Name:

Prac Group


EV1005 Practical 4 - Soils
Walk through gully
1. What are the reasons for the different soil colours and the colour mottles observed?



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2. What effect do roots and other organisms have on the structure the topsoil?


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3. What are the vegetation types at the two sites and why do they diIIer?


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4. How does the water cycle differ between the two sites and what is the role of soil properties in the
differences?



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5. How does the carbon cycle differ between the two sites and what is the role of soil properties in the
differences?



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Measurement of soil texture
Trinity Park topsoil texture Atika Creek topsoil texture Cannington topsoil texture

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Nathan Reeves
Thursday afternoon
Top soil colour is due to high organic matter giving the soil a darker colour. the sub
soil is red due to the iron oxide(hematite). mottling is observed is due to flooding
changing the hematite to a 2+ cation.
the organisms move around in the soil eating it and creating burrows giving more
movement in the soil making it more porous allowing easier water absorbtion
site one contained more rainforest species and site two had more eucalypts and
wattles due to more mottling of clay in the soil
more top soil in site one allows for better absorption and less water run off as site two
has little leaf litter and harder soil some water will run off into the creek which would
have been absorbed in site one
sand or loamy sand clay loam or silty clay
loam
light or medium or heavy
clay
Name:
Prac Group


Questions
6. Based on their texture alone (assuming the same organic content), rank the soils for their likely
nutrient-holding capacity. ie. Which do you think would have the lowest and which the highest nutrient
holding capacity and why?


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Measurement of soil porosity and permeability
Row Item Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
Soil type Trinity Park Atika Creek Cannington
1 Soil texture


2 Mass of empty column (g)
3 Mass of column with dry soil (g)
4 Soil mass (Row 3 Row 2) (g)
5 Total porosity (% of volume)

6 Time water added (hours:min)
7 Time water reaches bottom (hours:min)
8 Time taken (min)
9 Distance traveled (mm)
10 Permeability (mm/min)
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Questions
. Was permeability related to texture (clay content) or total porosity?
In both cases, why or why not?

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Which soil will be most likely to suffer waterlogging (i.e. remain saturated Ior long periods)
during the wet season and why?

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Trinity park because the amount of sand which is a poor holder of nutrients.
sand or
loamy sand
clay or silty
clay loam
medium or
heavy clay
148 147 142
358 342 345
210 195 203
51.49 54.95 53.11
0
100secs 60secs
540secs 475secs 320seconds
540secs 375secs 260sec
38mm 150mm 150mm
4.22 0.4 0.57
porosity is related to texture the soils with high sand content weren't as malleable
forming bad ribbons and also weren't as permeable as the water remained at the
surface. seeing the opposite effect in the soils with more silt and clay content
atika creek soil as it absorbs quicker and is more porous
0
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