1. The geographical features of an area play an important role in soil formation
Answers
The relief features, parent material, climate, vegetation, and other life-forms, as well as time apart from human activities, are the major factors responsible for the formation of soil.
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Answer:
Climate: climate has a big influence on soils over the long term because water from rain and warm temperatures will promote weathering, which is the dissolution of rock particles and liberating of nutrients that proceed in soils with the help of plant roots and microbes. Weathering requires rainfall and is initially a positive process that replenishes these solubilized nutrients in soils year after year and helps plants to access nutrients. However over the long run (thousands to millions of years) and in rainy climates, rain water passing through a soil (leaching) leaves acid-producing elements in the soil like aluminum and hydrogen ions, and carries away more of the nutrients that foster a neutral pH (e.g. calcium, magnesium, potassium; see the next page on soil properties for a discussion on soil pH). Old soils in rainy areas, therefore, tend to be more acidic, while dry-region soils tend to be neutral or alkaline in pH. Acid soils can make it difficult for many crops to grow. Meanwhile, dry climate soils retain nutrients gained in weathering of rock -- a good thing -- but may lack plant cover because of dry conditions. A lack of plant cover leaves the soil unprotected from damage by soil erosion and means that dry climate soils often lack dead plant material (residues) to enrich the soil with organic matter. Both dry and wet climate soils have advantages as well as challenges that must be addressed by human knowledge in managing them well so that they are protected as valuable resources.
Parent Material: soils form through gradual modification of an original raw material like rock, ash, or river sediments. The nature of this raw material is very important. Granite rock (magma that hardened under the earth) versus shale (old, compressed seabed sediments) produce very different soils. An important example of parent material influencing soils with consequences for human food production are soils made from limestone or calcium and magnesium carbonates. These rocks strongly resist the process of acidification by rainfall and leaching described above. Limestone soils maintain their neutral level of acidity (or pH) even after thousands of years of weathering, and thus can better maintain their productivity. An example of this parent material influence is the Great Valley in Pennsylvania, USA, where the Amish reside. These Pennsylvania soils are considered some of the most productive soils in the U.S. even after hundreds of years of farming. Pockets of other limestone soils the world over are similarly productive over the long term. In summary, as part of learning about a food production systems of a region, it can be helpful to consider the types of rock that occur in that region, which you may want to consider for your capstone regions.
Soil age: the time that a soil has been exposed to weathering processes from climate, and the time over which vegetation has been able to contribute dead organic material, are important influences on a soil. Very young soils are often shallow and have little organic matter. In a rainy climate, young (e.g. 1000 years) to medium aged (e.g. 100,000 years) soils may be inherently very fertile because rainfall and weathering have not yet removed their nutrients. Old soils are usually deep and may be fertile or infertile depending on the parent material and long-term climatic conditions. Soils in previously glaciated regions such as the northern U.S. and Europe are usually thought of as young because glaciers recently (~10,000 years ago) left fresh sediments made from ground up rock materials.
Soil slopes, relief, and soil depth: Steep slopes in mountain and hilly regions causes soils to be eroded quickly by rainfall unless soils are covered by throughout the year by crops or forest. These hilly and mountain regions may also have young soils, and the combination of young soils and erosion can make for soils that are quite thin. Meanwhile, flat valley areas are where the eroded soil is likely to accumulate, so soils will be deep. Along with the water holding capacity and the nutrient content of a soil, soil depth determines how much soil "space" or soil volumea crop's roots can explore for nutrients and water. Soil depth is an important and often overlooked determinant of crop productivity of soils. Moreover, these large-scale "mountain versus valley" differences can be mirrored within a single field, with small differences in topography creating differences in drainage, depth, and other soil properties that dramatically affect soil productivity within ten to twenty meters distance.