4-3 Soil Conservation

To restore soil's fertility, a farmer might plant legumes as part of a soil conservation technique called nutrient depletion.

• true

• false

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

Why is soil is a valuable resource?

• is important to all living things on land

• contains sand and gravel

• is rich in decomposers

• has all three soil horizons

How long did it take for the thick, fertile soil of the North American prairies to develop?

• several years

• dozens of years

• hundreds of years

• thousands of years

Soil that is not protected by plant cover can be lost due to which of the following?

• chemical weathering

• erosion by water or wind

• mechanical weathering

• too many organisms in the soil

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

Plowing removed the grass from the Great Plains an exposed the soil. What effect did this have when a drought struck the Great Plains during the 1930's?

• It had no effect

• It reduced the soil's fertility

• It helped to cause the Dust Bowl

• It prevented sod from developing

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS3-4

What term describes the management of soil to prevent its destruction?

• soil exhaustion

• soil decomposition

• soil conservation

• soil fertility

The practice of plowing fields along the curves of a slope is called?

• drought plowing

• contour plowing

• no-till plowing

• sod plowing

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-5

In conservation plowing, why are dead weeds and stalks of the previous year's crop left in the ground?

• to keep the soil from being too fertile

• to reduce the amount of seed needed for the next year's crop

• to retain moisture and hold the soil in place

• to keep more organisms out of the soil

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

The practice of plowing fields along the curves of a slope is called contour plowing.

• True

• False

No-till plowing or conservation plowing helps prevent _________________ by leaving crop roots in the ground and stalks on the surface..

• fires

• pollution

• soil erosion