Climate and topography are two important factors in soil formation. Your task is to write an account on how climate and topography affect soil formation with special reference to the formation of the soils of Malta.
Over millions of years as the Earth evolved, parent material was eroded and soil developed. Studies of soils throughout the world have shown that the formation of soils are largely controlled by five major factors which are climate, topography; living organisms; nature of parent material; chemical and mineralogical composition and time. The affect of climate on topography on soil formation are taken into account with reference to the formation of the soils of the Maltese Islands.
Climate
Climate is the average weather condition of an area over a long period and this is perhaps the most significant of the five factors in soil morphology. Temperature and precipitation are the primary forces of climate which affect the chemical and physical processes responsible for soil formation. These are the main driving forces that affect weathering which eventually is the building block of soil itself. Precipitation has a great influence on soil because the intensity and distribution of rainfall determines the weathering of soil. When weathering occurs, nutrients are released
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The climate and parent material’s role in soil formation is active, however topography is a passive element which ceases or alters profile development. Moreover, the exposure of slope with respect to rainfall and sunshine interception leads to different pedoclimates and weathering conditions (Verheye, W. & de la Rosa, D., 2005). As Brady, N. (1984) stated, there is a definite interaction among topography; vegetation and soil formation. An area can contain various topographic features such as valleys, plains, hills, dissected plains, and escarpments which have different slope
Soil regions of the Montane Cordillera include mostly Complex soils of mountain areas and Dry-climate soils. There are various types of soils in the Montane Cordillera because of the wide range of temperatures, rainfall, and elevations throughout the ecozone. However, the most common soil is Brunisol soil, which is typically located under the dry pine forests of south-central British Columbia but is not very good for agriculture because it is very acidic.
Of course, you can’t forget the abiotic factors! Basically, just telling a bit more about the landscape. First, we have the physical features. The landscape of the slope impacts plant growth, hurts natural ecosystems by erosion, and unfortunately destroys the homes of animals. Although, animals and structures adapt to the slopes. T...
Mississippi has a variety of different soils .The three general soils are 1) the river flood plain, known as the Delta, 2) a loess region, or bands of soils formed in windblown material that adjoins the Delta, and 3) Coastal Plain. The Mississippi Delta is better for growing row crop, while the loess and Coastal Plain region are better for animal production and forestry. The loess and Coastal Plain regions are divided based on similar soils, geology, climate, water resources, and land use called Major Land Resource Areas. The Mississippi Delta’s soil comes from sediments left by flooding various rivers in the region, rather than being a typical Delta formed by the mouth of a river. In the Delta most of the land is farmed, with three-fourths of the cropland to the north. Controlling surface water and drainage are major soil management issues. In the Delta soils are naturally diverse because of their alluvial origin. Particle sizes within the sediment decrease as distance from the originating stream increase. Another factor in Delta soil formation us surface water movement over time, because soils that formed under standing water have different properties than soils formed under moving water. Soils with large amounts of clay particles have unique features. When the soil is dry, small round aggregates form at the surface that look like shotgun buckshot, which is where the popular name for Delta clay soils “buckshot” came from. Soils with large clay content have very slow water filtration rates; this has led to significant aquaculture and rice production in the region. When floodwaters receded in the Delta, strong winds blew some of the dry sediment left by flooded river to the adjacent uplands to form the loess areas. Because of eas...
In certain areas of Atlantic maritime the soil is better for vegetation, it helps the farmers a lot in the Atlantic maritime region because there is a lot of
Scientists have determined that weather systems are changeable. Over a large amount of time, the earths tilt changes, causing the axis’s to tilt more one way then it used to, and thus changing the weather. Greenhouse gasses may also change the weather, making our climate either much hotter or much cooler. Ice caps and deserts have one thing in common, one small change in the weather can change them- and they will change the world.
Desert pavements are common landforms in arid regions. They consist of flat or sloping surfaces where stones are closely packed angular or rounded, and generally exhibit low relief (Mabbutt, 1977). Pavements tend to form on both alluvial fan toposequences and on weathering volcanic flow fields in arid regions. Soils are often found under desert pavements and they play an important role in the evolution of pavements (McFadden et. al., 1987). In the past there have been several theories as to the formation pavements and soil development beneath them. Deflation, or the erosion of finer grained particles from a surface, stone concentration by wash erosion and upward displacement of stone due to shrink and swell clay characteristics were at one time believed to be the main factors in the formation of desert pavements (Mabbutt, 1977). However, more recent research has shown that desert pavements are born and maintained at the surface, and that the soil below them is mainly eolian in origin. Slow accretion of eolian dust below the pavement is a process that eventually develops cumulate horizons. Eolian dust in environments where pavements often develop is rich in carbonate salts and clays due to the fact it often originates from nearby playa lake evaporate basins (McFadden et. al., 1987). Soils that form below the pavements over time develop calcic horizons and clay rich structure due to the influx of these eolian fines through the pavement surface. In turn the development of mature or plugged calcic horizons effects the form of the pavement surface because it alters the water drainage infiltration rate and causes pavements to decline.
Singer, M.J., and Munns, D.N., 1996, Soils: An Introduction: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 480p.
The Abiotic factors, non-biological factors that are part of Savannas are temperature, climate, soil, and sunlight. All of these factors are crucial to the biome and how it the organisms in it succeed. Most Savanna soils are rather poor, but they have better quality of soil than that of the soil in the rain forest. But the savanna has less rainfall, and plants need water to survive.
Describe the types of farming that occur in the savannah biome in the Sahel region.
The rich dark soil of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado—an area also known as the Great Plains—formed from thousands of years of soil forming factors in action (Surviving the Dust Bowl). From the beginning of human populations living in the area, the soils, for the most part, remained untouched and unscathed by the plow. Thick prairie grasses covered the area and held the soils in the ground even during the periodic times of drought. This area of land was suitable for grazing practices and it was in this area that the large cattle ranches flourished. Little did the newly arrived farmers realize that this seemingly plentiful land followed a pattern of several years of rain followed by several years of drought and high winds.
Africa has a regular coastline characterized by few indentations. Because of the smooth coastline, natural harbors were non-existent. Today, however, there are important coastal cities, such as Lagos and Dakar. With the exception of the Mediterranean coast, most of the coastline is low-lying , generally narrow and rising sharply to high elevations. The African climate and topography varies greatly. Although temperatures are usually high, due to being so close to the equator, rainfall, soil quality and elevations are of various degrees. Because most of the African continent has not been covered by water for millions of years, soils have developed according to their weathering e...
(Ant)arctic (high-latitude) and alpine (mountain) areas are affected by relatively similar climates, as latitude and altitude produce similar meteorologic effects. In these geographic regions where temperature is at such a pronounced extreme, climate would seem to be the leading factor of soil development. It is my goal in this research paper to answer the following question: How do the soils of arctic and alpine areas differ? This idea, taken largely from an abstract by Birkeland (1975), will be explored through the comparison of the soils of these two geographic regions, and an analysis of the soil development factors in those environments.
4) Oceanic circulation-Ocean currents have the potential to affect Earth’s climatic condition. This is because they have the capacity to carry a large amount of heat. Winds blowing over cooler currents become cold and the areas over which they blow have their temperature reduced. Similarly if winds blow over warmer currents, the wind picks up heat and areas over which the wind blows sees temperature increase. If winds blow over evaporating currents the pick up moisture and bring rain to the areas over which they blow.
• Identifying the different aspects of soil such as colour, compaction, moisture, soil structure and soil texture will help in determining whether the soil can act as a breeding ground for pathogenic diseases. • Soil temperature plays a major role in determining the rate of plant growth. Certain temperatures are optimum for the growth of bacteria and fungi which could be hazardous as it may be disease
Agriculture also leads to soil erosion, both through rainfall and wind. This soil can damage the aquatic ecosystems it ends up in, an...