LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Soil
built 250 days ago
Soil color is the first impression one has when viewing soil. Striking colors and contrasting patterns are especially memorable. The Red River in Mississippi carries sediment eroded from extensive reddish soils like Port Silt Loam in Oklahoma. The Yellow River in China carries yellow sediment from eroding loessal soils. Mollisols in the Great Plains are darkened and enriched by organic matter. Podsols in boreal forests have highly contrasting layers due to acidity and leaching.
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Soil ecosystems can be damaged through poor management practices. Significant amounts of topsoil are lost through erosion. In the 1930s a series of massive dust storms swept through the Great Plains states, turning the sky dark as far as Washington, DC. It was estimated that during the Dust Bowl, as the storms were called, 35 million acres of agricultural land were destroyed and another 125 million acres seriously damaged. Improved soil management practices, such as planting without tilling the soil, can reduce erosion. Continual planting of crops on soils can ... reduce the nutrients available in soil ecosystems.
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Soil temperature has a significant role in helping to determine the rate of plant growth, and whether a plant will even survive. The temperature in your soil changes greatly with depth. To measure soil temperature, find an area that is not in direct sunlight. Using a thermometer, measure the air temperature at shoulder height. Hold the thermometer still for about one minute (make sure your fingers are not on the thermometer bulb), read and record the air temperature. Next, measure the temperature at the surface of the ground.
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Soil consists of five talented musicians that are driven to create raw, aggressive noise. Exploding out of the underground of the Chicago music scene, they soon built a local following that continued to grow as word spread about their off-the-hook live performances. In 1998 the band recorded a full length album with producer Steve Albini. The album was independently released and SOiL began a tour that covered the US and Canada with bands like Incubus and Stuck Mojo. In the summer of 2000, they entered the studio with infamous producer Johnny K. (Disturbed, Machine Head) to record a three song demo. There were over 6000 demos given to Chicago fans and the buzz began to get louder, and the record companies began to listen.
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Soil actually constitutes a living system, combining with air, water, and sunlight to sustain plant life. The essential process of photosynthesis, in which plants convert sunlight into energy, depends on exchanges that take place within the soil. Plants, in turn, serve as a vital part of the food chain for living things, including humans. Without soil there would be no vegetation—no crops for food, no forests, flowers, or grasslands. To a great extent, life on Earth depends on soil.
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Soil quality can be distinguished by color, which is determined by the availability of oxygen and the presence of iron. Red and yellow soils indicate that the soils are well aerated, that is, they are porous and have a substantial amount of oxygen. Poorly aerated soils are gray or olive. Oxygen is required for plant respiration so well aerated soils are most suitable for plant growth. In addition to mineral and organic matter composition, quality of soils is determined by its texture, porosity, ability to retain water, and depth. The quality of soils determines how productive agricultural lands are.
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