| A | B |
|---|
| characteristics of soil moisture regimes | pedology-study of soils w/ respect to mineral properties and soil development, edaphology-study of soils with respect to ability to support plant life |
| forms and types of soil moisture (soil water) | oxisol, vertisol, aridisol, mollisol, ultisol, alfisol, hisosol, spodosol, gelisol, andisol, entisol, inceptisol, |
| classes of soil texture | clay-under .002mm, silt-between .002mm-.062mm, sand-between .062mm-2.0mm, loam: mixture of sand, silt and clay |
| principal types of soil structure | granular-spheroidal, blocky-rectangular, platy-layered, prismatic-columnar |
| characteristics of soil chemistry (pH) | pH measures concentration of H+ ions.m 14-alcalilne-lowH+, 7-Nutral, 0-Acidic-High H-. Too much alk-plants deficient in Fe, beans like pH 6.8. evergreens like 4.5 |
| principal soil-forming (pedogenic) processes | 1. soil begins as rock 2. weathering begins to break rock down 3. as rock weathers, plants can grow into weathered rock breaking it down farther and adding organic material to the rock 4. as the rock continues to weather, worms, insects, bacteria, and fungus move in, die, and add more organic material into the soil. 5. as these organisms continue to live and die, their organic material decays to form humus. 6. the more humus in the soil, the better and more developed the soil |
| independent soil-forming factors | Climate, Organisms, Relief, Parent material, Time (CLORPT |
| soil orders and their significant characteristics | Horizon A top layer, topsoil, has most humus, "growing layer" bigger the A the better. B horizon second layer, some humus, it leaches water and nutrients from A, C horizon is bottom layer, no humus, almost entirely rock |
| characteristics of fluvial processes: erosion, transportation, deposition | uuu |
| characteristics and behavior of streams and stream channels | stream work-velocity controls erosion, transportation, depostition. disolved, suspended (cloudy) and bed loads (clear, wide shallow)),. stream channels-braided, meandering, straight |
| characteristics of patterns of drainage basins and networks | v |
| characteristics of fluvial landforms and floodplains | valley-develpment over time (initial, youth, maturity, old age), floodplain-area flooded every year (natural levee, oxbow lakes), terraces, alluvial fans, bajada, deltas |
| Entisol | soils that have little or slight development and properties that reflect their parent material. They include soils on steep slopes, flood plains, and sand dunes. they occur in many environments. |
| Mollisol | soils that have a dark surface horizon. these soils formed from nutrient-rich parent material, and are commonly in grasslands. they are dominantly in the Great Plains and Western States. |
| horizon | the layers of a soil profile |
| laterization | a pedogenic process operating in well-drained soils that occur in warm and humid regions; typical of Oxisols. Plentiful precipitation leaches soluble minerals and soil constituents. Resulting soils usually are reddish or yellowish |
| leaching | the extraction of certain materials from a carrier into a liquid (usually, but not always a solvent) |
| base level | a hypothetical level below which a stream cannot erode its valley, and thus the lowest operative level for denudation processes; in an absolute sense, it is represented by sea level, extending under the landscape |
| point bar | in a stream in the inner portion of a meander, where sediment fill is redeposited |
| trunk stream | a large stream into which tributaries carry water and sediment |
| field capacity | water held in the soil by hydrogen bonding against the pull of gravity, remaining after water drains from the larger pore spaces; the available water for plants (see available water, capillary water) |
| Aridisol | soils that are too dry to grow mesophytic plants. They may have clay-enriched subsoil and/or cemented to noncemented deposits of salts or carbonates. these soils are commonly in the deserts of Western states |
| Oxisol | soils in humid, tropic, or subtropic areas that have low activity clay and few weatherable minerals. they commonly have reddish or yellowish soils that do not have distinct horizons. they are most extensive in Hawaii and Puerto Rico |
| Bioturbation | the displacement and mixing of sediment particles by fauna or flora |
| calcification | the illuviated (deposited) accumulation of calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate in the B and C soil horizons |
| hygroscopic water | that portion of soil moisture that is so tightly bound to each soil particle that it is unavailable to plant roots; the water, along with some bound capillary water, that is left in the soil after the wilting point is reached (see wilting point) |
| floodplain | a flat, low-lying area along a stream channel, created by and subject to recurrent flooding; alluvial deposits generally musk underlying rock |
| meander | meandering stream is the sinuous, curving pattern common to graded streams, with the energetic outer portion of each curve subjected to the greatest erosive action and the lower-energy inner portion receiving sediment deposits (see graded stream) |
| tributary | a stream or river which flows into a mainstem (or parent) river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body of water |
| scouring | "cleaning" |
| wilting point | that point in the soil-moisture balance when only hygroscopic water and some bound capillary water remains. plants wilt and eventually die after prolonged stress from a lack of available water |
| epipedon | the diagnostic soil horizon that forms at the surface; not to be confused with the A horizon; may include all or part of the illuviated B horizon |
| Andisol | soils that commonly formed in volcanic parent material. these soils have high porostity, particle surface area, and water-holding capacity. they are common in the volcanic areas of Alaska, Hawaii, and Pacific Northwest |
| illuviation | the downward movement and deposition of finer particles and minerals from the upper horizon of the soil; a depositional process. deposition usually is in the B horizon, where accumulations of clays, aluminum, carbonates, iron, and some humus occur (compare eluviation; see calcificiation) |
| eluviation | the removal of finer particles and minerals from the upper horizons of soil; and erosional process within a soil body (compare illuviation) |
| capillary water | soil moisture, most of which is accessible to plant roots; held in the soil by the water's surface tension and cohesive forces between water and soil (see also available water, field capacity, hygroscopic water and wilting point). |
| oxbow lake | a lake that was formerly part of the channel of a meandering stream; isolated when a stream eroded its outer bank forming a cutoff through the neck of the looping meander (see meandering stream). in Australia, known as a billabong (aboriginal for "dead river") |
| riffle | preemient feature of coldwater streams. broken water surface. can hide predators, food source, shelter, oxgygenates water |
| dissolved load | materials carried in chemical solution in a stream, derived from minerals such as limestone and dolomite, or from soluble salts |
| natural levee | a long, low ridge that forms on both sides of a stream in a developed floodplain; they are depositional products (coarse gravels and sand) of river flooding |
| turbulent flow | fluid regime characterized by chatoic, stochastic property changes |
| leaching | that when water filters through the A horizon, that water carries things into the B horizon |
| Alfisol | soils in semiarid to humid areas that have a clay and nutrient-enriched subsoil. they commonly have a mixed vegetative cover and are productive for most crops |
| Histosol | dark soils that have slightly decomposed to well decomposed organic materials derived from sedges, grasses, leaves, hydrophytic plants and woody materials. these soils dominantly are very poorly drained and occur in low-lying areas. |
| podzolization | a pedogenic process in cool, moist climates; forms a highly leached soil with strong surface acidity because of humus from acid-rich trees |
| gravitational water | that portion of surplus water that percolates downward from the capillary zone, pulled by gravity to the groundwater zone |
| cut bank | river cliff, is and erosional feature of streams. cut banks are found in abundance along mature or meandering streams, they are located onthe outside of a stream bend, known as a meander. they arae shaped much like a small cliff and are formed by the erosion of soil as the stream collides with the river bank |
| neck | ? |
| delta | a depositional plain formed where a river enters a lake or an ocean; named after the triangular shape of the Greek letter delta |
| laminar flow | streamline flow, occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between the layerws |
