TALK ABOUT PARENT MATERAILS n SAPROLITE AND SAPROCK!!!!!!!!!!
The parent material is predominantly a coarse-textured drift derived mainly from sandstone with acid igneous and metamorphic rocks and so
Blah blah blah balh blah
The land use potential of this site is obviously forestry as it is a coniferous plantation and does not really hold the potential for mass >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Site 2
The second site is a lowland site that is situated South West of the Mill of Kincardine on the flood plain of a river, a local drainage ditch.
Here the topography again plays a key role in determining the site soil profile. In the bottom of a small valley (60 meters above sea level) this site has no slope angles, as the flood plain is flat. The surrounding landscape however is gently sloping towards this site (see photo) and to the North West is the steep vegetated slopes of Hunters Hill. In this lowland site there is only a short distance to travel before the water table is reached and so will experience the up-welling of water from the high ground water in the wet seasons and surplus overland and through-flow water form the surrounding landscape and when the river inundates it’s flood plain. This constant or at least seasonal presence of water has a weighty impact upon the soil characteristics. The result of this is that the near-by ground becomes saturated, reducing the capability of water to filter into the ground by infiltration and subsequent parent rock, percolation, increasing surface water runoff.
This over saturation of soils due to the lower elevation and therefore subsequent close proximity to the water table and so the soil type is that of gleys. This low terrain site could either be termed as young alluvial ‘fluvisols’ showing signs of recent inundation of water from the river producing the gleyed conditions, resulting in sedimentation or non-stratified ‘gleysols’ which show no signs of recent sedimentation due to sever water logged soils. The former I think is more applicable to this site but further soil analysis would be required to be certain. Perhaps if this site was examined in the winter/late spring, when perhaps the water table had been lower the sites could be termed fluvisols. The gradient of the Hunters Hill slope could have had an effect with the same result as mentioned above, with this site exhibiting gleyic properties.
The B Horizon shows a distinctive gleyed soil resulting from gleizaion that is manifested by the presence of grey or bluish colours through the soil matrix or in mottles among other colours. These large fluctuations in ground water table results in most movement of water being lateral, which brings with it oxygen, therefore reducing certain bands on a soil horizon (Pans visible Grey White band – Reduced Iron in a band across the profile)
The presence of some nearby vegetation will evaporate and absorb some of the excess water in the local system and intercept some of the rainfall resulting in a lesser amount of excess surface run-off.
TALK ABOUT PARENT MATERAILS n SAPROLITE AND SAPROCK!!!!!!!!!!
The land use potential of this site is that of improved pasture and & ley grass but not suitable for building upon due to close proximity to a river which can be liable to flood nor is it suitable for intensive arable farming due to the poor soil structure.
Site 3
Site 3, the agricultural site Fountainhead is situated NNE of Home Farm on a gently sloping SE incline west of Hunters Hill. On a convex lower slope (4 degrees) the predominate land use is that of arable and ley grass, as the category suggests, and is at an elevation of 120-145m above sea level. This site has characteristics similar to that of site 1 at Hunters Hill except that here the slope is gentler and the vegetation here is that of ley grass, and so has a very similar soil profile.
Again such altitudes means that the soils microclimate will be much cooler and so will receive less weathering of parent material and the increased moisture content will be utilized by soil bacterium. Here it is very important for these conditions to exist if the success of plant growth is directly coupled with that of economic success. The advantageous environment for soil bacteria to live can greatly aid the growth of crops and potentially reduce to amount of fertilisers needed. If conditions are right then nitrogen fixing bacteria, such as nitrosommonas or nitrobacter, will colonise giving the plant a plentiful supply of free nitrates. This is reflected by the thriving O horizon.
Due the presence of vegetation there will always be a source of decaying biological matter, be it from dead plants or dead animals living in the woodland area, providing the soil with plenty of nutrients. The mineral topsoil A horizon is thick because of the accumulation of organic substances and loss of mineral substances such as small clay deposits, humic materials, iron oxides and aluminium oxides. Due to the high amount of initial detritus in the ‘O’ horizon the ‘A’ horizon reflects this as the organic matter moves down through the soil by translocation and movement in suspension by water.
TALK ABOUT PARENT MATERAILS n SAPROLITE AND SAPROCK!!!!!!!!!!
Site 4
Due to this sites inaccessibility of this site it seem that the land use should remain that of forestry and heather moors.
Soil Analysis Comparison
Point H
Describing the differences for each of the four sites’ soil analysis data for the properties Field pH and % of Organic Content in Soil
The Field pH varies in each soil profile and for each site as a whole. The Woodland area has a constantly increasing soil pH starting off at an acidic 4.4, rising 0.2 for every soil layer down you travel until it reaches 5, a slightly less acidic pH at the deep sub-soil layer, indicating fewer free hydrogen ions in the soil. This compared with the Lowland site is very different which starts of in the organic layer reading 0 pH. However in the next layer, the topsoil layer, a moderately neutral ph of 6.3 is noted which fall to a slightly more acidic pH through the remainder of the profile.
Similarly, the Agricultural site starts off with a
Finally the Upland Moor site becomes progressively more neutral the deeper in the soil profile you travel, just like that of the Woodland site, (probably because these two sites were very similar in their site characteristics – topography, land use etc) starting at a very acidic 3.2 and finishing at a depth of 80+cm with a pH 5.5. The high start pH was probably brought about by the influence of large amounts of heather covering the soil.
So to conclude sites 1 and 4 differ greatly from those of 2 and 3 due to initial pH readings and their rate of becoming progressively less acidic.
The % of Organic Content in Soil varies much more than the Field pH readings yet still show similarities between sites 1 and 4. The first site (Site 1 – Woodland area) has a very high percentage of organic matter in the O Horizon (63%) which drastically falls, as one would expect, to 8 in the topsoil layer. This then falls further ending with only 1% organic matter in the deep sub-soil layer. The lowland site shows a stark contrast, with no organic content in the O Horizon and then 5% in the topsoil layer then 1% and then finally 2% in the deep sub-soil layer, showing a slight increase at the end.
Similarly to the Lowland site the Agricultural site also commences with 0% organic matter but maintains this low until the Sub-soil layer is reached, unlike that of the lowland site where an increase was noted in the second layer. At the sub-soil layer a value of 16% is recorded which dwindles to nothing by the next and final layer. However the Upland Moor site maintain an organic content throughout its profile, starting with a high 76% and finishing with a low, yet still the highest out of the other sites for that category, 5% organic matter. To conclude both site 2 and 3 differ greatly from sites 1 and 4 as they both start and finish with low percentages of organic content and is greatly different from most of the other sites as organic content is only observed once in all 4 soil layers.