TWELVE SOIL ORDERS OF THE WORLD..and The One I like the Best

This is a link to the 12 Orders of Soil in the World

http://soils.cals.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm

My Favorite Soil is ANDISOLS. I think it is because of the years we lived in HAWAII. We lived on Oahu. The soil there is so dark and rich looking! I looked up the soils for Hawaii, and the report actually said that for such a small land mass, the Islands of Hawaii have at least 9 to 10 of the 12 soil orders. I am attaching a really informative report I read - it was produced at the University of Hawaii. Here is the link. It has great illustrative CHOROPLETH maps :) , and information about the soils on each island of Hawaii

http://hilo.hawaii.edu/academics/cafnrm/research/documents/hawaii_soils706.pdf

Here are some pictures of the volcano in Hawaii...


  

This was a lava flow trail down to the ocean YEEEEAAAARRRS ago, but now, it is beautiful lush land, with ANDISOL soil :)

I have been here...unbelievable and awesome!!!

Below are general facts about ANDISOLS.
Properties:
A typical soil profile show a thick, dark-colored, greasy mineral horizon (e.g. melanic epipedon), a weakly developed cambic subsurface horizon (Bw), and relatively unaltered volcanic or volcanoclastic parent material
Climate:
Andisols form in all soil moisture and all soil temperature regimes, except pergelic. Formation of Andisols in arid regions is limited because of slow weathering of volcanic parent materials.
Vegetation:
Andisols develop under a variety of vegetation types ranging from coniferous and deciduous forest, tundra, to shrubs.
Relief: 
Andisols are found on any topography, however, often they occur on steep slopes formed by volcanic activity
Parent Material:
 The vast majority of Andisols formed from pyroclastic deposits (volcanic ejecta) such as ash, pumice, cinders, and lava. Volcanic terrains have a greater variety of rock-types than other surface environment on earth. These terrains include lavas, pyroclastic deposits (from explosions), and deposits from a wide range of sedimentary processes that occur in volcanic terrains. The nature of volcanic material ejected from a volcano varies greatly in time and space and determines the size of particles, composition of materials, and depth of volcanic material deposited. Rapid cooling of the molten materials upon ejection prevents crystallization of minerals with long range atomic order, and the resulting product is vitric material or volcanic glass, which are dominated by amorphous, short-range-order minerals.
Distinguishing Characteristics
The geographic distribution of Andisols is closely related to volcanoes that are active or have been active during the Holocene. Soils formed on older volcanic deposits are dominated by crystalline aluminosilicates or the material is mixed with other parent material, therefore, the criteria to qualify for Andisols are not given. Andisols are limited to soils formed on volcanic materials that have weathered enough to produce short-range-order organo-metallic and aluminosilicate compounds, but that have not weathered to the point where crystalline materials predominate or where significant transformations has occured.
Soils from a variety of soil orders may be found on volcanic terrains, but Andisols are almost exclusively confined to the pyroclastic materials. Soils developed in pyroclastic and other fragmental volcanic materials occupy only about 0.8% of the earth's surface. However, because of their very distinct characteristics, they are recognized as a separate soil order in soil taxonomy.
Most Andisols are formed from specific parent material (volcanic ejecta). Few soil orders, except Histosols, have such a specific range of parent materials and depositional environments.
The separation between Spodosols and Andisols is difficult, because short-range order aluminosilicates and organo-metallic complexes occur in the B horizons of soils of both orders. A distinguishing characteristic is the transformations in situ and lack of intensive illuviation of these compounds in Andisols.
**Info retrieved from University of Wisconsin. Here is the link for reference:
http://www.soils.wisc.edu/courses/SS325/soilorders.htm

LAB #4 - Community Gardens and The Dirt We Play In....

We journeyed not too far off the beaten path to Macon Community Gardens for this lab. Here is the link and the picture from their website:

COMMUNITY GARDENS

http://www.maconroots.org/

This organization, founded by Mark Vandenhook (by the way we met him the day we went there), is a great organization encouraging middle Georgians to grow fresh food, and have a sustainable food source for the community. I must say that when we went, the garden seemed a little "thirsty." Some of the produce growing had wilting leaves, and some areas needed some upkeep. Having said that, it was still nice to see that a garden was growing in an urban area.

Speaking of urban areas, we discussed early on in the semester about URBAN SOILS. Urban soils can sometimes contain contaminents (i.e., lead) that may make it a problem to safely grow food in that type of soil. Plants growing in soil will automatically pick up any contaminents and absorb it into their system - - - and so when we eat that produce, we, in turn, eat whatever contaminent the plant has. NOT GOOD! A way to get around that problem, is to grow your garden in a "raised bed" in a box above ground. This way, you can put fresh soil in the box for the plants to grow in. MACON ROOTS Garden did just that. Their gardens are in raised boxes - above ground. There were a variety of fruits, herbs & vegetables growing: Peas, watermelon, eggplant, chili peppers, rosemary (herb), Spearmint (herb), and others.

DIRT
We also learned some cool things about dirt. Dirt is made up of SAND, CLAY, and SILT. We received a handy dandy SOIL TEXTURE DIAGRAM, that illustrated how dirt is mostly made up of clay. The diagram then illustrates throughout the flow chart, several varations combining the three components. We wet a sampling of dirt and used a flow chart called DICHOTOMOUS KEY CHART in order to identify what type of dirt we retrieved.

1. We wet the dirt until it became like a moldy putty ball
2. We tried to make a "ribbon" out of the dirt - a thin strip of the "putty" that could sustain on its own. If it did, there were several more steps to determine what type of dirt we had.
3. The sample we had did not have to go far down the CHART because we could not even make a RIBBON out of it. We determined (after saturating it a bit more with water, that it was a LOAMY SAND.
 Here is an example of someone making the "RIBBON".....
The longer and thinner you can make the RIBBON, the higher percentage of clay you have in the dirt. We could not even get this far with our dirt.

Here is a picture of what we had - except our dirt was much darker than the dirt in this picture.

II. PROBING
We also took samples by using a Soil probe called a SPLIT SPOON CORER.


Our Corer was very similar to this one. You push it directly down into the ground, and when you pull it back up, the dirt is captured in the center section of the corer. This is really cool. You can see the different layers of dirt, and can sometimes see the different colors, and tell the different types of soil present in the soil you just sampled. We mostly saw organic dirt in our sampling, but did find at the deepest part some much brighter red clay dirt.

We did not have one on-site with us, but Dr. Rood told us about the MUNSELL SOIL COLOR CHART. A handy chart that helps identify the type of color soil you have, by placing it right behind the page of colors, and matching it up. Here is a pic of a chart:
   
The second picture of the person using the color chart is not a picture from our lab day, but I just wanted to show how the chart is used to identify the color of soils.

III. SIEVES
We also used SIEVES to identify dirt.

This is a picture of different sized Sieves. Each sieve has a different size strainer in which dirt filters through.The ones we used were stacked, so that the dirt goes in the top sieve, the top is placed over it and you shake. The larger "clay" dirt clumps will stay at the top, and the thinner dirt particles will make their way down through additional sieves, until only the thinnest SAND particles can be seen in the bottom sieve. It was interesting to see. It was also funny - well maybe not so much - when one of the students mistakenly dropped the sieves when we were almost done shaking it. So we had to start over. It was ok, no dirt particles were injured during the fall!

I'm not much of a dirt person, but this was a fun lab, and I did learn alot about dirt. Perhaps I will never look at dirt in the same way again.....I will be immediately trying to identify whether it is Clay, Silt, Sand, or any combination of the three! :)

LAB #3 - Flowers, and Shrubs, and Trees - OH MY!!!!

Our nature walk around campus was very interesting...even though it was a sunny, HOT day! I learned a lot about the plant life around campus, and will probably never look at the landscaping on campus the same!!! Here is my report on 15 plants, trees, shrubs, flowers that we identified and talked about! I will identify the Genus and Species, and then provide a brief description and perhaps a little known fact about them...well little known for everyone - except probably for our Professor!...... Dr. Rood, you know waaaaaayyy too much!!!! (smiles)

1.) GINKGO BILOBA
These are large trees, reaching up to 66=115 ft, but in China, there are some that reach 165 ft. There are GIRL Ginkgo's and BOY Ginkgo's. The Girls do not produce cones, and they STINK! (contain Butanoic Acid). There are some trees living at Temples in China that are believed to be 1,500 years old!
CONSERVATION STATUS: Endangered

  

2.) ALOE VERA
I thought it was very interesting that there would be Aloe Vera growing on campus! Our family have grown and used Aloe Vera for years - primarily for medicinal purposes. It works too! I've used it on scabs to help with healing, and especially on burns - to help sooth, and also for its healing properties. There are over 400 species of Aloe. The genus is native to Africa. Many species are stemless, and grow directly from ground level.
CONSERVATION STATUS: Not Threatened
      

3.) PHLOX PANICULATA (Garden Phlox)
There are 67 different species of the perennial and flowering plant. Most are found in North America. The flowers can be blue, pink, purple and even white....many are fragrant. They can bloom in spring, summer and fall - pretty cool! These are a popular food source for groundhogs, rabbits and deer. Great for landscaping :)
CONSERVATION STATUS: Doing Well. Not Endangered



4.)LAGERSTROEMIA INDICA (Crepe Myrtle)
These are really pretty. This tree is native to China, Korea, and Japan. It is a multi-stemmed tree that has a wide-spreading, flat top, and has an open habitat when mature. The bark is pinkish-grey, and mottled...shedding each year.Many Hybrid Cultivars have been developed. It is a pretty ornamental tree. Found in the South East, from Texas to the Atlantic coast.You can train this to be a shrub (bush) or a tree...
CONSERVATION STATUS: ??
         

5.)  RUELLIA BRITTONIANA (Mexican Petunia)
I found out interesting facts about this plant from The University of Florida's sitehttp://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/380
This is what they say about Mexican Petunias:

Mexican petunia is another example of plant that is being sold over the internet and in garden centers as a flowering plant or “handy perennial edging plant for flower beds and as colorful groundcovers”. The problem is that the Mexican petunia is highly invasive and is listed as a Category 1 invasive species by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. Mexican petunia received this classification because of its invasion and distribution within native plant communities. Mexican petunia can thrive in a range of environments, including flatwoods, hardwood hammocks, prairies, rivers and pastures. The cultivars available for sale in the trade have been selected for their flower color or size (tall or dwarf), however there have been very few research projects dedicated to determining the invasive characteristics of the cultivated varieties.




6.) RHODODENDRON AZALEA (Pentanthera)
Azaleas have been bred for hundreds of years.They are native to several continents including Asia, Europe and North America. They are slow growing and don't need much fertilizer.Planted alot as ornamentals in Southeastern states in America. Human selection has produced over 10,000 different cultivars of this plant/flower.

     

7.) LOROPETALUM CHINENSE("Fringe Flower")
These plants are easy to grow and are great in gardens.Some varieties grow to be large shrubs or small trees.Great for Georgia because it is heat tolerant and drought tolerant. They are native to Southeastern Asia, China and Japan. The flowers are produced in clusters. This is very pretty. I like them alot :) It has a spreading form that may reach a height of 12 ft and width of about 6-7 ft.



8. BRUGMANSIA AUREA ("Angel Trumpet")
This is one of the seven species of this genus. I could not remember what color we saw on campus, so I copied the Yellow flower. I do remember one important fact - DO NOT EAT THEM - They will kill you!!! The plant contains dangerous levels of poison, that can kill humans, pets, livestock. They do have an attractive scent, though.They bloom in late spring and continue into fall. Several hybrids have been cultivated for ornamental plants. This plant is native to the subtropics of South America (Columbia, Chile, Brazil)
CONSERVATION STATUS: The Aurea species is Vulnerable right now.
 

9.) OPHIOPOGON JAPONICUS ("Monkey Grass")
It is often referred to as a weed, but it is not classified as one.It is easy to grow, maintain, and survives in many different climates. This plant is native to Japan. It is a known as an ornamental plant providing excellent ground cover. Chinese medicine quotes that this plant can be used for dry cough, constipation, and stomach problems.
    

10.) MAGNOLIA "Magnolia Tree"
Magnolia has about 210 flowering species.There are about 80 different species of magnolia that are native to the eastern United States and southeastern Asia. Over half of these are in cultivation around the world and many selections and hundreds of named hybrids have been made by breeders seeking better features. Many are everygreen and attractive all year round. The flowers smell SOOO good. When we lived in Hawaii, I used to love to just walk by one - because the perfume in the air was just wonderful - and in Hawaii they are in bloom all year! :)
MAGNOLIA VIRGINIANA pictured below:


        

11.) QUERCUS PHELLO ("Willow Oak")
This tree is also known as peach oak, pin oak, and swamp chestnut oak, grows on a variety of moist alluvial soils, commonly on lands along water courses. Seed production does not start until the tree is about 20 years old. It grows 40-120 feet, and about 35 ft across. This Oak looks different from other oaks because of it's leaves.Instead of having wide leaves with lobes-Willow oak has slender leaves like a willow.Oak has many  
  nt from oaks because of its leaves. Instead of having wide leaves with lobes, Willow Oak has many slen
12.) TOXICODENDRON RADICANS  ("Poison Ivy")
Native to North America, plant that is well known for its production of "urushiol", a clear liquid compound found in its' sap that causes an itching rash in most people who touch it. It grows throughout most of North America, including Canada. Normally found in wooded areas, but can also grow in open, exposed areas.The following four characteristics are sufficient to identify poison ivy in most situations: (a) clusters of three leaves, (b) alternate leaf arrangement, (c) lack of thorns and (d) each group of three leaves grows on its own stalk which connects with the main vine. STAY AWAY :) I've included a pictures of the nastu blisters you can get from exposure to Poison Ivy
  

13. HYDRANDGEA ARBORESCENS "ANNABELLE"
The Annabelle is the best known variety of Hydrangea Arborescens.It produces beautiful white blooms that get to 10" in diameter. Other varieties (Macrophyllas) have pink, blue or purple blooms. Hydrangea are great because they bloom even after severe pruning or after a harsh winter or cold season. They are native to southern and eastern Asia, as well as North and South America. Of course, they are ornamental. In Japan they use the leaves to make a sweet herbal tea

14. NANDINA DOMESTICA ("Heavenly Bamboo")
This plant is a suckering shrub in the Barberry family, Berberidaceae. It is a monotypic genus, with this species as its only member. It is native to eastern Asia from the Himalaya east to Japan. Despite it's common name, it is not a bamboo at all. The leaves are evergreen. The leaves are bright red in spring before turning green. The fruit is a bright red berry. I found Interesting info on its' toxicity:
All parts of the plant are poisonous, containing Hydrocyanic acid, and could potentially be fatal if ingested. The plant is placed in Toxicity Category 4, the category "generally considered non-toxic to humans," however, the berries are considered toxic to cats and grazing animals. The berries also contain alkaloids such as nantenine, which is used in scientific research as an antidote to MDMA. Birds are not affected by these toxins and will disperse the seeds through their droppings.


15.CASTANEA MOLLISSIMA ("Chinese Chestnut Tree")
The Chinese Chestnut (native to China) is currently planted as a replacement for the American Chestnut, which was obliterated by blight in the 1900s.The Chinese Chestnut serves both as an ornamental dark-green shade tree and as a less-risky nut producer, providing its caretaker with pounds of sweet chestnuts to roast, puree, boil and even make gluten-free flour out of. This all-purpose deciduous tree is blight-resistant and prefers moist, acidic, well-drained soils in full sun, but can manage in dry soils of varying pH; hot, arid climates are OK as well.

     

LAB REPORT #2 - THE RIVER WILD!

The Great Clam Expedition!
Here is my Map of where we were that fateful day at Ocmulgee River in Macon, Georgia! The lab was fun, and since I am not from Georgia, it was interesting to learn about the River, and how the River Walk came about. I lived In San Antonio and we truly loved going down to the River Walk there. Who knows, maybe one day, the Ocmulgee River Walk will develop into something as wonderful as the one I enjoyed in San Antonio. I went to MONDAY lab :) - it was fun, but I have to say, I was not a huge fan of getting into the water. Once in, though, it became only "slightly" traumatizing, and much more interesting than I thought it would be! :) Below the Map Image, I will explain what the Clam markings are! :)

Our assignment - should we have chosen to take it, was to go about the river, dig up the river sand and sift out the sediment. Behold! We should then be able to count the number of clams we find!. It turned out to be fun! Things to think about:
1. Where are clams more concentrated?
2. Do clams like shallow or deep water?
3. Do clams like fast flowing currents?
4. Do they like the sand bank areas more than actually in the river bed (under the water)?
5. Will the clams make protest for invading their privacy?
6. Will I be attacked by man-eatting animals - or reptiles whlile emerged in this lab?

As you will see from the markings on the map where we made our dig, and recorded the number of clams we found, clams like the sand banks much more than they like being in the deeper, faster flowing water. The ares close to the Land embankment, we found 5 clams. We also founf 5 clams in the slightly deeper, water moving down river a bit.

The clams LOVED the exposed sand bank area. When we dug up one level down, we found 9! Pretty fascinating. The other places where the clams were in abumdance was on the other side, close to the land embankment.....There were also 9....Immediately on the land bank, there were a TON, over 20...but all of them were dead! So sad :<.
It was theorized by Dr. Rood that perhaps the birds swoop in for their meals on these poor unsuspecting clams.

In the deeper, faster moving currents, we did not find any clams, and I also hoped we would not find any other moving creature moving around my submerged body.....

Once I looked up and saw 4 students riding a huge log down river! They looked like they were having fun. - The more adventurous fellows of the group :)
 In the deepest water, we found NO clams.

River Elevation - TRANSVERSE MEASUREMENT.
I was not part of this group, so I am only going to explain what the attached Graph is depicting about the elevation of the river. The map is "simulated" because I did not see exactly where they took the measurements, but the simulated map will still give you an idea of where the students took theie measurements. Transverse measurement was taken ACROSS the river bed. We anted to get a sense of the elevation of the river. We used the starting point as Sea Level or ''0". *Please note that the Transverse Measurement is drawn with Red markers, and a teal blue measuring line. Okay, I'll explain below the Map, and the graph:

The graph shows the level of elevation of the River. At the start (Sea Level), we move down to enter the water, and at 100ft out, we find the elevation to be at one of its lowest points - 25 ft below sea level. As we continue to move across the river, 200 ft, it rises a bit to 20 ft below sea level. Between 200-300 Ft., we can see that the elevation fluctuates between 20-25 ft.. Once at the other side of the river (400 ft), the sea level elevation rises to about 7 ft below sea level. The other side of the river is at a bit lower elevation.  The land scape slopes down a little from one transverse side to the other side's bank.

Fun lab! This was the first time I visited this place, and I told Anthony that I want to take us over one afternoon to ride bikes or walk - it is a very nice place and park :)

MY LITTLE SUNFLOWER

Okay, I don't know what to say....or think. Wait....I take that back, I know what to say - I don't think I have a green thumb!!! I have yet to see my little plant peek up out of the dirt. Did I kill it already??? :<  I am trying my best not to over-water it....and now I think I may be under-watering it. HELP!!!!

9/3/11 - CLASS HW - ANIMAL INTEREST

We lived in Great Falls, Montana for 4 years (2005-2009). It was a great (and definitely DIFFERENT :) experience for our family! We got the opportunity to visit Yellowstone National as well as Glacier National parks. One of the animals native to both places is the Grizzly Bear. We saw a few, - from far away!!! (smiles). I've always found them very interesting, so I am picking the GRIZZLY BEAR is my animal. Many of our friends who live in Montana have "grizzly encounter" stories. They are ALL so interesting. A few friends have had loved ones killed by a Grizzly...usually they were hiking in remote areas, and probably were on a trail and came upon some cubs, at which the Mamma bear immediately saw them as a threat to her cubs. Anyway, this is an animal who demands respect from Humans!

This is the first time I've tried to embed a vidoe, so I hope this works! Here are 2 short videos of grizzly bears :) :

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<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iFiCwRl4Ez8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

9/3/11 - Mapping Part Two - MY HAPPY PLACE

My Happy place is a lava rock lookout below KoKo crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. My husband, Anthony, is in the Air Force and we were stationed there from 1990-1996. We discovered this place not long after we moved to Hawaii. We went snorkling for the first time at Hanauma Bay, and afterwards decided to do a little sight-seeing. Well, we only had to drive about 2-3 minutes and we saw cars parked and decided to check it out. The rest is history!! There is a sign that says people should not climb down onto the lava rock, but of course, we are adventurers and the beautiful sights lured us down the un-marked path!
We immediately claimed this place ours and our special place. (smiles) This location is so special that we visited often. Whenever we go back to Hawaii, that place is always on the list. It will also be our resting place, and where our children scatter our ashes when we are finished with life's journey. Enjoy!

Google Map View:

This is when you get out of the car and look out at the ocean from the top of the lookout:

This what I see when I climb down onto the lava rock, sit, and just take in the beautiful view of the ocean and God's creation!:

This is a close up shot of the waves hitting against the lava rock!:

This is my attempt at creating a path from Hanauma Bay (snorkling!) over to my happy place. Hanauma Bay is only about 2-3 minute drive from the Lava Look Out: