Episode 11: Soil Petrology - Dishing the Dirt on Soil

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 Welcome to It's Set of Entry, my dear, a conversational podcast about all things geology.

spk_0 I'm your host Ellen, and I'm Jane.

spk_0 What are we talking about today?

spk_0 Well, I think we're going to talk about something that's a little filthy, but I think it should

spk_0 be safe for our all-rated audience here because we're going to talk about some dirt.

spk_0 Yeah, we're going to talk about some dirt today.

spk_0 Now I know that I had promised you guys a glacierist part two episode, but I think we're going

spk_0 to postpone that because honestly, it's spring now and nearly summer.

spk_0 And it's time to move on from ice and get into something that we all need in our lives, which is dirt.

spk_0 We need dirt.

spk_0 Before we do that, I just want to say hi.

spk_0 Thank you all for listening.

spk_0 Ellen, we were on an unexpected hiatus, and mainly it's because, although I think I'm speaking for both of us,

spk_0 Ellen and I both love recording this and doing this podcast.

spk_0 Unfortunately, this is a hobby and not a job.

spk_0 And sometimes life gets in the way of us being able to do the fun stuff that we want to do.

spk_0 So we're sorry, but we're back now.

spk_0 And we're excited to record and we're hoping to bring some more geology knowledge to the populace.

spk_0 Yeah, we got a lot of messages and comments from everybody who's been listening,

spk_0 even the time that we weren't recording.

spk_0 So thank you so much for those.

spk_0 They're very, very kind, very sweet, and yeah, keep sending them in.

spk_0 It's very, very interesting.

spk_0 Yeah, especially when we are bogged down by life.

spk_0 So thank you.

spk_0 So we look forward to bringing you more knowledge, but particularly I'm excited about today's topic, which is just absolutely dirty.

spk_0 I love me some dirt.

spk_0 I didn't realize that like dirt was like a part of geology.

spk_0 I think a lot of people don't really think about it.

spk_0 That soil and geology kind of go hand in hand.

spk_0 I mean, obviously, okay, so I'm saying dirt, but soil is usually the way to do it.

spk_0 So I think the term that people use soil potrology specifically is like the study of dirt.

spk_0 And I just prefer to use the word dirt.

spk_0 But the thing is we have, I don't know, I've just always been fascinated with dirt in particular.

spk_0 I don't know, I don't know.

spk_0 Ellen remembers this as a child.

spk_0 I was telling you to your parents the other day I was just talking to them, but we used to have,

spk_0 do you remember in our backyard, Ellen, that on the hill in the backyard by the sea or trees?

spk_0 There was a kind of like a little divot in the ground that never grew grass.

spk_0 It was just a grass and it was just like, I know what you're talking about.

spk_0 But the soil, yes.

spk_0 So when I was little, I used to go into the backyard in like the summer and I would take a hose.

spk_0 And I would put the hose right in that spot where grass never grew.

spk_0 And it was just like dirt.

spk_0 And I would like let run the hose over for a while until it was like muddy.

spk_0 And then I would like take it and pick it up and like put it on my skin.

spk_0 And I'm like, it's a spa day.

spk_0 And I would like cover my skin.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 Yeah, you don't remember doing this?

spk_0 I just didn't know that mud was a spa thing until I was like an adult.

spk_0 So I don't know.

spk_0 I'm surprised.

spk_0 Maybe you just knew, I don't know.

spk_0 Kids know we're in school sometimes.

spk_0 Yeah, elementary school Jay thought it was a great idea to give myself a spa day by rubbing

spk_0 hard mud into my body.

spk_0 And then I would like wash it off with the hose.

spk_0 It was good times.

spk_0 And then of course, drink from the hose to get some flavor of lead in my life.

spk_0 But it's fine.

spk_0 So it's fine.

spk_0 I don't know what's in that hose.

spk_0 Anyway, so yeah, stronger now.

spk_0

spk_0 You're now like long fascination.

spk_0 Yes, I've had a lifelong fascination with soil and dirt and rock.

spk_0 And all that.

spk_0 And I'm glad that I was able to go into work that brought me in contact with all of this.

spk_0 But definitely soil was one of my favorite.

spk_0 I took a soil of the trilogy class in school.

spk_0 And it was one of my favorite classes to take because I literally got to play with dirt for class.

spk_0 Like it was really exciting to me.

spk_0 So I was like, oh, it's dirt.

spk_0 I could touch dirt play with dirt.

spk_0 So you're probably going to talk about this.

spk_0 But what is patrology?

spk_0 So patrology is the branch of science.

spk_0 That specifically deals with the origin and structures and composition of rocks.

spk_0 But when we talk about soil patrology, we talk about the relationship between soil and rocks,

spk_0 which they are related.

spk_0 So that's why we call it soil patrology.

spk_0 When we're studying different types of rocks, so like sedimentary rocks are

spk_0 igneous rocks or metamorphic rocks, we will call it sedimentary patrology.

spk_0 And a lot of time classes will have igneous and metamorphic together.

spk_0 So you'll take it as igmet pet.

spk_0 So igneous metamorphic patrology.

spk_0 A lot of people just call it igmet pet because it's just easier to pronounce.

spk_0 So yes, so patrology is our fancy word for our topic of today.

spk_0 But dirt is my word for the topic of today.

spk_0 So Ellen, when we talk about soil, what do you think about when you think about soil?

spk_0 So what's undergrass, I guess?

spk_0 I mean, that's a good, that's a good like informal definition, really.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And like, also there's different kinds.

spk_0 Like I grew up, we were just talking about growing up in Virginia where the soil is really clayy.

spk_0 Like I remember being able to shape it into shapes.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 Like when it's wet, like clay, whereas where I live now, the soil is very sandy.

spk_0 And I live in Toronto, just like old lake bed central.

spk_0 And then like obviously recently I've been gardening, getting the gardens ready a lot.

spk_0 And there's like all kinds of crazy soil that you can buy and bring in and

spk_0 things you can add to this soil to make it like better for growing crops.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 So yeah, I guess that's like just my general experience with soil.

spk_0 It's like this stuff that's like around.

spk_0 It's kind of undergrass.

spk_0 Yeah, we kind of don't really.

spk_0 Other rocks.

spk_0 Because it's so prolific, we don't really think about how necessary it is for human life.

spk_0 I think a lot of times we talk about water being and water and air being the two things that are

spk_0 absolutely necessary for humans.

spk_0 But soil is just as important to human life as it is.

spk_0 And all, you know, plant animal fungus, all that bacterial life.

spk_0 Soil is also very important, but particularly the human beings is important.

spk_0 And soil has like multiple definitions.

spk_0 But there's two very specific ones I wanted to focus on.

spk_0 The first one being that there's an agricultural definition.

spk_0 And it defines soil as the surface layer of Earth supporting plant life,

spk_0 which makes sense for agriculture.

spk_0 Like I said, yes.

spk_0 And then for the geology definition, we defined Earth as the accumulation, excuse me, soil.

spk_0 We define soil as the accumulation of loose weathered material,

spk_0 which covers much of the earth with a depth ranging from a quarter of an inch to hundreds of

spk_0 feet in some places.

spk_0 So St. Louis, for example, has quite a deep soil depth, especially closer to the river that you get.

spk_0 There's a lot, there's a really deep soil depth that covers the area until you reach the

spk_0 bedrock surface.

spk_0 It's really deep.

spk_0 But in other places, it won't necessarily be nearly as deep, just depends on the river.

spk_0 So what are the things that we use in our life that need soil?

spk_0 Well, food easy.

spk_0 Yeah, whatever things do you think we need for soil?

spk_0 Excuse me, we need soil for.

spk_0 I'm trying not to look at your notes.

spk_0 I can actually read it.

spk_0 So I'm cheating.

spk_0 But like basically any kind of plant.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So food crops,

spk_0 like lumber,

spk_0 just like plants, like decorative plants.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Like you have clothing.

spk_0 So a lot of clothing is made out of plants, obviously.

spk_0 And then I would say like, so all our structures that we live in as humans are somewhat supported by soil.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 So we, what like we, I don't know, it's kind of like, I wouldn't say you use soil,

spk_0 but you work with the soil to like support structures.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 That includes roads, houses, you know, public transit, all of that.

spk_0 Anything that's built into the ground that we want to live in or walk on or use.

spk_0 Requires an understanding of the soil and in use of the soil.

spk_0 Yeah, it's also important for things like earth and dams,

spk_0 things that are actually physically made of the soil, you know.

spk_0 There's, I don't know, there's just almost building materials.

spk_0 Well, we just talked about clay and people use it to make homes.

spk_0 People use it to make bowls and, you know, furniture.

spk_0 Yeah, like products, just like usable, you know, like home products.

spk_0 Like, oh, I don't actually have a, well, glass, well, glass is made of sand.

spk_0 Maybe that's not a soil, but like if I had a mug that'd be made out of like stoneware,

spk_0 which is ceramic, that's a soil, right?

spk_0

spk_0 It's kind of made in the soil, the glass by that soil.

spk_0 But yes, also it's important for ceramics, I guess.

spk_0 Biofuel production, it's important for, it's important for the production of coal even,

spk_0 because coal is made from plants and plants need dirt.

spk_0 So, cancelarily, dirt is important for that.

spk_0 I mean, there's just like a lot of things that go back to

spk_0 how important soil is and how it functions in our ecosystem.

spk_0 The thing about plants, the thing about human life is that all life on earth is sustained by the

spk_0 sun and the majority of the way that we get energy from the sun is through plants.

spk_0 So, from plants need dirt.

spk_0 So, yeah, there you go.

spk_0 So soil, like functions in our, exactly.

spk_0 So soil functions, I've done it, I figured it out.

spk_0 You craft the code.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So soil functions in the ecosystem basically as a support for the growth of plants.

spk_0 It provides, you know, our medium for plant roots and it provides nutrients in a way that plants

spk_0 can absorb.

spk_0 It's essential to plants for us.

spk_0 But something that a lot of people don't really think about, I think, is that soil is also a

spk_0 major component of our hydrologic system that we have.

spk_0 So our hydrosphere, which is a portion of our, we have an atmosphere, which is the,

spk_0 you know, the oxygen, the gases that we breathe, but we have a hydrosphere as well on earth,

spk_0 which is all the water, groundwater salt water, you know, that is within our earth's atmosphere.

spk_0 This water is suspended in the atmosphere of Tennessee atmosphere of the hydrosphere.

spk_0 The hydrosphere feels with any water.

spk_0 The atmosphere may have water in it, like water particles in it, but it's that part of the

spk_0 hydrosphere.

spk_0 Suspended, right?

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 Correct.

spk_0 I understand that.

spk_0 That's just the hype.

spk_0 It's considered generally just considered the hydrosphere.

spk_0 But, you know, soil functions as a absorber of water.

spk_0 It prevents water loss.

spk_0 You know, it helps prevent contamination because it can help filter out any sort of things that

spk_0 you get in your water that, you know, aside from when we put things in our soil, like fertilizers

spk_0 that will contaminate the water, but it helps purify water, you know, it helps plants utilize water.

spk_0 So I think that's one kind of thing that people don't, we're going to get into it a little bit more,

spk_0 but soil is functional in multiple different ways within our earth and not just as a, you know,

spk_0 a plant provider for us.

spk_0 And in our volcano episode, we talked about like liquefaction where all the like,

spk_0 groundwater comes out of the soil, right?

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 Or was it, yeah, or play textiles, I forget.

spk_0 It was one of our earlier episodes.

spk_0 Isn't it real quick?

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 So we talked about liquefaction.

spk_0 Yeah, because you talked about yokelops or whatever?

spk_0 Yokelops are flooding.

spk_0 That's, that's glacial.

spk_0 No, what's the one where it's like horrifying hot water mud that comes with cars?

spk_0 Yeah, that.

spk_0 But anyway, we talked about the how tectonic activity can also loosen like the soil or whatever,

spk_0 loosen the soil, I guess, and cause groundwater to come up out of the soil.

spk_0 Yeah, absolutely.

spk_0 It can cause it to seep out essentially.

spk_0 But we, and yeah, and we'll talk about, we'll talk about something come into that as well.

spk_0 Little teas there.

spk_0 And some sort of.

spk_0 Now soil is great because it functions as nature's recycling system.

spk_0 So stuff goes into soil and they become assimilated, they decay in the soil.

spk_0 So, and by stuff, I mean, usually like organic components, rocks,

spk_0 anything organic or inorganic water gets recycled through their air,

spk_0 even gets recycled through soil.

spk_0 And their basic elements, once they're kind of broken down, their basic elements become

spk_0 available for reuse by the ecosystem through plants, through animals, through other things within

spk_0 the soil.

spk_0 So, and of course, soils are habitat for critters, which is great.

spk_0 The wide variety of critters could even be a human habitat, the hobbits live in there.

spk_0 I'm sure, you know, great for them.

spk_0 But they have like furnishings.

spk_0 But they also influence, we talked about how they influence water, but they also influence

spk_0 you know, our atmosphere because they contain gases, the soil contains gases,

spk_0 and it can change the composition of our atmosphere based on how many of those gases are being

spk_0 released into the atmosphere rather than being contained in the ground.

spk_0 So, and yes, we talked about how it's being used as an element,

spk_0 mentioned how it's used as an engineering medium.

spk_0 And it is for all sorts of animals, including humans.

spk_0 So, she talked about the way that we use it for transportation and for other building purposes.

spk_0 But other animals like mudoppers, which are a type of wasp, they make their nest out of,

spk_0 you know, out of soil.

spk_0 Swallows can make their nest out of soil.

spk_0 You know, other things like that, like that just, you know, two easy examples.

spk_0 Yeah, burrows for like, like peridogs and stuff like this.

spk_0 And for like, you know, little badgers or whatever, you know.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 H spiders, etc.

spk_0 Yes, it's, oh gosh, try to hold these animals.

spk_0 The tyrannical is of New Mexico.

spk_0 Yes, it's a very important resource that I think a lot of people don't kind of

spk_0 recognize.

spk_0 So I want to elevate it.

spk_0 I want to bring it to the people, make it known how important soil is.

spk_0 Love dirt.

spk_0 Become dirt.

spk_0 Love dirt.

spk_0 Dirt is everything.

spk_0 Jane is like proclaiming with her hands.

spk_0 Nobody can see, but I can see.

spk_0 Yeah, I'll get off my dirt box now and go back to talk about soil.

spk_0 So here like dirt pile.

spk_0 Yeah, my dirt pile.

spk_0 I'll get off my dirt pile.

spk_0 I'll remove my dirt crown and put it to the side.

spk_0 So my dirt coat, my dirt cone hat.

spk_0 Yeah, but it's a crown might be, well, you know, if it was like porcelain or something,

spk_0 we could probably make that dirty.

spk_0 Yeah, sometimes when people are using my like China in my house, like my guests are like,

spk_0 oh, I'm so, I don't want to like mess up your China.

spk_0 And I'm like, well, you know, this is dirt, right?

spk_0 Yeah, like, I don't know.

spk_0 That's how I feel about it.

spk_0 But dirt is great.

spk_0 Everything is dirt and dirt is great.

spk_0 So dirt is not just soil.

spk_0 People say soil is dirty.

spk_0

spk_0 It's whatever.

spk_0 So oil has four main components that it's made out of.

spk_0 I think one of the easiest ones that people can think about would be minerals.

spk_0 So, so I'm just going to say dirt.

spk_0 So specifically in organics, such as rocks and minerals,

spk_0 ideally the composition, if you're going to do like an ideal, like a perfect, you know,

spk_0 in a perfect world, the composition of our soil would be 45% in organics.

spk_0 So it would be any of those like rocks that are broken down over time.

spk_0 And they vary in different sizes.

spk_0 So it's really important that we talk about the sizes for minerals and rocks that are within

spk_0 your dirt.

spk_0 So the size is very from gravel size, which is quite large to sand size where if you pick up the dirt

spk_0 and you like rub it between your two fingers, it'll have kind of a gritty feel to it.

spk_0 Silt size, which those particles are too small for us to see, but you'll still have a,

spk_0 it will be a kind of a smooth texture if you like rub the dirt between your two fingers.

spk_0 And then clay-sized particles, which when you, when, if anybody's ever played with clay,

spk_0 you know, it becomes sticky when it's wet and it becomes hard when it's dried and it becomes

spk_0 like a solid, hard solid, you know, stuck together kind of feel to it.

spk_0 So those are the three sand, silt and clay are the kind of the most important

spk_0 particle sizes that we generally talk about.

spk_0 And then we also talk about colloidal.

spk_0 So colloids are the smallest particle size you can get.

spk_0 They're defined as .001 millimeter particles that are suspended in liquids.

spk_0 So they're not just in in soils, but colloids are also a term that we use for things like blood.

spk_0 For example, human blood because it is a colloidal liquid.

spk_0 It has solids in it.

spk_0 It has blood cells.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 And then it also has the liquid.

spk_0 And like for your blood.

spk_0 Free iron and yeah, other stuff.

spk_0 It's good.

spk_0 So it's just a little bit of things floating around.

spk_0 There's stuff.

spk_0 But colloidal particles actually have the no any colloidal puddle

spk_0 cause because they're so small, they actually have their own electromagnetic charge to them.

spk_0 So they actually attract and repel other ions or charged particles to them.

spk_0 So we're getting into like fancy chemistry.

spk_0 I'm not going to like, you know,

spk_0 or you guys too much.

spk_0 But an ion, if anybody doesn't remember from their, you know, their chemistry class.

spk_0 An ion is either an element such as hydrogen, oxygen, whatever,

spk_0 or a molecule such as H2O, which is water that has lost some of its electrons.

spk_0 Some of its one of their one of the more elementary components that make up

spk_0 an like an element or a molecule.

spk_0 So they've lost some of their electrons and then they become attracted to other ions

spk_0 that are in our chemistry field.

spk_0 So yeah, I'm just not going to, there's more to it than that.

spk_0 But that's like the very kind of basic understanding.

spk_0 It's that they're just attracted to each other.

spk_0 They like each other a lot.

spk_0 They want to hold hands, okay?

spk_0 They want to be friends.

spk_0 Like let's not break them up.

spk_0 So and colloids are those tiny particles.

spk_0 Even though they're small in size,

spk_0 they actually end up having a larger surface area as a mass,

spk_0 like as a whole,

spk_0 than other larger particles because of that chemical traction that you have.

spk_0 So you basically end up drawing more things to these little colloids than you would to.

spk_0 This like liquefied emulsion, you know, like you draw more stock to it.

spk_0 So we have next up, I kind of like skipping out in the side.

spk_0 Can I ask you a question first?

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 So you said the ideal composition is 45% of this of like, like in organics.

spk_0 Of inorganic minerals.

spk_0 What what does ideal mean?

spk_0 Like is that is it just like an average of different types of soil?

spk_0 The same soil for plant life.

spk_0 I think it's the overplant.

spk_0

spk_0 Ideal because the plants are the things that mostly use it.

spk_0 So ideal soils have these percentages to them.

spk_0 Obviously they like move around.

spk_0 Sometimes things have more minerals and more organics and whatever.

spk_0 But yeah, ideally for plant life to exist harmoniously with the dirt.

spk_0 You want to have this kind of composition.

spk_0 So yes, 45 that makes sense.

spk_0 45% in organics.

spk_0 Then next up, although this is not next in percentage,

spk_0 5% organics.

spk_0 So we had our inorganics and now we have organics.

spk_0 So organics are either organisms such as.

spk_0 Like worms and sex, whatever.

spk_0 Either dead or alive.

spk_0 So their remains or if they're alive,

spk_0 they're part of the biomass is what it's called when they're alive.

spk_0 Components produced through metabolism by these organisms.

spk_0 Like worm poop.

spk_0 So poop.

spk_0 Yes, I was going to say that's the classy way of saying poop.

spk_0 Worm poop is important for soils, especially if you're gardening.

spk_0 And this also includes the long furrows.

spk_0 It includes you know, you know, remnants of food that they've left behind food waste.

spk_0 It also includes any plants that have decay or decomposed in this area.

spk_0 Leaves, you know, foliage, you know, anything like that.

spk_0 So organics are constantly decomposing.

spk_0 They're not stable at, you know, earth's temperature pressure conditions that like the,

spk_0 you know, at the surface or even like, you know, deep down, they just start getting

spk_0 they decay.

spk_0 And when they decay, it's just free carbon that's available for anybody who wants it.

spk_0 And so there are a lot of microorganisms that are in soil that

spk_0 take this carbon and they respirate it and turn it into CO2.

spk_0 Now, which is carbon dioxide, which is also what we respirate is what we breathe out.

spk_0 We breathe out CO2 as well.

spk_0 So CO2 is actually constantly being released from soil during this process where the microorganisms

spk_0 are nominated on this carbon that we got.

spk_0 And this, this CO2 that's being released becomes part of the earth's atmosphere.

spk_0 So the only way to get CO2 back into the soil is actually you need to add more

spk_0 organics on top of it.

spk_0 So the more organics that you add into a soil, the more CO2 that you will have available for,

spk_0 well, the more carbon you'll have available for things to eat and digest and then release as CO2.

spk_0 So it's actually important for our atmosphere to store as much of, for the soil to store as much

spk_0 of this carbon dioxide as possible not to release it because releasing mass quantities of carbon

spk_0 dioxide is obviously not great for global temperatures.

spk_0 And soils, actually most people will probably don't know this, but soils store more carbon dioxide

spk_0 than all of the world's plants and biomass combined and the atmosphere combined.

spk_0 Wow. I doubt tons of carbon dioxide.

spk_0 Yes, there's tons of carbon dioxide in soil.

spk_0 So it's a, there's tons of carbon and then there's tons of respirating micro-finisms in soil.

spk_0 So that's how we get a lot of CO2.

spk_0 There's tons of, tons of carbon stored in the soil as opposed to being released in the

spk_0 atmosphere. Correct. As carbon stored in soil.

spk_0 As CO2 stored in soil. Yes.

spk_0 There is some CO2 in soil and if you overturn soil it will come out, but a lot of it comes

spk_0 to that. That's a separation process. So another thing about organics is if organics are given

spk_0 enough time to accumulate into a more solid blob, they become something called humus, which is spelled

spk_0 almost like humus. And I always thought it was humus when I was reading it in textbooks,

spk_0 but it's not. It's humus, H-U-M-U-S.

spk_0 And it's like this kind of dark brown texture, almost black, it's just kind of just blah looking.

spk_0 But it's a complex organic material and it accumulates in soil and it's because it's accumulated

spk_0 like that, it actually becomes very resistant to decay. So it's actually much more stable than

spk_0 just regular leaves or other dead critters, other biomatter. And it's great for soil.

spk_0 It's very important. It's great specifically for plants in soil. It helps attract nutrients and

spk_0 ions. It'll attract water and help retain water in soil. And it's very similar to the kind of

spk_0 colloidal particles you get in an inorganics. It's also they both attract each other.

spk_0 So it's very good. So we had inorganics and we had organics together, they make up about 50%

spk_0 of an ideal soil composition. The next thing I want to talk about is water.

spk_0 So water is another thing that we don't always think of as part of soil composition, but it is

spk_0 and it is a part of it and it's usually about 20 to 30% of soil. It's pretty high percent. Yeah,

spk_0 so it's like you know a fifth to a third of what components make up of soil, you know.

spk_0 Soil is super important part of the hydrologic cycle. I know I mentioned this earlier

spk_0 and nearly all water that has been on earth has traveled through soil at some point. So

spk_0 water is used for plants in the soil, but also water will infiltrate deeper down from the soil

spk_0 into rock that's below it. We call this bedrock. And it'll get stored in the pore spaces,

spk_0 the like empty spaces within the bedrock. So any large rock unit that stores or transmits water

spk_0 is actually called aquifer. And we use aquifers as a collection system for us to get groundwater a

spk_0 lot of times. So our drinkable water, depending on where you are. I wonder about that. But yes,

spk_0 so I mean through the process of infiltrating through the soil into bedrock it becomes

spk_0 harvestable by humans essentially just drip drips all the way down. And clean. It comes clean

spk_0 nerve. I would say clean. You know there's probably some sort of fungus down there whatever, but

spk_0 you know, maybe don't just straight up lick it, but you know, it's fine. They treat it for a

spk_0 fine for a modern society. Yeah, so yeah, so you know back to soil. So soil has water in it,

spk_0 which I know we've mentioned before. But a lot of times it's only available in relatively

spk_0 smaller percentages to plants. It varies between like 15 and 50% available to plants. It's just not

spk_0 always high enough in the soil horizon for the for the we'll talk about that term later. But

spk_0 high enough for the roots of the plants to reach this water. Or it's not in a large enough quantity

spk_0 or a quantity that's you know, ingestible to plants. So it really just depends it depends on the

spk_0 textures of soil, how available it is. It depends on the waters and soil that just like trickles

spk_0 straight through it, you know, it'll depend on you know, in very degrees like that, how much of

spk_0 the plants, how much of it is available to plants. The last component that makes up soil is air or gas.

spk_0 So that makes up about again 20 to 30% and the way that we measure air or you know, gas as we measure

spk_0 it by any any voids that you have in soil and the volume of those voids. So if you have any

spk_0 empty space in a soil, and there'll be various gases. There won't it won't just be oxygen, sometimes

spk_0 it'll be CO2, sometimes it'll be nitrogen, sometimes it'll be all sorts of different things.

spk_0 Exactly. All sorts of different things. And the more the more gas that you have in a soil, the less

spk_0 water that you'll have, and vice versa. So if you have more water in your soil, you'll end up

spk_0 having less gas in your soil. It just exchange locations and places. So soil air is not the same

spk_0 as atmospheric air. It really depends a lot on your soil constituents. So generally it'll be higher

spk_0 in CO2, which makes a lot of sense because you have plants decaying on top of it and it'll be

spk_0 lower in oxygen than atmospheric air. Okay, so that's the four things that make up soil. So soil

spk_0 textures, the next thing I'm going to talk about. So soil texture, texture is mainly described by

spk_0 the size of the grains of the inorganics that we talked about that were in the soil. So

spk_0 inorganics being minerals or rocks that are in the soil. And the three main sizes that are

spk_0 important for texture are sand, silt, and clay. And we talked about what those sizes are earlier.

spk_0 Colloids can generally be included within the clay section because they are also a part of

spk_0 clay, really, but just a very specific rough, you know, very specific portion of a clay mineral.

spk_0 So a good soil texture is something called loam. Loam is like the like primo texture for soil,

spk_0 for plants, plants, love loam, they want that loam. Get that loam. L-O-A-M, let's make this loam.

spk_0 So loam is in the informed community, we say that loam is a 40, 40, 20 soil. So that means like

spk_0 a 40% sand, 40% silt, and 20% clay. Now a lot of times that can range between like 30 and 50% sand,

spk_0 30 and 50% silt, and then 10 to 30% clay. So it's not like exactly 40, 40, 20. But we all know it's

spk_0 40, 40, 20. That's the 40, 20. That's like the ideal, like, amazing proportion for loam. And when

spk_0 these proportions, these proportions are actually by weight, even though we list them as a percentage,

spk_0 but it's the weight of that amount of soil, you know, like if you look at the soil and if you

spk_0 weighed out each individual consistent, it would be 40, 40, 20 for those. So yeah, plants love them,

spk_0 some loam. Loam soils have more nutrients, and they have better water retention than other types

spk_0 of soils. They have better drainage than other type of soils. They have, they develop their

spk_0 humus, not their humus. They develop their humus faster than other soils. It's basically it's

spk_0 everything you could ever want in a healthy soil for agriculture. So that's why loam is like the

spk_0 ideal texture that you can get for soil. So a lot of times if people have, for example, if you

spk_0 have a soil that's very clay-like in texture, like we have here in Virginia. Virginia clay,

spk_0 while nice and fun to put on your body when you're trying to do a clay mask, when you're a small

spk_0 child, a little bit more than a child. Yes, the thing is a lot of times if people want to use

spk_0 their regular backyard soil to grow things, they have to add things such as sand to their soil

spk_0 because otherwise the water that you have will just kind of sit and never be able to infiltrate

spk_0 down your soil and you'll just kill your plants by drowning them essentially. So people who are

spk_0 trying to garden in Virginia need to make sure that they use a different mixture of textures

spk_0 in their soil or they won't get any water infiltration than their poor plants will just float away,

spk_0 just float away down the street. It's also hard for plants to grow roots in clay because it's so dense.

spk_0 Exactly. Because the particles are so fine, they're very compact, it's harder to do things like

spk_0 grow roots and look, you know, get nutrients out of the soil. Yes. Oh yes, absolutely.

spk_0 And the thing is, I know I mentioned you would need if you were a plant. Yeah, everything.

spk_0 Everything you need if you're a plant. And I know I mentioned that loam is the ideal texture,

spk_0 but it is certainly not the only soil texture. There are many soil textures. They range from clay,

spk_0 which is just nearly 100% clay, obviously, sand, which is the water. Oh, sorry, when you

spk_0 want to present sand. Yeah, when you say clay in sand, in this saying it's 40, 40, 20, so like 40%

spk_0 whatever, 40% sand, 40% silt and 40% clay, you mean sand, size particles, sorry, 20% clay,

spk_0 sand size particles, silt size particles and clay size particles. Not just like clay, like modeling

spk_0 sand, like sand, you find it the beach. Correct. Well, sand that you find it the beach is a

spk_0 sand size particle, but the thing is, but clay, yeah, there's a difference between clay as a mineral

spk_0 and clay as a particle. Those are two different things. So clay is the description of a clay-sized

spk_0 particle, which is that small particle that, you know, you can't see with the naked eye. Very fine,

spk_0 very fine texture, very fine particle size. Clay as a mineral is a separate thing. So clay minerals

spk_0 form when you have rocks that weather and as they certain rocks when they weather, they actually

spk_0 form clay minerals. So those are a completely different thing. There's a bunch of different types

spk_0 of clay minerals and I'll probably have a section about this because I love clay minerals,

spk_0 super cool. Some are like really interesting to me, but yeah, a lot of times it just depends on

spk_0 what kind of rocks you have if they will weather into a clay mineral or not. But even if the rock doesn't

spk_0 weather into a clay mineral, which is a chemical weathering process, it may be a type of rock that when it

spk_0 weathers, it weather down physically into clay-sized particles. So yes, so unfortunately geology should

spk_0 have put up with two separate names for that. That would have been a lot easier, but you know,

spk_0 we're having a lot easier. That seems like something that, you know, geology would have done,

spk_0 but I just wanted to clarify because whenever you say sand, I think beach sand, but it's not

spk_0 not so good. It is. But yes, so the other thing is, yeah, the other thing is geologists also named

spk_0 sandstones, sandstones because they're made up of sand-sized particles, just like clay minerals and

spk_0 clay rocks are made up of clay-sized particles. So we're real, we're real ingenuitive here. We also

spk_0 have silt stones, which are made of, do you want to guess what kind of particle is? Silt stones

spk_0 particles. I was always like sandstone is made of sand, not sand. It is. Technically yes.

spk_0 Technically yes, it is made of sand, but it's sand-sized particles. And sand just means a very

spk_0 specific particle size in geology. That's the only difference. It's still kind of the same in your

spk_0 mind, but that's the only difference is there's very specific like this many millimeters to this

spk_0 many millimeters is considered a sand-sized particle. And this many millimeters. But I think we all

spk_0 know what like a sandy texture is and like a silky texture and a clay like texture is. Yes, yes.

spk_0 You can feel it. So when you're studying dirt, it really comes down to field. You know, you're

spk_0 not going to be out in the field with a microscope like staring because you can't see silt-sized

spk_0 particles. They're too small for the human eye to see, right? You mean clay, both. But you can't

spk_0 both. Neither can be seen, but silt won't hold together like clay will. You know what I mean? It'll be

spk_0 silky, but it won't have that like clingy texture that you get from clay. So that's

spk_0 the way you have to tell is you have to tell by field which one is which in the field. You know,

spk_0 you wouldn't take you and just bring a mic full on microscope with you to the field and just

spk_0 slap some dirt on it and like look at it in the microscope. You just don't have time. I might, but

spk_0 yeah, there's, so basically what I'm hearing is you like soil patrology because you like touching dirt.

spk_0 I thought I mentioned this already. I mentioned that how much I like touching dirt. It was like a

spk_0 portion of this conversation at the beginning. Dirt is great. Everything about dirt is great.

spk_0 To the fact, oh, well, okay, go back to the topic at hand. So I know I've been distracted. Do you

spk_0 you're fine? Lome is the, you know, that ideal 44-20 mixture that we got. But clay texture is a

spk_0 thing where it's just almost a hundred percent clay part of clay size particles sand. It can also

spk_0 include some sand and some silt size particles, but in much smaller quantities obviously. And then

spk_0 sand size, you know, sand texture is just when it's mostly sand size particles. Silt texture is

spk_0 mostly when it's silk size particles, but we also have things like this like loamy sand, sandy

spk_0 loam, sandy clay loam, sandy clay, clay loam, silti clay, silti clay loam, silti loam, and loam.

spk_0 So, it's a more than one percentage. It's like a triangle diagram.

spk_0 It's just a triangle diagram. Silti clay loam. That's pretty funny. You should put the

spk_0 diagram on our Instagram. Yeah, and meet so that I don't understand. But just like

spk_0 the sandy clay loam, loamy sand, sandy loam. It's like, I'm just like so lazy colors. So lazy.

spk_0 But anyway, so that was one thing I had to memorize. I think it's like efficient. It's kind of weird

spk_0 low. I don't know. But yeah, but anyway, so that's the anyway. It's a it's a soil textural triangle.

spk_0 That's what it's called. This one. I understand. I understand. But how you define, basically,

spk_0 it's what your what percentages you have of each individual. I'm actually glad you clarified

spk_0 that because in my mind, it was like a linear scale, you know, it was like clay to silt to silt to

spk_0 I get it though. I understand what you say where you start sand to silt to sand. Yeah, or sand

spk_0 is also clay or whatever. Not like it, like it couldn't be all of them. So that totally makes sense

spk_0 actually. Like there's some you can have some of some a little bit of clay size particles and

spk_0 a little bit of self-sized particles. I'm like mostly sand size particles or whatever. Yes. So it's

spk_0 not like linear, I guess. And the thing is like if you have more clay, you know, there's actually

spk_0 you're more likely to get a clay like texture with higher percentages of clay than you would with,

spk_0 you know, silt or sand just because sand is such large particles versus clay will like clean

spk_0 together. So you get a clay texture from from, you know, 50% and above of clay in this particular

spk_0 soil, even if it's like 25% and 25% of the other two, it'll be 50% above clay. It's just like you

spk_0 it'll feel like clay, maybe like a gritty clay, but it'll still be clay, you know what I mean?

spk_0 Interesting. Yeah. And it really has a lot to do with the properties of clay itself. Sand

spk_0 because it's such large grain size and it doesn't stick together like clay does, you know, you need

spk_0 nearly a hundred percent sand to be able to get a sand textured soil. Interesting. And then silt

spk_0 can do, it can be more like, you know, like 80% if it's 80% silt, it'll be a silt kind of texture.

spk_0 I'm gonna put this aside. You don't want to diagram. I'm glad that you enjoyed doing that because

spk_0 it's just so lazy. Well, I found it low. I found it funny, but also somewhat beautifully

spk_0 efficient where it's like we just demarcated these by size. There are only these three demarcations.

spk_0 This, the composition is like any amount of these and this is how you can yeah, like they're

spk_0 classifiable, but it's just like based on the percentage of the size of the particulates.

spk_0 We actually do, there's a lot of particularly in sedimentary patology. There's a lot of

spk_0 triangular classifying diagrams, but we use them a lot in also agnus, agmet pet, avius metamorphic

spk_0 patology because of how the, if you have minerals that have elements that can be replaced within them.

spk_0 So that also changes the, I think I won't get into it, but it's something we like triangle

spk_0 diagrams is all I'm saying. There's a lot of them. I think people like three, so I like to organize

spk_0 things in groups of three. And nature like three. So we have soil texture and now we have soil

spk_0 structure. So soil structure actually refers to how soils form aggregates. So how they clump

spk_0 together. And the term that we use for a soil aggregate is actually a pet, PED. So these different

spk_0 pets, these different little structures are shaped similarly to how we've talked about crystal

spk_0 habits before in one of our first episodes. So minerals form crystal habits based on their

spk_0 internal chemical structure. PEDs also form, you know, their structures based on what their

spk_0 chemistry is like. So they can form little massive ones, they can form granular size, you know,

spk_0 little, little granular ball, PEDs, they can form columnar, so column shaped PEDs. Again,

spk_0 it's very similar to it just based on whatever chemistry is available.

spk_0 Can you tell this with the naked eye or do you have to like look at it under a microscope?

spk_0 It just depends on the type of soil that you have. So I think generally you'd see it mostly

spk_0 through microscope depending on the type of soil. But maybe if you had a very young soil,

spk_0 you would see it. And by young I mean it hasn't had, it hasn't, you know, gone to prom or anything. But

spk_0 but yeah, so very young soil you wouldn't, you don't see the structures nearly as well, but in an

spk_0 older, more mature refined soil, you would probably be able to see these structures better.

spk_0 You would probably imagine like a soil that hasn't been like disturbed or whatever. Yeah, exactly.

spk_0 I guess I think it's been given time to just do what's saying. So a soil profile now. So that

spk_0 was a soil structure. Now both the texture and the structure are considered physical properties

spk_0 of soil. Soil profiles are just a vertical section of soil from the ground surface. So like,

spk_0 you know, where grass is or whatever down to the rock where you finally hit rock when you don't

spk_0 have soil anymore. So you know, it's soil profiles actually get clearly defined into sections.

spk_0 And really it's based on the composition of the soil within the profile. And we're going to talk

spk_0 about how those kind of develop over time. But each of these individual sections are called a horizon.

spk_0 So when you have more time for a soil to develop, you end up getting more horizons in your soil.

spk_0 But there's only a couple of very specific ones that can grow. And I'll show you.

spk_0 Kind of like layers in a tree or something. It's like layer in a cake. So if you have more time

spk_0 to bake, you'll have more layers in your cake is how I think of it. Do they get compressed?

spk_0 They can become compressed. It just depends. Some have more craters in them. So it makes more

spk_0 air pockets. Some of them have more water infiltration depending on the type of texture of the soil.

spk_0 Some will have more plants cover so that it will change what kind of, you know, water and air

spk_0 composition will get. Some of them haven't been around for a long time. So they will have less layers.

spk_0 The longer you've been there, the more time you have to develop layers. It's basically like when you

spk_0 have, it's like if you had a bottle and you dumped a bunch of different spices in it and you shook

spk_0 it around, some of them would settle out faster than other ones because they're heavier or whatever.

spk_0 And some of them would stay floating for a long time. It's kind of like that when when soils are

spk_0 given time to settle, essentially, you'll have, you'll have different layers being formed within your

spk_0 soils. So they kind of settle like a liquid, like things move through the soil. Yeah, well liquid

spk_0 moves through the soil. So it brings stuff with it. It's kind of what's happening. Usually, usually

spk_0 soil craters are the things that really do a lot of the movement in the soil itself. But

spk_0 still warm, hitching a ride on some groundwater. You're not wrong. Just imagine a tiny little boat

spk_0 with a little captain hat. Yeah, exactly. Liding down the soil layers. A tiny captain hat.

spk_0 So the soil horizons that we have, we have O-A-E-B-C-R. I don't know how many is that. E-I-O? No.

spk_0 Five. How many did you count? O-A-E-B-C-R-6. So those are the six soil horizons. And they're

spk_0 actually not super hard to remember. It's just something that all soils form one or none of these

spk_0 horizons. So the ones that have none of these horizons are considered very, very young baby soils.

spk_0 They just started forming. And then the ones that have more of these horizons will be, you know,

spk_0 much more mature, much more refined. They'll have little smoker jackets and they'll be laying

spk_0 back on their libraries and doing a nice novel. But I'm listing these in order from the soil surface

spk_0 down. So the top horizon, the O-Horizon, is organic. O stands for organic. So most of your organic

spk_0 manner will be in this O-Horizon. So you have decomposed leaves. You have, you know, your very thin

spk_0 soils. You'll have humus, you know. You'll have some chips to go along with your humus because

spk_0 that's also, you know, it's made of carbon. But yeah, organics are in some places you can have

spk_0 really thin O-Horizon. So you can have really thin layers of organics. And some you can have

spk_0 really thick O-Horizon. Can you think of a place that you might have a really thick O-Horizon?

spk_0 Like a place where it's naturally like that or like a, maybe like a volcanic field or something.

spk_0 Actually more like a, some place you would have a lot of organics. Where would you have a lot of

spk_0 organics? Like a jungle? Yeah. So yeah, like a jungle or like a swamp. Like a rainforest.

spk_0 Like that. Oh, swamp. That makes sense actually. Yeah. Isn't there a lot of goo in swamps?

spk_0 There are. Like carpenies. Yeah. Wherever you get a lot of organics, piling up on top of each other.

spk_0 That's where you would have a thing happen. Yeah. But normally tarpets overrises if they are there.

spk_0 Because you don't have to have every horizon to be a soil. We're not telling you that you have to

spk_0 be one way or another soil, you know. So oil is going to live their own best lives the way they

spk_0 need to live them. But if you do have a horizon a lot of times they're thinner than they are,

spk_0 they're one of the thinner horizons. Similarly, we said that like organic material is not stable

spk_0 on the surface of the soil, right? So it shouldn't, it shouldn't last long. No, it doesn't.

spk_0 You can broken down into a different layer. Yes. But yes, it's very important for plants, plants

spk_0 love it. So that's why it stays up there. And then topsoil, the A horizon is the next one down.

spk_0 It's called the topsoil horizon, essentially. And it's mostly minerals that's in this A horizon

spk_0 that has been incorporated into the organic matter. So that can be either like little pebbles or it can be,

spk_0 you know, other chunks of dirt that are mixing in with the organics. So it's just kind of a mix

spk_0 between it's not not just that layer of leaves that have fallen on your ground, but it's the,

spk_0 you know, the dirt mixed with the leaves really. So, and I know you've seen this because you've

spk_0 been gardening before. So you know exactly what I'm talking about where you have that kind of mix

spk_0 between the two, but then clean the mulch. And then you go back the next year and then under where

spk_0 all the leaves were, there's a bit of like topsoil, like bits of leaves. Yeah. It's that stuff.

spk_0 Exactly. And it's ideal for plants and for organisms to live because they really like that. That's

spk_0 the tasty stuff. Exactly. Yeah, that's where you find all the little bugs in your, that's where you

spk_0 find your roots and your little bugs. That's where you find them. So the next, the next layer down

spk_0 is a much more uncommon layer. It's usually in very specific places, but it's called the E layer

spk_0 eluvied. He is for eluvied. It's a fancy, that's a word that people use all the time.

spk_0 Everyone uses eluvied. So when we say eluvied, we are talking about water leaching minerals and

spk_0 you know elements, ions, things like that, leaching it out of soil and dragging it down to a

spk_0 lower layer. So the eluvied layer is a very leached layer. What that means is that the only

spk_0 things that you have left in this particular layer are the more resistant pieces, the more

spk_0 resistant particles in your soil. So that would be larger sized particles. That would be pieces of

spk_0 things like quartz. Quartz is a very resistant mineral to any sort of water attacks, you know. So

spk_0 most soils don't have it, but you do find it in older soils or in soils that are in forest

spk_0 that didn't have a lot of movement. You can get eluvied soils there. Yeah, to eluviate, it means to

spk_0 to leach materials via water. And there's also eluviate with an eye. Eluviate is a different word.

spk_0 But also what is soil patrology? Did you say no way? I did. What does eluviate mean with an eye?

spk_0 Eluviate with an eye means to introduce salts or colloids. So we talked about that. So those

spk_0 little tiny particles. So like salts or those little tiny particles that are very interested in

spk_0 attracting to other particles, those being introduced by water percolating down through layers.

spk_0 So instead of leaching stuff out, now it's being added in. So eluviate with an E is to leach it out.

spk_0 And eluviate with an eye is to to percolate to add it into the soil. So okay, so eluviate with an

spk_0 eye means water bringing stuff into the soil deeper. Eluviate. Yeah. E is taking it out and dragging

spk_0 dragging it down deeper. Yeah. But like illuviate with an eye means to like insert it. The water is

spk_0 bringing it into the soil. So you can leave it kind of like a deposit. So it's being deposited

spk_0 into these portions of the soils. And so with the next couple of soil horizons that we'll talk

spk_0 about, these are the eluviate with an eye layers where all of the water took it out.

spk_0 And it's being deposited all the way. Yeah. So it's exactly what's happening. You were on your

spk_0 side in the middle of it. I understand. Yeah. So it's exactly why they're all that. I'm looking

spk_0 at a diagram on the internet. Yeah. I've got it under control. So the next layer. Well, it's just

spk_0 like what would this look like? And so like in this one photo that I'm looking at, it's like there's

spk_0 the organic matter on top. There's the top soil. And then you'll see the white line. It's white.

spk_0 Yeah, exactly. Because it's mostly like white. It's usually a light color, like wider gray.

spk_0 Some soils that are really rich in eluviate has a really leech soil. They'll just be like solid

spk_0 gray. And it's like crazy to see. But that are really highly highly leech all the water has run

spk_0 through them and taken all the good stuff out. They're very interesting. Yeah. So the next layer

spk_0 down is in eluviate with an eye layer that that eluviate with an E had deposit that water deposits

spk_0 and stuff there. So it's the subsoil. It's the B layer. So B stands for subsoil. I don't know why

spk_0 probably Latin. I'm not going to look it up. So subsoil layer. Well, A is top soil than B is soil

spk_0 or subsoil. Right. Yeah, but there's E in between. Anyway, it's a whole mess. It's a mess.

spk_0 Fine. Geologists don't know how to spell. They put O before A and then E and then B. It's just like

spk_0 not right. So yes, subsoil says subsoil is rich in minerals that have been leeched. They've moved

spk_0 down from the A or the E horizons, which we talked about and they accumulated here. Now the thing is

spk_0 over time, these things through the process of being these, you know, these elements, these minerals

spk_0 that have been leeched by the water down to this layer, they're actually slowly being broken down

spk_0 through a chemical weathering process and they turn into clay clay minerals, not by chemical weathering

spk_0 process because of water. It's a water, weathering through the soil. Yes. Water flowing through the

spk_0 soil slowly and weathering it. Yes, exactly. So when you have a very well, we call it well

spk_0 established, but when you have something over time that has been developed for a long time and it's

spk_0 horizon, it's called a BT layer. It's like a B sub T and it's a very strong B horizon and it has

spk_0 a lot of clay. It is like thick with three C's clay. That's like Virginia soil. It's very clay heavy.

spk_0 It has a very strong B horizon. We call it a BT and then if it has a weak B horizon, we call it

spk_0 BW. So you can see their clays, but it's not like fully developed. That's a BW.

spk_0 Now the thing is, I'm telling you guys the basics. There's so many different, like there's so much

spk_0 to it, but this is just the very basics of it that we have here today. So the next horizon that we

spk_0 have is the C horizon, which is your parent material. So this is where you have your beginning,

spk_0 this is where the dirt started. This is the birth of dirt. This is where your dirt began.

spk_0 It's the deposit at Earth's surface, which the soil developed from. So it's where your start

spk_0 of dirt and then below that you'll have rock. So that's the R layer. It's the rock layer. It

spk_0 actually just stands for rock. It stands for regolith, but that means the bedrock, you know, the very

spk_0 base, whatever massive rock that's still rock. So the parent material is still soil. It's like soil

spk_0 mixed with rock and then R is just rock layer. Okay. So that's your very bottom. It's like when you

spk_0 imagine a soil horizon, O A E B is your clay heavy one. C is like your material that's mixed with

spk_0 bottom rock and then just rock solid rock and you can't go any deeper. There's no more soil anymore.

spk_0 So this is not soil at all. It's just a rock and it's just whatever the very parent material at

spk_0 the very bottom of your soil is. So it could be all right granite or basalt or quartzite or limestone

spk_0 or whatever, you know, whatever that is. Mmm. I'm googling regolith. Regolith is just its rock that

spk_0 covers the bedrock. It's kind of how to describe it. It's like when you have, if you've ever been

spk_0 standing on top of rock, you see little bits of rock on top of that rock. That's what I'm going to

spk_0 with. Yeah. It says it's uncontsolidated. Loose heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid

spk_0 rock. Yes. It includes dust, broken rocks, blah blah blah. So it's anything that's standing

spk_0 between the way of a solid rock and the dirt is where you're regularly. Like you're, or you're

spk_0 walking around on the bedrock and then there's just like, you know, on like the top of not desert

spk_0 island or whatever. There's like rocks on there. I guess that would be a little bit of things.

spk_0 Little bits of broken off rock, little chipped rock, little things that are blown away by wind

spk_0 surfaces or what out, you know, wind processes or anything like that. So now that you know all about

spk_0 your horizons, which is very important. What are they again, Ellen? Like, oh is organic,

spk_0 a top soil, is alluvialated. Oh, and then subsoil. I can't remember what the letter was.

spk_0 It's B. Subbook. And then subbooked the soil. And then C was like the mix of rocks and soil.

spk_0 And then the bottom was R for basically the layer above bedrock or bedrock. Yeah, I did it.

spk_0 You did good. R is for the rock. It's really for regular. It's not really what it is. C is for

spk_0 parent material, which I don't know why that's C. I don't ask questions, but you know, that's just

spk_0 probably like some kind of I think honestly, because a lot of times you'll have to

spk_0 read and see horizon, but you may not have everything else. I think that's probably why the

spk_0 thing is see. And then yeah, so I was like, let's add this top one. Oh, we already did A. Let's make it

spk_0 Oh, it's like, okay. I think oh, for organic makes sense. I like that. And then like ABC makes sense.

spk_0 The ease just there. Anyway, so let's now that we've talked about that, we're going to talk about the

spk_0 four soil forming processes. So there's four ways that you can form soil. The first being

spk_0 through additions. So if you have material being added to your soil, such as decomposing vegetation,

spk_0 you know, organisms, organic matter, or any new material like mineral material or rock material

spk_0 being deposited by wind or water or if you mean dumps one, they're doing construction or whatever.

spk_0 So that's an addition. You have losses. So this is how you remove stuff from your soil. You can

spk_0 either have losses of wind from wind from water from plant uptake. So a lot of people may forget about

spk_0 that, but plants are soil, you know, so anything that they take out of it. Taking material out of the

spk_0 soil, yeah. And a little bit, I guess. Soil particles can also be or chemical compounds can be

spk_0 eroded, you know, they can be leached, which we talked about earlier, alleviated. They can be

spk_0 harvested from the soil. You know, we can have an alter a chemical alteration happen and it changes

spk_0 the physical makeup of the soil. So if you have your if you have like rocks near the top and they

spk_0 turn into a clay layer, that's also kind of it can be a loss, it can be a partial loss if you lose

spk_0 free ions that way. But most of the time that's more of a one to one, you don't really lose in that

spk_0 situation. But you don't really gain either, it just is. It's just a change. So I think we're

spk_0 actually going to talk about that change here. We're talking about transformations. So this is a

spk_0 transformation is caused by chemical or physical weathering. So new material is made, but you're not

spk_0 really making mass, you know what I mean? So turning minerals into clay minerals, primary minerals

spk_0 going into a clay mineral, that's an example of a transformation. It's not really a it's not a loss.

spk_0 You can also oxidize some of your minerals or hydroxides, some of your minerals like,

spk_0 you know, so rusting if you have any rusting or anything like that, that's also a process that

spk_0 you can go through. Those are considered transformations. You can also go through the process of decay,

spk_0 like if you have organic materials that are being decayed, you know, that's a transformation. So

spk_0 it becomes like of course organic material into a more solid resistant organic compound,

spk_0 what we talked about. And it's not something you can eat. What is it called?

spk_0 Humus. Yes. Humus. Not hummus. Humus. Humus. I'm not sure. It's either Humus or Humus. I've

spk_0 called it humus. It's not hummus. But I mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again for clarity.

spk_0 One of my teachers and this particular teacher was British. So she said humus, but it doesn't

spk_0 mean that everybody says humus. It may be humus. It may even be humus. I don't think it's humus. I'm

spk_0 and that's how I pronounce it. So aluminum. So if I'm incorrect, please take it over my teacher.

spk_0 And yes, she would say aluminum. So I hope no one was confused by that. By the point we were

spk_0 in college, I'd hope that someone had basic chemistry in America, but we'll see. So the last of the

spk_0 four soil forming processes is called translocation. So I saved this one for last because it sounds

spk_0 the coolest, but really it's just the movement of soil constituents, either, you know, organics or

spk_0 the soil profile. It's basically like if you imagine like a rectangular cube of soil that you

spk_0 just pull from the earth and you're looking at it and you're like, wow, this is great. And it's just

spk_0 like grass on the top and then like rock on the bottom. So any sort of movement you have in your

spk_0 soil that's either vertical. So it moves between your horizons. So like up or down. Most of the time

spk_0 it's going to be down to be honest or moving laterally within your profiles. So this can be

spk_0 when you when you move up and down a lot of times this is really due to water more than anything.

spk_0 When you have lateral movement, a lot of times it's due to animals in the soil, like burrowing or

spk_0 shopping things out of the way or whatever. But yeah, those are, you know, you can get changes

spk_0 from your soil that are the alterations can be in like texture. It can be the structures can

spk_0 become more apparent. You can have stronger horizons or weaker horizons. You can have color changes

spk_0 also. It's a different things. So cool. So those are the processes that form soil. But now when you

spk_0 talk about the factors that form soil, so soil is not just, you know, in its own airlocked cube,

spk_0 right? You know, we have other stuff going on in the earth that affect how we get soil and what kind

spk_0 of soils we get. Where we get these soils, it's all makes a difference depending on these five

spk_0 factors. So the first thing we're going to talk about is parent material. I think this one's pretty

spk_0 pretty obvious, probably for most people. But depending on what kind of rock you have

spk_0 low your soil surface, it'll change what type of soil you'll get. And that seems pretty obvious.

spk_0 I know we talked about specifically textures. We talked about sand, silt, and clay sized

spk_0 textures, sized particles. What likely type of texture are you going to have for your soil if it's

spk_0 a sandstone as a parent material? Oh, I would guess sandy texture. You're very right. It is very

spk_0 like a little, maybe some sort of sandy texture or maybe a sandy loam or a loamy sand. A clayy sand.

spk_0 Yeah. So the other things that can be affected by your parent material or your pH, which makes

spk_0 sense. So like how acidic or how basic it is. You know, the types of clay minerals you have,

spk_0 if you have, you can get like different types of clay minerals depending on what the

spk_0 material is. Because it's a chemical weathering process. So depending on what's being

spk_0 chemically weathered, you'll get different types of clays out of it essentially. It also affects

spk_0 the fertility of the soil for your plants. So what kind of nutrients you have your macro and

spk_0 micro nutrients and what quantities you have them in. Because you can always have too much of a

spk_0 good thing. And if there are too much, even if it's something that plants need like potassium

spk_0 or nitrogen, you know, if you have too much of them, it can be, you know, poison essentially

spk_0 to your plants. So just depends on, you know, what you got. So there are, in our like, you know,

spk_0 parent material categories. We have either residual underlying bedrock or we have transported

spk_0 materials. So we talk about residual underlying bedrock. We just talk about like a solid rock

spk_0 at the bottom of your soils. So we talked about sandstone. A lot of times sandstones and granites

spk_0 can be coarse textured, but they'll also be acidic soils that are formed from them. A lot of

spk_0 times they'll be high in iron content, which will make them more acidic. And then we have,

spk_0 as well to ask you why that is. Yes. You answered my question, you'll ask. And then we have limestones,

spk_0 which will be shallow. Generally, there'll be more shallow soils. And there'll also a lot of times

spk_0 to be really clay heavy, just because limestone will chemically weather rather easily into a clay.

spk_0 So that's why you get pretty clay heavy soils. You can also get slate or shale is another type of

spk_0 rock that you have. And a lot of times those turn into clay soils as well. And that just has to

spk_0 do with the chemical weathering process. So I mean, there's other, you know, these are just,

spk_0 you know, simple examples. But when we talk about transported parent material, we're generally

spk_0 talking about sedimentary processes. And they're not necessarily even, it may not even be a solid

spk_0 rock. It may be like chunks of rocks that you'll get in these locations. But, or it could be

spk_0 a, end up being a solid rock. I can give examples. But so one of the types that we have,

spk_0 there's actually six different ones. But one of the types is a colluvium. So colluvium soils are

spk_0 soils that are actually found at the bottom of a slope. That's just the easiest way to describe them.

spk_0 I know you're making a face of me, but that's what a colluvium is. Yes. But they make a very specific

spk_0 type of soil, which is why they're important to describe separately. So colluviums either they can

spk_0 cure from water. So if you have rain, you know, you know, like running down the side of something.

spk_0 Yeah. Or like mass wasting. So if you have a chunk of land that just slides off of a hill

spk_0 because it becomes unstable or something, you know, that's a type of colluvium. Not a soil. Yeah.

spk_0 Okay. So these have the particles are poorly sorted. They're not in any order. But because they're

spk_0 not organized very well, you actually generally get good drainage out of them, which is good for

spk_0 plants. So you get a decent amount of water removal for your plants, which is good.

spk_0 The next type I want to talk about is alluvium. So alluvium is the word we use for rivers. So any sort of

spk_0 river transported rocks that then become soil. So depending on where you are in your river watershed,

spk_0 you'll actually get different kinds of soils. So you got a different kind of soil. You know,

spk_0 if you're at the mouth of your river, then you would at just anywhere along the body of your river.

spk_0 Or if you're at the delta, like if you're at the delta portion of your river, a lot of times you

spk_0 get really clay heavy particles, because at that point your river is like slowing down. It's like

spk_0 taking longer to move stuff. So a lot of times only the fine things, the fine grained materials get

spk_0 moved at that point. So that's why deltas are very silt and clay heavy. But if you're like farther

spk_0 up the river where there's like rapids and stuff like that, you'll have sand size particles.

spk_0 So you'll get a different type of soil that you would get at either end. So the next one I want to

spk_0 talk about is marine sediments. So marine sediments, the only way you really get these turning into

spk_0 soil is they had to have been seabeds that got exposed somehow, you know. So either from uplift or

spk_0 you know, if we had a change in water levels or something like that. And it really, really just depends

spk_0 where in the ocean you were like or how close you were to shore, what kind of soil deposits you get,

spk_0 because it'll change what kind of rocks you get. Because like a beach has very different rock

spk_0 than like deep ocean, you know. Beaches are mainly sand, size particles. And when you're in the

spk_0 deep deep ocean, all that's left is just like tiny clay-sized silty particles. So you know, very

spk_0 different kinds of size particles and very different textures that you'll get for your

spk_0 plus or a lot of extra organic material at the bottom of the ocean from decaying ocean critters

spk_0 and whatnot. So you actually, you may have more calcium carbonate difference in, you'll get like

spk_0 critters or whatever, you know, which is a very different kind of experience. Critters.

spk_0 So this is a scientific term, right? Yeah, very scientific. Yeah, it's a type of critters.

spk_0 Yes, critters. So the next one I want to talk about is lacustrine, lacustrine deposits,

spk_0 which are lake deposits. So you're very familiar with that because that's near you. So

spk_0 yes, some of them. I was like, why? I forgot. Because you're next to the giant lake. I don't

spk_0 think you're the lake. But it's still like, it's still in the lake land, you know, near enough.

spk_0 And some of them will be sandy, but a lot of them, most of them end up being silty or clay. So it

spk_0 just depends on where you are. I should dig up my backyard and find out what kind of stones they're

spk_0 easier with. You could do that. You could also do that. You know, there are already,

spk_0 already have a Google, already have a search for like soil horizon Toronto that I'm going to look at

spk_0 after this. I'm glad. I prepared. I mean, I already already, it's, there's a tab that's open.

spk_0 Don't you worry about that. Amazing. So next we have aolean, which we've talked about before,

spk_0 which is wind driven. And I'm not talking about like aole like the sauce that you get. It's spelled

spk_0 differently. It's E O L I A N not A O L I. Aolean. Yes. Delicious. Garlic. It's garlic.

spk_0 Key. Aolean. Wind driven sediments. So wind driven soils, they're usually very fine particles

spk_0 with doesn't surprise you because wind can only pick up so many things. Pick it up in the wind.

spk_0 I think the tornado. So one of the really fancy types of wind driven deposits is called

spk_0 Lus. It's a Lus deposit. And it's spelled L O E S S. So to say it's not spelled the way that you

spk_0 think. Yeah. Listener. And these are all siltsized sediments that have been accumulated through wind

spk_0 blowing. So they tend to be kind of a yellowy kind of gray color just and just depends. But

spk_0 they're actually found very extensively in the central U S. And can you guess what they might

spk_0 have been a problem for when we had a big massive 1930s issue when it came to soil in the middle of

spk_0 U S. It's almost like you're just leading me down the road to say the dust ball. Yes.

spk_0 Yes. There was a lot of Lus deposits. But the problem is so the Lus was great. The Lus wasn't the

spk_0 problem. The problem was when we didn't have any plants and we didn't have any water. And so all

spk_0 they got blown away. And that was a big huge problem for the dust ball. But huge dust storms.

spk_0 Yeah. I guess people outside of North America might not know about this point in American history,

spk_0 but it's something that we study relatively extensively. It's given a good chunk of textbook

spk_0 when you're going through in high school. Yeah. And it was a period at a time where there was

spk_0 significant droughts in the U S. That caused these huge dust storms. And I'm talking like crazy

spk_0 dust storms. Dust storms that would go all the way across the United States. And also like

spk_0 create no crops and people had to go up their farms. And it was very bad. People's health. There

spk_0 was dirt everywhere. There's a really horrifying documentary about it on PBS. If you're in the

spk_0 American Experience Program on PBS, if you're interested. There was also just a lot of people had

spk_0 moved to the Midwest at that time. And what they had done is they cleared the land. But they had

spk_0 not for farming. Yes. But they didn't plant anything. And so because of that, all of the sediment

spk_0 was loose. It didn't have any roots to hold it down. And so that contribute a lot also to the

spk_0 dust bowl and having giant lust deposits that are very good for plants, but not good for human

spk_0 lungs. So we have a lot of fun. And then now we have glacial till. So glaciers, we had talked,

spk_0 we talked about this last time, but glaciers carry and grind any rock that's in their way. They don't

spk_0 glacier don't care. It'll cut it down. I still don't care. So they leave these kind of unsorted

spk_0 unconsolidated deposits when they melt or when they, you know, like receive. Yeah, when you're

spk_0 seed. The thing is you can actually get layers, you can get like a rock layer and then you'll have

spk_0 time for a soil layer to form. And then you'll have another rock layer. And a lot of times that

spk_0 happens because you have this, you know, this retreat in advance cycle for glaciers. So the glacier

spk_0 may have deposited rocks and then the soil had time to form and then it like goes over top of it.

spk_0 And then in advances and then you get more rocks dropped off and then you get more soil forming.

spk_0 So you get these cool kind of layers that are going in glacial deposits. So that's how parent

spk_0 material affects your soil formation, what type of soil it will end up having. We also are

spk_0 affected by climate. That makes a lot of sense. So I'm sure. So precipitation, temperature, vegetation,

spk_0 all of these different factors will affect your composition and texture of your soil.

spk_0 So I have a question for you on. Okay. Which soil do you think has more intense weathering in it?

spk_0 Do you think it would be Phoenix, Arizona or Richmond, Virginia?

spk_0 I'm going to say Richmond, Virginia. Why do you think it would have more intense weathering

spk_0 than Phoenix when I'm asking you about climate specifically? Not that I'm leading you to the

spk_0 answer from this meeting. Well, I was thinking of the podcast and I'm talking about those cities

spk_0 in relation to intense weathering in climate. I was just thinking that Richmond has more rain.

spk_0 It does. So there might be more weathering from precipitation. Yes. But yeah, the temperature

spk_0 isn't as extreme. So it's not but the temperature doesn't really affect. The temperature doesn't

spk_0 really affect soil too much. It has more to do with moisture content. I mean, temperature does

spk_0 affect it. I thought there's not a lot of might have more like wind exposure and stuff like that.

spk_0 It does have wind, but the thing is, I don't know, Arizona. Now you're making me

spk_0 not guess myself. Not all of Arizona. But Phoenix in particular has a very air. A very airy

spk_0 dry climate and it doesn't get nearly as much precipitation as Richmond does. So Richmond would

spk_0 actually have more weathering of their soils. They would have a stronger fertilizer. Yeah, you were

spk_0 right. You were right. You were right. I don't know why you were second to guessing yourself. You were

spk_0 400% right. I was like, I'm pretty sure. Right. Okay. I'm I let a horse. I'm really proud of

spk_0 myself. Drink it. You walked away. You're like, why would you think that what I'm asking you about

spk_0 Phoenix? It's like, oh, no, maybe I picked the right one. No, you're under one right. Yeah, it's

spk_0 because of the climates that, you know, it's much more air and dry there. So you don't get nearly as

spk_0 much weathering of the soil. So you don't get the same kind of internal horizons that you get for

spk_0 like a soil enrichment. So I mean, yeah, I assume rock doesn't care like that much how hot

spk_0 that is because the temperature is not that different than the surface temperature at other

spk_0 places on earth. It affects is more it the more it affects is actually like, you know, your

spk_0 bio material, which is next on our list, biota, which is all all your different, you know,

spk_0 plants animals, critters, all that. They more than anything, they actually strongly affect how

spk_0 well your soils hold together, how well they aggregate. And it really does change your organic

spk_0 contents of your soil more than anything. But depending on what kind of climate you live in,

spk_0 depending on what kind of, you know, weather and sunlight and whatever that you'll have

spk_0 different types of precipitation, you'll get different types of critters and there will get

spk_0 different types of soil. So it does affect it just in a different way. The fourth factor that

spk_0 really defines how soils are formed is topography, which I think that also probably makes sense to

spk_0 a lot of people. If you're on the top of the hill or if you're on the side of the hill,

spk_0 you're going to have really different types of soils, you know, which makes sense because

spk_0 one is exposed to more elements. One may be kind of like hidden, you know, or, you know, it's in

spk_0 like a little gully. It may be like protected more, maybe more tree cover or something like that.

spk_0 But yeah, topography makes a big difference when you're getting your different types of soils.

spk_0 You'll have different developed types of soils. To the point that we even came up with the word

spk_0 coluvium, which is for stuff that slid down the hill and collected a lot of it. So, you know,

spk_0 so it does make a difference what kind of deposits you'll nip getting at those places.

spk_0 The other thing it does affect is sunlight in particular. It'll affect what kind of sunlight you

spk_0 get and then what kind of plants you'll have growing and what kind of critters you'll have growing

spk_0 in that area. So topography does make a difference in that way. That's true.

spk_0 And then the last thing I want you to guess, what's the last factor that you think will affect

spk_0 what kind of soil you get? Because we talked about parent material, we talked about climate,

spk_0 we talked about critters, we talked about topography. What's the only other thing that we would have

spk_0 in a mix that would change what kind of soil you get and how well develop your horizons would be?

spk_0 Yeah, you've spoken a lot about time being a factor. So like newer soils are more mixed and

spk_0 soils that are older and more established are like more stratified like they have more

spk_0 distinct layers. You are 100% correct. Time is really the last factor and it really just changes,

spk_0 you know, younger soils are, you know, they're less mature. They don't really know what they're

spk_0 doing yet. They don't know what they're about. They kind of figure themselves out. Yeah, they're

spk_0 just trying to figure it out. And so they're, you know, all mixed together. They have a lot of

spk_0 feelings. But when you get into the older soils, they know what they're about and they've already

spk_0 settled into a comfortable routine and they leech whatever is going to be leech, they've already

spk_0 kind of divided out all of their different layers, you know, they're thought they've already

spk_0 decided what they're all about. So that's the kind of soils that we have over time.

spk_0 But yeah, just as kind of a recap, soil physical properties, we talked about the texture,

spk_0 which is like their, you know, composition of sand cell clay, we talked about their structures,

spk_0 which is how they clump together into peds, we mentioned that word, PEDs. We talked about,

spk_0 we didn't really talk about this, but their color, their color unsprisonably changes depending on,

spk_0 we've, I'm thinking anybody has seen this if they ever looked at dirt, sometimes it's different colors

spk_0 in different places. So it depends on your parent material. It depends on how much more organics

spk_0 you have. If you have a lot of organics, it's very dark in color. Mm-hmm. It's very yummy for plants.

spk_0 They like that. If you have a lot of water performing alluviation with the knee, it means

spk_0 that you're transporting, you know, your minerals kind of deeper in your soil horizons and you

spk_0 know what this kind of gray, white looked to your soil here. White look to your soil here. We also

spk_0 talk about the density, your bulk density of your soil, your porosity. So how much pore space you have,

spk_0 if you have higher porosity, do you think you'll have lower or higher density? Do you think it'll be

spk_0 more dense or less dense if you have more pore space? Mm-hmm. Less dense? Yes. Because it's,

spk_0 you know, you have more space. You have more air pockets. So of course, it'll be less dense.

spk_0 And in the pores, you can have water or gas, right? That's what you're saying. You can have water

spk_0 gas, you can have critters, you can have all sorts of things. But the point is that space, you know. Yeah.

spk_0 And then another physical structure that we talk about for dirt is consistency. So it's basically

spk_0 the ease with which you can crush those structures, those pets. How easy are they to be crushed?

spk_0 If they're harder to crush, that's a different consistency than if they're easier to smoosh.

spk_0 So is a pet like, like, if you imagine like a big chunk of land, is a pet, a pet is like a three-dimensional

spk_0 like object in the soil that's like one sort of like composition. Like I can imagine like the cross

spk_0 sections of the layers, but I feel like a pet, I don't under, I don't, I can't like, so utilize what that is.

spk_0 Have you ever just stuck your hand in dirt?

spk_0 Yes. So when you are gardening, like when you like, when you're gardening, and you're going through

spk_0 the potting soil, and you like pick up a chunk of it with your hands, and you know how like,

spk_0 if you shake your hands, like, when we stuff will come out, right? Yeah.

spk_0 If you shake your hands and you basically become like a, you know, like, you're like, you're

spk_0 mining for gold and you like, should me the paint, you know? Yeah. And you'll have like some of the

spk_0 chunks will be stuck together. Does that make sense? That's a pet. Yeah. Okay. That's a pet. That's all.

spk_0 It's not even as complicated as this. It's not scary. Nope. It's just the chunks. The clumps, the clumps of soil

spk_0 that can hold themselves together. Okay. Exactly. Yeah. And sometimes we'll have actual structures to them

spk_0 again. It just depends on what kind of, you know, mineral components you had in your, in your rocks,

spk_0 really, it'll change. And also like, what content of your, I mean, it all really comes down to

spk_0 chemicals, but you know, the chemistry of your rocks, that were your initial rocks that got,

spk_0 you know, destroyed over time. So consistency, pets. So little hunks of rock. Those are your

spk_0 pets. The hunks of dirt. Oh, my bad. Yes. The hunks of dirt. Okay. So the last thing I talk about

spk_0 consistency, and then the last kind of physical property I want to talk about when it comes to soil.

spk_0 It's tilts. So T. I. L.

spk_0 Tilt. Tilt. Okay. So tilt is actually the ability for plants to use the soil. So if the soil is

spk_0 really high in clays and they can't take root, it's got a low tilt. It's not good. But if it has

spk_0 that ideal, that little primo 40, 40, 20 mixture that we call long, it's a lone soil. And there's,

spk_0 and other types of gas is available to it. And the beautiful plants are very excited about it.

spk_0 That would be a very nice high tilt value. Cool. So I know that we're probably overwhelmed here.

spk_0 We have learned a lot about dirt today. But the last thing I wanted to talk about is it's interesting,

spk_0 but also maybe the thing that like, the thing that people when they study soil patrology want to

spk_0 are classified into a taxonomy, which is the same as, you know, the animal kingdom. We have a

spk_0 taxonomy for that. So a taxonomy is just a way to classify organisms or things in a systematic

spk_0 manner. And it's just using science. We, a lot to people when think of taxonomy, we think of

spk_0 animals. So we think of, you know, our genus and our species for an animal. But when

spk_0 dirt, we also have a taxonomy because scientists just can't be easy. We can't just be like,

spk_0 that's red dirt, you know what I mean? Like that's not how it happens. So the United States

spk_0 Department of Agriculture, the USDA, their system for soil taxonomy factors in climate,

spk_0 factors in vegetation, factors in maturity, and what type of soil horizons you have, which are

spk_0 again, oh, organics, a top soil, e, eluviation, alleviation, b, subsoil, c, which is,

spk_0 no, b is subsoil, c, no, so I said subsoil. No, it's like the mix of rock and parent material.

spk_0 parent material to say the mix of like soil and parent material. And then R, which is bedrock

spk_0 or whatever. Rock, yeah. Regolith, yes. Regolith with bedrock. So depending on all of those factors,

spk_0 the USADA describes and has classified, there are 12 basic soil orders globally. Okay. Now, the

spk_0 thing is I clarify that it's the USDA except a system that I learned. I don't know if it's

spk_0 different in other parts of the world. So if you know soil, you know, different soil horizons

spk_0 or whatever, we would love to hear it because this is what I was taught and it would be nice to learn

spk_0 new things. But this is what I was taught in school. So I'm going to start off by talking about

spk_0 the baby soil into soil, e and gui, s o l into soil. So all of these are soils, by the way,

spk_0 which is soil. Okay. But into soils are some of the youngest baby soils. They have a differentiated

spk_0 into horizons. They're very young. They just look kind of a hodgepodge of different materials.

spk_0 They haven't had time to mature and form their different layers yet. So,

spk_0 Enter, that prefix comes from the English for entire. So it's an entire chunk of soil without any

spk_0 differentiated horizons. Yeah. So the next type of soil that I would talk about is Inceptus soils.

spk_0 So Inceptus soils are a little bit more mature, they're a little bit older. They begin, it's a

spk_0 beginning soil. So you're starting, you have an A layer, usually, and a C layer. And you're starting

spk_0 to form a B horizons. So you're starting to get some clays, but it's very weak and usually you

spk_0 can't really, the hot, the horizons in general are not very well defined in this particular type of

spk_0 soil. So that's the septus soils. And then the next step is mollusol. So mollusol is like

spk_0 mollify, very soft. You know, it's a soft way to be. Mollusol is gorgeous. They're like a super

spk_0 dark color. They're amazing. They're very rich in organics. And they have an A layer, which is

spk_0 deep and also full of organics. And we have an O layer as well. And they have a very, a very thick

spk_0 A layer specifically. So a very thick top soil layer, which is good. It has kind of a medium to

spk_0 high clay content. So it's a BW to BT horizon. So it's like B weak to be strong kind of horizon.

spk_0 But these are found mostly in prairies. So like in the prairie in the United States, so in the

spk_0 Midwest, that's why we have the bread basket out there. That's where all of our food is being

spk_0 farmed. And it's because they have this sweet soft mollusol. That's perfect for growing plants.

spk_0 So it's great. The next soil I want to talk about is ultisol. So yes, ultisol.

spk_0 It's the ultimate soul. I don't know. Not really. So it's a mature soil. It has good horizons.

spk_0 It has a very clay heavy B horizon. So it's like a BT horizon. It tends to weather out

spk_0 a lot of its basic elements. So things like calcium and magnesium. Yes. So it's a much more

spk_0 aesthetic type of soil than some of our other soils. Okay. And then we have alpha sols. So alpha

spk_0 sols are cool because they tend to form in deciduous forests and savannas. And they are mature.

spk_0 They are well-weathered soils. They have kind of a gray, like a very gray color. So a lot of the,

spk_0 they've been leached of a lot of their elements, like a lot of their

spk_0 colored causing elements, basically. So like a lot of the, a lot of what's left is things like

spk_0 quartz and feldspar and stuff like that. And they're very high in basic elements. So they'll have

spk_0 a lot of calcium. They'll have a lot of magnesium in them. A lot of iron as well.

spk_0 So oxasols are the next one. And can you guess what they're called oxasols?

spk_0 I like oxygen. It is related to that. They are very oxidized. So what color do you think that these

spk_0 will be? Like red? Yeah. They are very red. Oxasols are super red in color. They form in tropical

spk_0 and subtropical regions. And basically they've been so leached that the only thing that's left

spk_0 in there is like aluminum and iron. And that's like all, nearly all the other elements have been

spk_0 leached out of the soil. So that's why it oxidizes and becomes that crazy red color. Yeah. So you

spk_0 see these in, you know, tropical areas I mentioned, you'll also see them like Hawaii has some

spk_0 red oxasols. And they're really interesting to look at because they just don't look like even like

spk_0 we have red clay here in Virginia. But yeah, but it's like brown red. Yeah, it's not the same.

spk_0 Like oxasols look really different. They look really cool. It's very red versus like

spk_0 versus alpha salts who are like the very gray counterpart to that. So if you look up an alpha

spk_0 salt, it'll be, you know, kind of a boring black color, comparatively. Oh, yeah, it's kind of

spk_0 gray looking. Yes. Oh, for first two aluminum and iron. Yes. Interesting. Okay. It's like ALF.

spk_0 Get it. I don't know why Geologists even know what they didn't. Anyway, there's just going to be a

spk_0 lot of names that are like based off of like the elements that are in a thing. It's just kind of

spk_0 embarrassing. Anyway, let's move on. So we have the next one I want to talk about are Orritisols.

spk_0 So Orritisols are it's ARID, ISOL. Can you think of why? I can arid and dry soil. Okay. It's

spk_0 it's desert soil. Okay. So Orritisols is too dry for many plants to form. So a lot of times you

spk_0 have like shrubs or you know, just like bush or cactus or whatever. It may have a something called

spk_0 a salad horizon, which we didn't talk about, but it's a layer of salt essentially that in the soil.

spk_0 And these only form in hot dry places. They don't form in cold dry places. You wouldn't get this

spk_0 in somewhere like Antarctica, which is a desert, but it's a cold desert, you know. Yeah, it's

spk_0 cool to see if you see in the, if you ever look up in a rid of soil like the horizon, you'll see a,

spk_0 sometimes you'll see that that salt layer, just like a white crust layer that you have in the soil.

spk_0 So so the next soil that I'm going to talk about is andisol. So this one I don't think you'll get

spk_0 with the guessing, but andisol is from andisol. No. No. That was a good guess. So

spk_0 andisol like the andis where you can find a lot of this. Oh, that was my first guess. I just didn't

spk_0 say it. You know, it was like, oh, I can't be from the andis. Yeah, stupid. Yeah. No, I mean, it was named

spk_0 after the place that they found it. So made of volcanic glass volcanic ash, the weathering from

spk_0 any of the volcanic material. So it's also kind of it becomes only weekly weathered. It's not very,

spk_0 it doesn't have a very defined soil horizon. And it kind of makes sense because volcanoes erupt

spk_0 relatively frequently in geologic time. So sometimes you just don't have time for this soil to

spk_0 develop. But yeah, it doesn't take for soil to form. It just depends on the type of soil. So

spk_0 things like alpha-sols and ultisols take hundreds of thousands of years.

spk_0 Things like andisols can be like days to weeks, you know. So it just depends on what kind of,

spk_0 you know, what kind of soil you have. So andisol a lot of times we'll have either kind of a gray

spk_0 ash layer or they'll have like they just look really, they can look really stripy even though

spk_0 or like one solid stripe of color, but they just don't have be horizons. Like they don't have

spk_0 strong clay horizons. So that's why they consider them, you know, more immature. Stronger the clay

spk_0 horizon, you have the more mature the soil is. More time it's had to settle when you do that.

spk_0 But yeah, you can get really deep top soil from this type of soil.

spk_0 Well, if it's a volcano, it keeps piling up and piling up. Yeah. So I mean, the ash can be, you know,

spk_0 converted into dirt essentially, but a lot of times it just doesn't have time to mature to clay.

spk_0 A lot of volcanic soils supposed to be really good for plants. It is. That's why you have a big

spk_0 top soil. And not a heavy clay horizon. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. And then the color just depends

spk_0 on the composition of the ash. So sometimes it's kind of a gray color. It can be like a black color.

spk_0 Or sometimes it's kind of a brownish red, you know, just again, it depends on what's in it.

spk_0 So the next one is histisols. So histisols are weird. And I think you should look

spk_0 a picture of them. These are soils that are dominantly organic. So they're like,

spk_0 just black. They're like almost solid black. Very, very dark soil. But they're found specifically

spk_0 in bugs and more peat bogs, mucks, anything like that. They're gross in general.

spk_0 But they're super rich in like carbon, right? They're very rich in carbon. People can use them to

spk_0 make energy. You can burn it. I mean, it'll be really sotty, smokey, gross energy, but you can burn

spk_0 it. But yeah, they're very, they're very, very dark. They're very interesting. But yeah, they only

spk_0 form in in those kinds of areas in bogs. Just look at that like peat chunks and stuff now.

spk_0 Yeah, they are related to peats. You'll find you can find peat below this type of soil. That makes

spk_0 sense because it's like a kind of compressing heat. Peat and then below that will be cold.

spk_0 So the next one I'm going to talk about is spotisol. So spotisols are very acidic,

spk_0 sandy forest soil. So they're highly leached of their basic elements and they have a strong

spk_0 e horizon. So they have that big like white color of unconsolidated quartz. They'll have like a big

spk_0 strip of white in them. They're typically found in conifer forests or boreal forests. So farther

spk_0 north somewhere that's cold. You don't usually find these farther south. Yeah, I'm looking

spk_0 to see and like on the tip top of Michigan and like in Maine in the US places like that. They're

spk_0 also found yeah, I was going to say they're also found on coastlines because you just have a lot of

spk_0 sand on coastlines, you know what I mean? So sandy forests make sense that you would get these

spk_0 kinds of spotisols. Yeah, a lot of it's leached out. They're left with mainly unconsolidated quartz.

spk_0 So they're very light in color generally. But they're interesting. They're an interesting

spk_0 soil to look at. And what we got next. Ooh, ooh, next one, jealousol.

spk_0 G-E-O-I-S-O-L. That one's cool. So jealousols are soils with permafrost within 100

spk_0 centimeters of soil surface. They're very specific, very, very cold climate that you get these kinds of

spk_0 soils in. Yeah, within 100 centimeters is like three feet. And you get evidence of something called

spk_0 cryoturbation, which is like when you get not turbulence, but like churning of the soil due to

spk_0 frost. So like the freeze and fall action from frost. And or you can get ice segregation in the

spk_0 active layer. So like if it's seasonal, you'll have like just you can see like a layer that

spk_0 had been affected by ice and then a layer that doesn't, it just depends on how deep it is into

spk_0 the soil and stuff like that. Yeah, jealousols are also really interesting too. I mean all of these

spk_0 soils are really interesting. I'm like dirt. I'm sorry, I can't help it. It's cool to me.

spk_0 I just I can't help it. It's all interesting to me. It's pretty cool.

spk_0 Now the last soil I want to talk about is wild, okay? Hold your breath y'all. We're almost done.

spk_0 We're almost this is the 12th one. This last one I'm talking about is called a vertisol.

spk_0 It's inverted kind of. So what happens is soils that have something called not just clay,

spk_0 but expanding clay. So there's some types of clays that if you add water to them, they actually

spk_0 like literally expand like like those shrinking dinosaurs that we had, you know those pill

spk_0 dinosaurs that are like foam dinosaurs. Yeah. And you melt the pill and the dinosaur pops out

spk_0 and then you have a dinosaur toy. It's like that. Shrinks well clay does that. It expands and

spk_0 contracts dramatically depending on how much water is associated with it. So and is a deep A

spk_0 horizon and no B horizon. Yes, it has a very deep A no B. So no basically what happens to be

spk_0 A horizon. Clays. Clays. Into the B horizon. It's so weird. Yes. So no clay. B is clay.

spk_0 Basically it's sometimes of the year when it's like it swells when the when the cracks have formed,

spk_0 the A horizon will slip down into there. And so you basically have an A horizon on the bottom

spk_0 of your earlier. Yeah, above your C horizon. So like the soil, an other soil, the clay

spk_0 expands so much that it like pushes the top soil down. Yeah, basically. And it may end up with

spk_0 like a B on top and then an A and then a C rather than the other way around. Ferd Salsa or what do you

spk_0 say? There's like sub ties of these guys. Jane's not even going into like no. There's no. No,

spk_0 here's the thing. So what I just told you, so these are the 12 orders. Now the thing is the taxonomy

spk_0 of soils actually goes deeper just as the soil does. So we have sub orders, which are the next

spk_0 unit down and then we'll have great groups and then we have sub groups and then we have families

spk_0 and then we have series. So it's the same way that you have like Kingdom Volume class ordered

spk_0 family eating species. It's very much like that. What's the handy acronym for that? I don't know

spk_0 come up with this. Yeah. Or maybe it's OSO because it's sub order G like D like great groups, SG subgroup,

spk_0 family F and then S for series. Okay, that's a lot though. It is kind of a lot of classifications,

spk_0 which you know, the thing is these classifications are important obviously because you know,

spk_0 we need to learn a lot about our soils, but something that you may not know Ellen, but each state

spk_0 and the United States has its own state soil. I do know. It's very important to know because it's

spk_0 cool. When I was living in St. Louis, they had a part of the science center that they had,

spk_0 they had something called the Grove Villain, which was a separate building, but it's at the Science

spk_0 Center. And in the Grove Villain, it was dedicated mainly to agricultural science and they had

spk_0 a wall and on the wall with every single soil profile for the United States. So like every single

spk_0 state soil soil was on the wall. And the only one that I know anything about is the Pemunki.

spk_0 The Pemunki is the Virginia State soil. So the four main rivers that lead out into the Chesapeake Bay,

spk_0 the Potomac, the Rapa Hannock, the James, and the York River. All four of those have this type of

spk_0 soil right near the mouth of the river, like where it connects to the Bay and also like a little bit

spk_0 farther up, but it's like along their shorelines. But yes, this soil, it just sounds ridiculous.

spk_0 The Pemunki is like a colonial name for it. That's not what's ridiculous. What's ridiculous is

spk_0 it's described as a fine, loamy, mixed, semi-active, thermic, Ultec, Hapladolph. What the Hapladolph?

spk_0 What aph. Hapladolph. That's the Hapladolph. Hapladolph is the that is the type within the suborder or

spk_0 something. Honestly, I didn't memorize that part even though I was supposed to. Yikes.

spk_0 So I'm coming out teacher. Hapladolph. So in Hapladolph is actually part is the great group. So that's

spk_0 not even all of the definition, if that makes sense. That's like not even all of it for the Pemunki

spk_0 group. We just got down to the grape group. So the order is all to solve. The suborder is something

spk_0 tick. I don't know what it is. And then the great group is Hapladolph. Hapladolph. That's a great name.

spk_0 And when I when I googled Hapladolph, it says Hapal, HAPL is meaning minimal horizonation.

spk_0 So it's pretty homogenous. Yes. And then Udolph is the suborder of the alpha

spk_0 souls that has a eudic moisture regime. So it's so specific. I mean, I get it because it's like we

spk_0 get very, very specific when we talk about animal taxonomy as well. But it still just breaks my brain

spk_0 a little bit, which is why I didn't memorize it when I was in school. And I memorized all the

spk_0 characteristics of soil. And I learned that if you touch stuff, you can tell what kind of

spk_0 texture you have based on how gritty it is. That's what I remember. All right. Because I like

spk_0 playing with the soil more than I like memorizing the taxonomy. So I'll be honest. Yeah. But yeah,

spk_0 if you are really into taxonomy, you can go down a rabbit hole and all this. It is fascinating,

spk_0 but it is a lot. So, you know, my recommendation is if you are interested in soil, you know, go

spk_0 out in your own yard and start digging. It's nice to learn stuff about your soil to get a true

spk_0 soil horizon. It's usually about four feet of soil that you actually have to dig down into.

spk_0 And we actually use when we were in the field, we use these very special, they're like people have

spk_0 probably seen them if they've ever had to put in a fence or put in a fence post. There's like these

spk_0 they're like shovels almost that have a circular bottom that you like twist into a soil. And it has

spk_0 like a corkscrew motion into it. So you can actually like twist further and further down into the

spk_0 soil and then pull out an entire horizon with some struggle. There's definitely a struggle involved

spk_0 with pulling the dirt out of the ground in the soil. Four feet of dirt. Yeah. Yeah.

spk_0 Yeah. With some struggle. There's there is some struggle, some praying to the clay gods had to be done

spk_0 to get this. Well, that's what they have a that's why they have machines for that for

spk_0 construction purposes or whatever. I know we did them by hand. So just at first. But yeah,

spk_0 if you if you're interested, you should check out your under your yard or you can google and find

spk_0 your own soil horizon. Or if you want to learn more things about other geology topics, you can

spk_0 list to our other episodes. Yes. Yes. And if you have questions, you can send us a DM or tag us on

spk_0 Twitter at said my dear pod. You can send us messages or comment on our Instagram, which is also

spk_0 said my dear pod. You can send us your website, which is sedimentarymydeer.com or you can send us an

spk_0 email to sedimentarypodcast at gmail.com. Ooh. Ooh. Lots of ways to contact us. Mm-hmm. You can keep

spk_0 asking Jane questions. I can't answer them. I read them and I'm like, that's cool and then

spk_0 Jane answers them because she's our resident. Person who knows things about geology.

spk_0 You know some of them. You can answer some of them. I knew Andesal. I understood. I guess Andesal,

spk_0 right? You do. I was proud of you. In my head before I said the thing was wrong. I'm becoming more

spk_0 knowledgeable about geology every day thanks to these these podcasts. What are we going to talk

spk_0 about next time? Well, I'm going to keep it a surprise from our list. Okay. Because I haven't

spk_0 decided. All right. I hope you learned some things about dirt today. I did. There's a lot of

spk_0 different dirt and I learned about the dirt that's in the soil that's where I live, which is

spk_0 interesting. Yeah. Are you going to go out and dig up some stuff? Dig up your plants that you

spk_0 just planted? I will be planting plants outside but it's probably going to we're probably going to

spk_0 have to add things to the soil and make it better and whatever. You're going to definitely have to

spk_0 add things to your soil because I know what kind of soil you have in your yard. So I think those

spk_0 people do. All right. Cool. Well, thank you for listening. Yes. Thanks for joining us on this

spk_0 dirty journey and I hope you all enjoyed it and we'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.

spk_0 Bye. Bye.

spk_0 Our main source for this episode is the Nature and Properties of Soils 14th Edition by Nile,

spk_0 Seaprady and Ray R. Wheel. Music 4th sedimentary mydears provided by Solar Slays. You can

spk_0 find mydearsmusic at youtube.com slash user slash ccvl SEA FUL.

Episode 11: Soil Petrology - Dishing the Dirt on Soil

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