Assignment 1

1. Soil Structure (Bronick and Lal, 2004); Group Paper

a. How is soil structure defined in the field?

b. Describe the process of soil structure formation.

c. Discuss the influence of texture, organic matter and climate on the formation of soil structure.

2. Soil Formation (Bockheim et al, 2005); Group Paper

a. Discuss the factors of soil formation with examples

b. Discuss the processes of soil formation with examples

3. Water Movement through soil (Narasimhan, 2005; and http://soilandwater.bee.cornell.edu/Research/pfweb/extensions/videoclips/video_water.htm), Group Paper

a. Describe saturated flow and discuss Darcy’s law (including Ks).

b. Describe unsaturated water flow. Explain the properties of water retention and hydraulic conductivity.

4. Describe techniques to measure (Or and Wraith, 2002); Group Paper

a. Water content (volumetric and gravimetric

b. Soil water potential

c. Explain the meaning of the terms: soil water storage field capacity, wilting point, hygroscopic water and available water.

5. Preferential Flow: http://soilandwater.bee.cornell.edu/Research/pfweb/educators/intro/why.htm; Group Paper

a. Macropore flow

b. Flow over sloping coarse layer

c. Finger flow