4.2 Vocabulary Worksheet

The process of bing supplied with air.
Unweathered hard rock that lies directly beneath the soil layers.
A substance in soil, such as organic matter, clay, carbonates, or phosphates, which resist changes of pH of soil.
The ability of soil to resist a change in its hydrogen-ion concentration.
The group of the processes whereby earth or rock material is worn away, loosened, or dissolved and removed from any part of the earth's surface.
The act or process of separating a solid from a liquid.
A layer of soil, approximately parallel to the surface, having distinct characteristics, produced by soil-forming processes.
The relative degree of downward movement of water in soil. Also called permeability.
Soil that consists of less than 52 percent sand, 28 to 50 percent silt, and 7 to 27 percent clay, resulting in a soil texture ideal for gardening.
Matter found in, or produced by, living animals and plants, which contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and often nitrogen and sulfur.
The horizon of weathered rock from which sediments were derived to form later rocks.
A unit of soil structure such as an aggregate, crumb, prism, block, or granule, formed by natural processes (in contrast with a clod, which is formed artificially by compression of a wet clay soil).
The capacity of soil or rock for transmitting a fluid. Degree of permeability depends upon the size and shape of the pores, the size, and shape of their interconnections, and the extent of the latter.
– Refers to the extent of voids or openings in the soil that exist between soil particles and soil peds or clods. These pores hold water and air for absorption by plant roots. About half of soil volume which is in a good physical condition for plant growth is pore space.
A thin mixture of water and any fine insoluble materials such as clay.
The mineral and organic surface of the earth capable of supporting upland plants. It has been (and is being) formed by the active factors of climate and biosphere exerting their influence on passive parent material and topography over neutral time.
A soil separate in the mechanical analysis of soil.
A vertical section of a soil. The section, or face of an exposure made by a cut, may exhibit with depth a succession of separate layers although these may not be separated by sharp lines of demarcation.
The arrangement of primary soil particles into compound particles or aggregates that are separated from adjoining aggregates.
The first change with depth in texture or structure in a soil profile.
The relative portions of sand, silt, and clay particles in a mass of soil.
Surface or subsurface soils which presumably are fertile soils, rich in organic matter r humus debris.
The ability of a soil to hold water in the root zone.