Module #25

Weathering and Soil Science

Module Introduction:

► Soil is a combination of geologic and organic material that forms a

dynamic membrane over much of the surface of Earth.
► A variety of processes that occur in soil connect the overlying biology
with the underlying geology.
► In this module we will explore the weathering of rocks that leads to the
formation of soil and the development of specific soil horizons.
► We will discuss physical, chemical, and biological processes that take
place in soils.
► Finally, we will examine human activities that degrade soils, including
the process of mining.
 Module #25: Weathering and Soil
Science
Module #25 Review Essential Additional
Review Questions: Knowledge: Resources
D, E, D, A, E, E 4.2, 4.3, 5.9, 8.2 to Review

Learning Objectives 1. Bozeman: Soil and Soil

After this module you should be able to: Dynamics
2. Bozeman: Mining
● Understand how weathering and erosion occur and
3. PBS: Battle Over
how they contribute to element cycling and soil Phosphate Mining Roils
formation. Small Florida Town
● Explain how soil forms and describe its characteristics. 4. Mr. Rittner’s Notes on
Soil
● Describe how humans extract elements and minerals
and the social and environmental consequences of
these activities.
Essential Knowledge

4.2 Soil Formation and Erosion (Module 25)

● Soils are formed when parent material is weathered, transported,
and deposited.
● Soils are generally categorized by horizons based on their
composition and organic material.
● Soils can be eroded by winds or water.
● Protecting soils can protect water quality as soils effectively filter
and clean water that moves through them.
Essential Knowledge

4.3 Soil Composition and Properties (Module 25)

● Water holding capacity—the total amount of water soil can
hold—varies with different soil types. Water retention contributes
to land productivity and fertility of soils.
● The particle size and composition of each soil horizon can affect
the porosity, permeability, and fertility of the soil.
● There are a variety of methods to test the chemical, physical, and
biological properties of soil that can aid in a variety of decisions,
such as irrigation and fertilizer requirements.
● A soil texture triangle is a diagram that allows for the identification
and comparison of soil types based on their percentage of clay,
silt, and sand.
Essential Knowledge
5.9 Impacts of Mining (Module 25)
● As the more accessible ores are mined to depletion, mining operations are forced
to access lower grade ores. Accessing these ores requires increased use of
resources that can cause increased waste and pollution.
● Surface mining is the removal of large portions of soil and rock, called overburden,
in order to access the ore underneath. An example is strip mining, which removes
the vegetation from an area, making the area more susceptible to erosion.
● Mining wastes include the soil and rocks that are moved to gain access to the ore
and the waste, called slag and tailings that remain when the minerals have been
removed from the ore. Mining helps to provide low cost energy and material
necessary to make products. The mining of coal can destroy habitats, contaminate
groundwater, and release dust particles and methane.
● As coal reserves get smaller, due to a lack of easily accessible reserves, it becomes
necessary to access coal through subsurface mining, which is very expensive.
Essential Knowledge

8.2 Human Impacts on Ecosystems (Modules 25, 41-44, 51-54, 57, 60)
● Organisms have a range of tolerance for various pollutants. Organisms have an
optimum range for each factor where they can maintain homeostasis. Outside of
this range, organisms may experience physiological stress, limited growth, reduced
reproduction, and in extreme cases, death.
● Coral reefs have been suffering damage due to a variety of factors, including
increasing ocean temperature, sediment runoff, and destructive fishing practices.
● Oil spills in marine waters cause organisms to die from the hydrocarbons in oil. Oil
that floats on the surface of water can coat the feathers of birds and fur of marine
mammals. Some components of oil sink to the ocean floor, killing some
bottom-dwelling organisms.
● Oil that washes up on the beach can have economic consequences on the fishing
and tourism industries.
Essential Knowledge
8.2 Human Impacts on Ecosystems (Continued)
● Oceanic dead zones are areas of low oxygen in the world’s oceans caused by
increased nutrient pollution.
● An oxygen sag curve is a plot of dissolved oxygen levels versus the distance from a
source of pollution, usually excess nutrients and biological refuse.
● Heavy metals used for industry, especially mining and burning of fossil fuels, can
reach the groundwater, impacting the drinking water supply.
● Litter that reaches aquatic ecosystems, besides being unsightly, can create intestinal
blockage and choking hazards for wildlife and introduce toxic substances to the
food chain.
● Increased sediment in waterways can reduce light infiltration, which can affect
primary producers and visual predators. Sediment can also settle, disrupting habitats.
● When elemental sources of mercury enter aquatic environments, bacteria in the
water convert it to highly toxic methylmercury.
Weathering
► Soil is composed of organic and inorganic
components.
► Organic components are supplied by organisms
(dead or alive) and their wastes, while the
inorganic compounds of soil are derived from
parent materials (rocks).
► Weathering refers to the breakdown of parent
material such as rock and minerals into smaller
components forming soil.
► Weathering can be physical, chemical or
biological in nature.
 Physical weathering: The
mechanical breakdown
Physical Weathering of rocks and minerals.

► Water can work its way into cracks in rock, where it can wash away
loose material. When the water freezes and expands, it can widen
the cracks.
► The ability of water/ice to physically weathering rock and form soil is
one more reason water is fundamentally important to life on Earth.
 Chemical weathering: The breakdown
of rocks and minerals by chemical
Chemical Weathering reactions, the dissolving of chemical
elements from rocks, or both.

Calcium bicarbonate is
aqueous and therefore
the limestone dissolves
away over time.

► Water that contains carbonic acid wears away limestone,

sometimes forming spectacular caves.
 Biological Weathering: The breakdown of rocks
and minerals by the exertion of physical forces
Biological and chemical reactions by a biological organism.

Weathering
Biological weathering
can be physical or
chemical in nature,
so long as an
organism is the one
exerting the force or
promoting the
chemical reaction.

► Growing plant roots can force rock sections apart. Plants will often
release acids to help further degrade rock.
Erosion

► Erosion: The physical removal of rock fragments from a landscape or

ecosystem.
► Erosion is usually the result of two processes:
► Abiotic erosion: Wind, water and ice move materials downslope.
► Biotic erosion: Living organisms burrow under the soil.
 ► Regulating: Soil provides a major
carbon sink to mitigate climate
Soil Ecosystem Services change.
► Provisioning: Indirectly soil provides
food through the crops we grow in
► Supporting: Soil often serves as the literal agricultural operations.
foundation for ecosystems as plants require
soil to grow in.
► Supporting: Soil provides habitat for
organisms to live in including microorganisms,
invertebrates and burrowing mammals.
► Supporting: Soil serves as an important
medium for nutrient cycling. In particular soil
serves a major reservoir for carbon.
► Regulating: Soil can filter out pollutants. As
the water percolates through the soil, the soil
acts a physical filtration system. Soil and soil
organisms collect and remove the harmful
pollutants that settle.
Soil Formation

Soil is a mixture of organic and

inorganic matter:
► The weathering of rock and parent
material provides the inorganic
matter.
► The organic matter comes from
organisms and their wastes.
► Both of these processes take time
occur and so soils mature as they
age.
► Other factors that influence soil
formation come from CLORPT.
 The Formation of Soil (CLORPT)
CLimate Organisms Relief Parent Material Time
(Topography) (Rock)
The long-term Individual plants, The arrangement of The rock material How long a soil has
patterns of weather animals, fungi, the natural and from which the been developing
including microbes and other artificial physical inorganic for.
temperature and life forms. features of an area. components of a soil
precipitation. are derived.
Warmer temperatures Plants remove Soils that develop on The physical and Soils develop in
promote soil nutrients and steep slopes chemical properties predictable patterns
formation because of release acids that experience frequent of a soil are known as soil
accelerated accelerate erosion and even determined by the horizons. Older soils
decomposition by weathering. Root landslides, while soils parent material. For tend to accumulate
microbes. Higher action can break at the bottom of example, calcium more nutrients
precipitation can down parent slopes can rapidly carbonate → soils making them deep,
disrupt soil formation material. Burrowing accumulate with high pH (basic). rich and fertile.
by increasing the rate animals mix and material.
of erosion. redistribute soil.
 Horizon: A horizontal layer in a
soil defined by distinctive
Soil Horizons physical features such as
texture and color.

The organic
Over time, soil develop horizons. There are five soil horizons: matter in soil
► O horizon: The organic horizon at the surface of many soils, is called
composed of organic detritus in various stages of humus.
decomposition.
► A horizon: Frequently the top layer of soil, a zone of organic The R layer is
technically not a
material and minerals that have been mixed together. Also
horizon but refers to
known as Topsoil. the bedrock at the
► E horizon: A zone of leaching, or eluviation, found in some base of the soil that
acidic soils under the O horizon or, less often, the A horizon. provides inorganic
components to the
► B horizon: A soil horizon composed primarily of mineral soil via weathering.
material with very little organic matter.
► C horizon: The least-weathered soil horizon, which always More precipitation → more
occurs beneath the B horizon and is similar to the parent leaching in soil (cations
material. dissolve in rainwater and are
carried away).
 The R layer refers to the bedrock at the
base of the soil that provides inorganic
Soil Horizons components to the soil via weathering.

► All soils have horizons, or layers, which vary depending on

soil-forming factors such as climate, organisms, and parent material.
Most soils have either an O or A horizon and usually not both. Some
soils that have an O horizon also have an E horizon.
Properties of Soil
  ► There are three properties of soil: 
► Physical
► Chemical
► Biological
► These properties are used to classify soils
and better understand their role in
ecosystems.
► The United State Department of
Agriculture (USDA) uses a 12 order soil
taxonomy system centered around these
properties.
► Soil degradation: The loss of some or all of
a soil’s ability to support plant growth.
Physical Properties of Soil

The physical properties of soil refer to physical

characteristics such as texture and permeability.
► The texture of a soil is determined by its percentage
of sand, silt, and clay. Clay is smaller than silt, silt is
smaller than sand.
► Soil permeability: The ability of water and air to
move through a soil. Soil permeability depends on its
texture.
► Larger particles like sand fit together loosely, (top) Soils consist of a mixture of
while smaller particles like clay pack together clay, silt, and sand. The relative
tightly. This reduces water flow and lowers the proportions of these particles
permeability of the soil. determine the texture of the
soil.
(bottom) The relative sizes of
sand, silt, and clay.
Soil Texture Chart

► Each side of the triangle act as

an axis for the % of sand, silt
and clay.
► If you know the percentages of
each soil particle in your
sample, you can use the chart
to determine the texture.
► Example: a sample with 50%
sand, 30% clay and 20% silt is
considered a “sandy clay
loam”.
Soil Permeability

► The permeability of soil depends on its texture. Sand, with its large,
loosely packed particles, drains quickly. Clay drains much more
slowly.
Water-Holding Capacity

► Water-Holding Capacity: the ability of a certain soil texture to

physically hold water against the force of gravity.
► Water molecules adhere to the surface of the soil particles (sand, silt
and clay).
► Finer textured soils (such as clay) can hold more water because they
have the greatest surface area relative to their volume compared to
the other soil particles (silt and sand).
Water-holding capacity is important for agriculture:
► Soils that can hold more water require less rainfall or irrigation.
► But, soils with excessive water-holding capacity can also flood more
easily, promoting the growth of fungi that can cause root rot.
 As plants carry out metabolism
they produce acids which enter
Chemical Properties of Soil the soil. The acids release H+
and displace nutrient cations
and lower base saturation.

► The chemical properties of soil help determine how a soil functions.

► Cation exchange capacity (CEC): The ability of a particular soil to absorb and
release cations.
► Cations such as calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), potassium (K+) and sodium
(Na+) are important nutrients for plants.
► Clay and organic material have negative charges and provide locations for
cations to bind in soil, increasing CEC.
► H+ and aluminum (Al3+) compete for these locations, lowering base saturation.
► Most plants prefer alkaline/basic (as opposed to acidic) soils with a high CEC
since they can hold more cation nutrients.
► Base saturation: The percentage of total CEC is occupied by Mg 2+, Ca2+ and K+
(nutrient cations) compared to H+ and Al3+; higher base saturation → higher fertility.
Cation Exchange Capacity
Visualized
Base Saturation Visualized

► Consider a room full of 100 chairs

(CEC).
► If 35 of those chairs are occupied by
Mg2+, Ca2+ and K+, the base saturation
is 35%.
► The remaining 65 chairs are occupied
by H+ and Al3+ which “box out” the
nutrient cations. This is why plants
typically prefer more alkaline soils.
► CEC Video Resource
 Just as weathering adds
inorganic nutrients to soil,
Biological Properties of Soil decomposition supply
organic nutrients.

► The biological properties of soil refer to the

activities of the many organisms living in soil. 
► Fungi, bacteria and protozoans account for most
of the soil organisms (80-90%) and therefore most
of the biological activity in soil, especially
decomposition. 
► Organisms such as snails, slugs, insects, earthworms
and rodents burrow in soil, helping to mix it and
perform decomposition reactions that add organic
nutrients to the soil.
► Decomposition: The process by which organic
substances are broken down into simpler organic
matter.
Mining

► The distribution of minerals on Earth has social and environmental

consequences particularly for geopolitics and energy independence.
► Rocks, minerals, metals and even fossil fuels are all finite resources that
we collect through mining. 
► Some resources are abundant but others are rare.
► Ore: A concentrated accumulation of minerals from which economically
valuable materials can be extracted.
► Metal: An element with properties that allow it to conduct electricity and
heat energy, and to perform other important functions.
► Reserve: In resource management, the known quantity of a resource
that can be economically recovered.
Abundance of Ores and Metals

Oxygen is the most abundant element

in the crust. Silicon, aluminum, and iron
are the next three most abundant
elements.
 Consider the physical impact of
mining on the environment.
Surface Mining Techniques What expertanlties can we
invision for this type of land use?

► Strip mining: The removal of strips of

soil and rock to expose ore such as
coal.
► Open-pit mining: A mining
technique that uses a large visible
pit or hole in the ground.
► Mountaintop removal: A mining
technique in which the entire top of
a mountain is removed with
explosives.
► Placer mining: The process of
looking for minerals, metals, and
precious stones in river sediments.
Mining Operations
► A major challenge with mining is the
production of tailings that can alter and
pollute the landscape.
► Above: tailings ponds are used to hold
disturbed soil and overburden during
mining operations.
► Below: an illustration of overburden in
surface and subsurface mining.
► Mining tailings: Unwanted waste
material created during mining
► Overburden: rock or soil overlying a
mineral deposit, or other underground
feature.
The Impacts of Tailings
Tailings Have Poor Soil Stability Tailings Generate Pollution
Tailing piles lack vegetation to hold Tailing piles often contain harmful materials and
soil particles in place and the recently pollutants. This leads to numerous issues
disturbed soil is loose and aerated. including:
This leads to numerous issues
► Release of toxic heavy metals (e.g.
including:
mercury) into the environment.
► Increased sedimentation and
► Increased human health problems due to
turbidity in streams → damage
inhalation of dust/particulate matter.
of aquatic ecosystems.
► Release of radioactivity from copper or
► Increased erosion and
uranium mining.
particulate matter pollution.
► Release of acids used in the mining process
► Increased landslides. into local aquifers and aquatic ecosystems.
 Subsurface mining is generally more expensive
than surface mining because of higher costs
Subsurface Mining including: wages, healthcare and safety
concerns (e.g. insurance and workman’s
Techniques compensation for injuries), and complexity (e.g.
more powerful, expensive drills and tools.

► Subsurface mining: Mining techniques used when the desired

resource is more than 100 m (328 feet) below the surface of Earth.
► Diamonds, and gold are some of the materials extracted by
subsurface mining.
Mining Impacts and Important
College Board Terms
► Like many other anthropogenic impacts, mining causes habitat
destruction and fragmentation which leads to reductions in biodiversity
and ecosystem services.
► Habitat Fragmentation: The process by which large and contiguous
habitats get divided into smaller, isolated patches of habitats often by
road building, deforestation, mining, etc. Learn more about habitat
fragmentation here.
► Habitat Destruction: The process by which a natural habitat, such as a
forest or wetland, is altered so dramatically that it no longer supports the
species it originally sustained. This is often generated by filling in
wetlands, mountaintop removal, agriculture/land development, etc.
learn more about habitat loss (including habitat fragmentation and
destruction) here.
 Subsurface mining is more
dangerous and therefore

The Environmental and Health expensive since it require more

insurance due to higher risk of
accidents and injury
Impacts of Mining compared to surface mining.
 Acid Mine Drainage: the outflow of acidic water from
metal mines or coal mines.
Mining Reclamation Reclamation: the process of restoring land that has
been mined to a natural or economically usable state.
Methods
Erosion Habitat Destruction Subsidence Acid Mine Drainage
Environmental Large scale mining → Mining operations Removal of soil for Release of acidic water
Issue deforestation and plant destroy natural mining can lead from a mining site
removal which landscapes through areas to sink and directly harms organisms
promotes erosion land use changes and collapse and reduces water
abandonment of (subsidence). quality (including pH) of
tailings. local
streams/waterways.
Reclamation
Plant trees to promote Remove or impound Fill in with soil or Use retaining ponds to
Strategy root growth and tailings. tailings. trap runoff.
reduce wind exposure
as well as runoff. Restore natural Fence off areas to Treat acidic
landscape and plant restrict access. water/drainage with
life by planting native limestone (calcium
trees and plants. carbonate) to neutralize.

Recontour landscape.
Do The Math: Plate Movement

► See page 268 of the textbook.

► Make sure to review the math problem and make sure you
understand the set up, especially the dimensional analysis.
► Your Turn answer =
► 91,440 m
► 4,572 years
Module Review:
► In this module, we saw that rocks and minerals undergo physical and
chemical weathering and become products that are precursors for soil.
► Weathered materials are subject to erosion, which is a natural process that
can be enhanced by human activity. Erosion also influences the precursors
to soil.
► Soil forms from geologic materials as well as biological material. Soil
properties result from physical, chemical and biological processes that are
influenced by five soil forming factors.
► Concentrated accumulations of elements and minerals in and below soils
that are economically valuable are called ores.
► When ores are extracted, a variety of consequences affect humans and
the environment.