2014. Luvisols. ISRIC.
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7. Schaetzl, E. & Anderson, S. 2005. Soils: Genesis and Geomorphology. 1st Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press.
8. Waugh, D. 2009. Geography: An integrated Approach. 4th Edition. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.
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At the end of the last ice age windblown silt covered the lava and basalt deposits. This silt would go on to create the fertile rolling hills of the Palouse. This soil is more than a hundred feet deep in places. Soon, enough time passed for vegetation to take place and more soil started to form.1 The lava flows would end up damming streams flowing from the mountains; in turn forming the current lakes of the region. Layered between the flows of basalt are sand and gravel deposits that washed down from mountains.1
Soil regions of the Montane Cordillera include mostly Complex soils of mountain areas and Dry-climate soils. There are various types of soils in the Montane Cordillera because of the wide range of temperatures, rainfall, and elevations throughout the ecozone. However, the most common soil is Brunisol soil, which is typically located under the dry pine forests of south-central British Columbia but is not very good for agriculture because it is very acidic.
Holmes, Garnett, Bureau of Plant Industry United States, and Bureau of Chemistry and Soils United States. Soil Survey of The Yuma Area, Arizona-California. N.p.: Govt. print. off., 1905
_______. 1977. Soils of the Polar Landscapes Rutgers, the State university of New Jersey. 637 pp.
Meek, B.D., D.L. Carter, D.T.Westermann, R.E. Peckenpaugh, 1994, Root-Zone Mineral Nitrogen Changes as Affected by Crop Sequence and Tillage: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 58: 1464-1469.
Due to the low thermal regimes chemical weathering is hampered, while physical, cryopedogenic processeses dominate soil genesis. Cryopedogenic processes that leeds to gelic materials after USDA (2009) primarily based on the physical volume change of water to ice of 9 % and back. Moreover on thermal contractions of frozen materials by continued cooling and moisture migration in a frozen system along a thermal gradient (Bockheim et al., 1997). Beside cryopedogenic processes tree major soil forming processes are reported for the samping site by Sokolov et al. (2002). (1) Braunification leeds to primitive soils with weak, shallow, cambic horizons describe in Sokolov et al. (2002) described as Typical Pale soils (from Russian Palevye). In Soil Taxonomy they have an Haplic epipedon, not to be mistaken with Pale prefix in the nomenclature. They have a relatively homogeneous profile with almost no vertical difference in texture, as result of development from colluvial or solifluction deposits. Usually Pale soils are covered by a raw-humus layer. (2) Podsolization, an descendant relocation of low molecular organomineral compounds (Chelate; Al-Fe-humus complexes) in acidic soils due to hampered microbial turnover (Scheffer und Schachtschabel, 2002). ...
...in tropical and subtropical environment but can be analyzed also in other regions of the world with a complex geology.
...spatial heterogeneity of surface soil properties has in ecosystem functioning, few studies have described the spatial heterogeneity of SOC in Golestan province and their relations with topography and different slope position loessial hillslope lands of northen Iran. However, just few studies on the spatial variability of soil organic carbon in farmland are available (Ayoubi et al, 2007).
Sammut, S. (N/A). A Soil Information System for the Maltese Islands. Available: http://www.wise-rtd.info/sites/default/files/d-2008-05-26-Project_presentation.pdf. Last accessed 29th Dec 2013.
Soils assist in plant development, reuse dead material, control and channel water streams, bolster structures and streets, and give living space and sustenance to many plants and creatures. Soil quality evaluations go past measuring corruption, but to concentrate on these dirt capacities and the procedures that make them. Soil cooperates with billions of microorganisms, parasites, and different organisms that are the establishment of a rich advantageous biological system. Soil may be considered a biological community that can be figured out how to give supplements to plant development, ingest and hold water for use amid dryer periods, channel and cradle potential toxins from leaving our fields, fill in as a firm establishment for rural exercises, and give living space to soil organisms to thrive and differentiate to keep the environment running easily and efficently.
Erosion increases as the length and/or steepness of the slope increases by affecting the volume and velocity of water flow.
There are different layers of soil, called horizons, that are made up of different things. The first layer is the O horizon, which is made of leaf litter and humus (decomposed organic material). The next layer is the A horizon, which is made of humus and mineral particles. The E horizon, which comes after A, is made of sand and silt. The B horizon is made of clay and mineral deposits. The C horizon has broken up bedrock and little organic material. The deepest layer is the R horizon. This horizon is unweathered bedrock.
Refers to the ‘lie of the land’, or the physical and geographic characteristics of land in terms of elevation, slope and orientation, or aspect (facing north). An understanding of topography is critical for a number of reasons. In terms of environmental quality, agriculture, and hydrology, understanding the topography of an area enhances the understanding of watershed boundaries, drainage characteristics, water movement and water quality. Understanding topography also aids in soil conservation, especially in agriculture. Contour ploughing, which is the practice of ploughing along the topographic lines, is an established practice of enabling sustainable agriculture on sloping land. When planning planting areas, an understanding of
Over millions of years as the Earth evolved, parent material was eroded and soil developed. Studies of soils throughout the world have shown that the formation of soils are largely controlled by five major factors which are climate, topography; living organisms; nature of parent material; chemical and mineralogical composition and time. The affect of climate on topography on soil formation are taken into account with reference to the formation of the soils of the Maltese Islands.
The process of the soil erosion is detachment, movement and deposition. Detachment is identified with the separation or disconnection of the soil. Through movement and deposition is changing location and deposing items. Soil also may be moved and detached by water, wind, and tillage. Soil forms from a thin layer of material covering the Earth’s surface. This is formed by the weathering of rocks, but mainly made up of mineral particles, organic minerals, air, water, and living organisms. They all come together slowly yet constantly to form