Students should be able to:

1.       Know soil vocabulary and terminology including names of soil constituents:  sand, silt, clay, organic matter, air and water.

2.       Be able to describe topographic features including names of landforms and estimating percent slope.

3.       Understand the origin of soil parent materials.

4.       Be able to describe a soil profile including depth, horizons, color, texture and structure.

5.       Be able to determine the presence of human induced soil compaction.

6.       Be able estimate soil properties including infiltration, permeability, water holding capacity, nutrient holding capacity, effective rooting depth, susceptibility to subsidence, and susceptibility to mass movement (land slide).

7.       Rate the suitability of a soil for various uses by man including building site development and roads, sanitary facilities (landfills and septic tank filter fields), animal waste management, water management, water quality and nutrient management, agriculture, silviculture, and wildlife habitat.

8.       Recognize the causes of soil erosion and recommend practices to protect the soil from erosion.

9.       Recognize agricultural impacts to soils including erosion (sheet and rill, ephemeral gullies, classic gullies, road scouring and mass movement),  poor tilth, compaction, salinization, subsidence, excess animal waste, excess fertilizers and excess pesticides.


10.   Recognize urban impacts to soils including erosion, sedimentation, and compaction.

11.   Knows ways in which cultural history and cultural resources can be identified in the soil.

12.   Understand how hydrologic alterations can affect the soil.

13.  Know how to use a soil survey report including use of the map index, reading aerial photographs, finding soil boundaries and symbols on a detailed soil map, reading soil map unit descriptions, and reading tables.

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