SOIL FORMATION VOCABULARY

A layer of soil that differs in color and texture from the layers above and below it

• decomposer

• loam

• dune

• soil horizon

The loose weathered material on Earth's surface in which plants can grow; made of rock/mineral fragments, humus, air, and water

• loam

• humus

• soil

• dune

An organism that gets energy by breaking down biotic wastes and dead organisms - returns raw materails to the soil

• erosion

• decomposers

• landslide

• deposition

Dark colored organic material in soil

• humus

• loam

• glacier

• dune

A measure of how well soil supports plant growth

• loam

• decomposers

• deposition

• fertility

The process that breaks down rock through CHEMICAL changes

• mechanical weathering

• chemical weathering

The type of weathering in which rock is PHYSICALLY broken into smaller pieces

• chemical weathering

• mechanical weathering

Rich, fertile soil that is made of equal parts of clay, sand, and silt

• humus

• soil

• fertility

• loam

The process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered particles of rock and/or soil

• erosion

• deposition

• glacier

• weathering

Process by which sediment is laid down (dropped) into new locations

• erosion

• weathering

• deposition

• glacier