Geology Soil Analysis Lab

LAB: SOIL ANALYSIS AP Environmental Science Name: __________________ Date: ____________ Hr: ___ BACKGROUND: Elements from your soil notes, including: what is soil, soil formation, advantages and disadvantages of sandy soil, advantages and disadvantages of clay soil, soil texture, & makes an IDEAL soil. OBJECTIVES: By the close of this lab, you should be able to:   Determine soil type based on quantitative observations Determine soil quality based on physical and chemical properties MATERIALS: PROCEDURE: Part 1: Finding Soil Texture by Dry Fractions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Don’t forget to format your lab…including roman numerals, headings, etc. Check soil sieve for emptiness/cleanliness before using. Get 2 scoops of soil from the known state container. Breakup clods using mortar and pestle. Place soil into sieve, cap, and gently shake side-to-side for 1 minute. Carefully pull apart the 5 layers of the soil sieve (be careful not to lose soil!). Place SAND particles (top 2 sieve layers) into your plastic container. Record mass of only sand below. Repeat for SILT particles (sieve layers 3 and 4). Record mass of only silt below. Repeat for CLAY particles (bottom layer of sieve). Record mass of only clay below. Re-mix your soil and return in to the state container where it came from. Use your 3 measurements to determine % sand, silt, clay. Find soil texture using triangle. Repeat steps 1 through 9 for GP soil sample. Part 2 : Ribbon Testing: Use the dichotomous key to find soil texture for the GP sample. Part 3 Follow the chemical tests described on the page provided for only GP soil. SOIL ANALYSIS LAB RUBRIC Name: __________________ Date: ____________ Hr: ___ AP Environmental Science SOIL RIBBON TEST- Dichotomous Key Page 2 of 3 SOIL ANALYSIS LAB RUBRIC Name: __________________ Date: ____________ Hr: ___ AP Environmental Science I. Title: Unique to your lab report II. Introduction: Based on our pre-lab discussion, your background should include: 1) the 4 part composition of soil, 2) how a soil profile develops over time, 3) the three sediment sizes in soil , ads/disads for too much sand or clay, ideal soil %s, and 4) the overall importance of soil to the environment (including connections to other areas of APES). III. Purpose/Objective: Why did we do this lab? IV. Materials: What supplies did you use for each part of the lab? (use bulleted lists) V. Procedure: Re-write the lab using the order of steps you followed. (split into parts) Part 1: Summarize the steps for finding texture by fractions. Part 2: Summarize the steps for finding texture by ribbon. Part 3: Summarize steps for the pH, N, and P tests. VI. Data: for each of the following parts (must use data tables) Part 1: Dry Fractions (BOTH soils)…create a data table of masses (sand, silt, clay). Part 2: Ribbon Testing (GP soil) : flow chart showing only your path. Part 3: Chemical Soil Tests (GP soil) -pH (number) -Nitrogen (Low, Med, High) -Phosphorus (VHVL, 7 levels) VII. Analysis: 1. Dry Fractions: (BOTH out-of-state and GP soil samples) a. Sand, silt, clay % calculations (show set-up). b. Identification of Soil Textures using triangle (sketch your 2 specific triangles!) 2. Ribbon Test (for GP Soil only) a. Analysis of how closely your Sieve test and Ribbon Test results were for GP soil. 3. Chemical Analysis of Grosse Pointe Soil a. Discuss data. What needs improved? How would this (N, P, pH) help the soil? 4. Connections: a. Each state has its own “state soil”. Identify the name of Michigan’s state soil, its texture, and where the sediment for Michigan’s soil came from. b. Explain why the average human should care about soil. VIII. Conclusion/Brief Summary: What knowledge did you take away from this lab activity? Page 3 of 3