Soil and Water Conservation

Created and compiled byRoss Kinsler –NREM 4052002

A Merit Badge Teaching Aid

What is Soil?

• soil - The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.

                          

Miami Soil

How is soil formed?

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Soil Ingredients

• SandSand is the largest particle in the soil. When you rub it, it feels rough. This is because it has sharp edges.

• SiltSilt is a soil particle whose size is between sand and clay. Silt feels smooth and powdery. When wet it feels smooth but not sticky.

• ClayClay is the smallest of particles. Clay is smooth when dry and sticky when wet. Soils high in clay content are called heavy soils.

• Organic matterOrganic matter or HumusHumus is the part of soil that comes from the leaves, branches, animal wastes, and everything organic that falls on the ground. As these are broken down by water, sun, and, small creatures the organic substances in them are incorporated into the soil. Humus increases the nutrient holding ability of the soil and improves soil structure.

Soil Types

• Sand, silt, and clay are the basic types of soil. Most soils are made up of a combination of the three. The relative amount of each determines the characteristics of the soil.

• Sand– Good drainage

– Poor nutrient retention

• Silt– Good nutrient retention

• Clay– Best nutrient retention

– Poor drainage

Soil in Indiana

Miami Soil Fine-loamy, mixed, active,

mesic Oxyaquic Hapudalfs

• Surface layer: brown silt loam

Subsurface layer: brown silt loam

Subsoil: dark yellowish brown clay loam

Substratum: brown loam

Primary Nutrients

• Nitrogen– Proteins and amino

acids

• Phosphorus– Nucleic acids, ATP,

Chlorophyll

• Potassium– Catalyst, ion transport

Nutrient Recharge

• Nitrogen Sources– Ammonia Fertilizer

– Nitrogen Fixing Plants• Alfalfa

• Legumes

• Phosphorus Sources– Phosphate Fertilizer

– Manure

• Potassium Sources– Potash

– Bone meal

Erosion

• Erosion is a process that removes soil layers and carries them away from farmer's fields to bodies of water or other land. This results in loss of nutrients and organic matter.

Examples of Erosion Control Methods

                                                     

Straw mulch applicationTerra farming

What is a watershed?

• It's the area of land that catches rain and snow and drains or seeps into a marsh, stream, river, lake or groundwater.

Diagram KJ

Includes parking lots, roofsfields, lawns

The Water Cycle

How water moves

• percolation--(1) The movement of water through the openings in rock or soil. (2) the entrance of a portion of the streamflow into the channel materials to contribute to ground water replenishment

• capillary action--the means by which liquid moves through the porous spaces in a solid, such as soil, plant roots, and the capillary blood vessels in our bodies due to the forces of adhesion, cohesion, and surface tension. Capillary action is essential in carrying substances and nutrients from one place to another in plants and animals.

More water movement

• evaporation--the process of liquid water becoming water vapor, including vaporization from water surfaces, land surfaces, and snow fields, but not from leaf surfaces.

• precipitation--rain, snow, hail, sleet, dew, and frost

• transpiration--process by which water that is absorbed by plants, usually through the roots, is evaporated into the atmosphere from the plant surface, such as leaf pores.

Role of vegetation

• Vegetation holds soils and slows surface water movement.– Slows erosion

– Improves infiltration

– Improves nutrient holding

– Improves quality of surface water

Copyright © 2002 Missouri Botanical Garden

Water Pollution

• Water pollution occurs when a body of water is adversely affected due to the addition of large amounts of materials to the water. These materials could include: toxic substances, fertilizers, organic matter, sediments, or animal wastes. Runoff carries harmful chemicals great distances and causes them to be concentrated in water ways and lakes.

Types of Pollution

• Non-point source– occurs when there is

runoff of pollutants into a waterway, for instance when fertilizer from a field is carried into a stream by surface runoff.

• Point source– occurs when the

polluting substance is emitted directly into the waterway. A pipe spewing toxic chemicals directly into a river is an example.

http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/

Common Sources

• Industry– Soil Erosion

– Toxic effluents

– Mine runoff

• Farming– Fertilizer run-off

– Animal waste run-off

• Residential– Lawn care fertilizer run-off

– Improper sewage treatment

Local Pollution Reduction Efforts

• Uses Federal grant money to determine methods of reducing non-point source water pollution in a community based effort through the Soil and Water Conservation District of Delaware County.

• http://www.co.delaware.in.us/watershed/

Water Treatment

• Primary– removes

suspended solids in settling tanks

• Secondary– Removes organic

matter using bacterial agents

Water Treatment

Bibliography• http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/dictionary.html• http://mbgnet.mobot.org/fresh/cycle/• http://www.epa.gov/water/• http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0768.html• http://www.pirg.org/reports/enviro/poison/• http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/case2/c2facts2.html• http://www.co.delaware.in.us/watershed/• http://soils.usda.gov/• http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/BainCalif/

calwestsubjects.html• http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/urbanexp/vuosaari.htm• http://www.usscouts.org/usscouts/mb/mb106.html