NCSU FLYER
AGRONOMY
ALL ABOUT IT!
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, and land reclamation. Our soil is getting worse and worse from our constant farming and trash that is on the earth. Did you know that only one-eighth of our soil is fertile? Learn about soil and ways to help it.
MECHANICAL WEATHERING VS. CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Mechanical weathering physically breaks down the rock. The ways that this type of weathering breaks down rock is by abrasion, ice wedging, and by animals and plants. Abrasion is when water, gravity, sand carried in wind and ice wear away the rock. Ice wedging is when water goes into the cracks in the rock and freezes causing the rock to expand. Animals dig burrows underneath the ground causing the soil to loosen and it also breaks the rocks. Plants have and fact by growing in the cracks in the rocks breaking them down. Chemical weathering is the process that breaks down rock through chemical changes. the ways that the rock could break down is by water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and acid rain. Water breaks down the rock by dissolving the rock( this is the most important cause). Oxygen makes the the rock turn a rusty red color. Carbon dioxide mixes with rain water then becomes carbon acid. Acid rain causes the rock the break down really quickly. Animals make a weak acid that dissolves the rocks around the plant. So now we know that mechanical weathering = physical change and chemical weathering = chemical change.
SOIL FACTS - SOIL COMPOSITION, SOIL TEXTURE, AND SOIL HORIZONS
Soil composition: The soil is a mixture of rock particles, minerals and delayed organisms material. The type of rock particles and minerals in the soil depend on two things, the bedrock and the type of weathering.
Soil texture: Soil can be made up of numbers of things small pebbles, warn down rocks and minerals, and silt particles. It all depends on the weathering and were you live. If were you live is windy and hot and cold hot and cold all the time the particles in the soil will be different than a place with no wind and a constant temperature.
Soil horizons: The soil is made up of 3 layers. These all depend on the texture of sand above it and below it. The first layer is called horizon A/ top soil. It is made up of crumbly dark brown of mixture humus, clay and many other minerals. Horizon B is made up of clay and other particles washed down from horizon A. Horizon C is mainly made up of particles withered down from the other horizons.
THE RATE OF SOIL FORMATION
It can take a very long time for soil to form, it could take any were from hundreds of years to thousands of years to make soil. How well soil forms and how long it takes can be from a million of things but the main ones are climate, original type of rock, and biological activity. It also depend one the weather how fast the rock breaks down and how big the rock is and the shape of the rock.
REMOTE SENSING AND HOW IT IS USED
Remote sensing is usually used to collect information, so in this situation it is collecting information on agronomy. In the beginning it was used to see if a farming land needed to have a nitrogen fertilizer. This advanced them in nitrogen fertilizing, this helped assist the wheat farmer.
IMPORTANTS OF SOIL
We use soil for almost everything. We use the soil to plant trees so that we can breathe and we use it to feed us and our pets/animals, also the soil filters our water. Soil is the very base of life. Without it we would die! So next time you see trash pick up.
COMMON MISUSES AND THE CONSEQUENCES
People think that the ground is there trash can. WELL ITS NOT. People also just use the soil out of there need not thinking what will happen next. Did you know soil can be lost! One time there was open fertile land a few years later after plowing (plowing would rip up the grass) it became a big dust bowl. It ruined many things then all that dirt went in to the Atlantic ocean. So remember the ground is not your trash can recycle as much as you can.
SOIL STEWART SHIP AND THE ADVANCES IN IT
Soil stewart ship is the improvement/ conserving of the soil. To help conserve the soil they have done many test to see what they can do to improve the soils health. They have found a way not to ruin the fertile land as they plow and how to help the soil become better. So don't go and trash the world help filter it.