The Wealth Beneath Your Feet

SOIL LAB: The Wealth Beneath Your Feet Purpose: To determine potential growth based on tests of physical characteristics such as pH, fertility and consistency. Pre-Lab: TO start off our investigation, we had to gather soil. Our group decided to get it from below a tree, right next to the trunk. In terms on fertility, we rated our soil to be a 4 (1 being the least fertile, 10 being the most). We rated it rather high because it was in a place where it had not been tampered with making it better than others. Also, it was quite dark and matched up very well with diagrams online of fertile soil. (http://www. enchantedlearning. com/geology/soil/) TEST ONE: Collection of Soil and Observation of Soil Profile The first layer (O) we observed is the top layer, a layer of organic soil. It is made up of humus and leaf sediment. Below that (A) comes the topsoil. This is where seeds sprout and other plants roots grow. This layer is also made up of humus, but here are other mineral particles as well. Next is the eluviation layer (E). This layer contains mostly sand and silt. It is the eluviation layer because of the process that takes place here where minerals are lost as well as clay because of water dripping through the soil. The subsoil layer is next (B). This layer is made up of clay and mineral substances, it receives from the eater being dripped during the form the eluviation process eluviation process. ,Regoliath (C) lies beneath and is mostly just broken up bedrock. Lastly is the actual bedrock layer (R), essentially just unweathered rock.