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Feb 17, 2023 · Soil Horizons. The soil is the topmost layer of the earth’s crust consisting of air, water, inorganic minerals (rock, sand, clay, and slit), and organic matter (dead plants and animals). It forms the source of food for plants. It provides shelter for many animals such as insects, centipedes, burrowing animals, microorganisms, and many others.
Most soils have three major horizons (A, B, C) and some have an organic horizon (O). The horizons are: O (humus or organic): Mostly organic matter such as decomposing leaves. The O horizon is thin in some soils, thick in others, and not present at all in others. A (topsoil): Mostly minerals from parent material with organic matter incorporated.
The arrangement of these horizons in a soil is known as a soil profile. Soil scientists, who are also called pedologists, observe and describe soil profiles and soil horizons to classify and interpret the soil for various uses. Soil horizons differ in a number of easily seen soil properties such as color, texture, structure, and thickness.
The start and end of the A and B horizons as measured from the soil surface. For example, if there is an LFH layer on top of your mineral soil that is 5 cm thick, you would record it as LFH 5-0 cm. The A soil horizon then starts at 0 cm below the surface and ends at 11 cm, and this depth will be recorded as 0-11 cm.
Soil Horizons 29 Lesson 6: Soil Horizons The first lesson states some reasons for studying soil. In subsequent lessons, factors and processes that affect the soil are discussed, along with three of the basic soil properties: color, texture, and structure. With this infor mation, the horizons can be located and their properties can be determined.
What is a Soil Horizon? •Soil horizons are the layers in a soil profile used to classify soil types. •Horizons based on color, texture, roots, structure, rock fragments, and any unique characteristic worth noting. •Master Soil Horizons are depicted by a capital letter in the order (from top down): O, A, E, B, C, and R
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the triangle. For example: a soil with 40% sand, 30% silt, and 30% clay will be a clay loam. With a moderate amount of practice, soil textural class can also be reliably determined in the field. If a soil contains 15% or more rock fragments, a rock fragment content modifier is added to the soil’s texture class. For example, the texture class
