The Vernacular System And Scientific System

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

There are many soil classification systems. There are two major systems are the vernacular system and scientific system. Vernacular system is developed by land users. For example, in vernacular system soil can be categorized as red soil, black soil, yellow soil, hot soil, etc. In scientific system the soil can be categorized according to the development of soil or the amount of substances present in the soil. As there are various systems to classify soils, it means soil classification is not static. This makes soil classification vast and sometimes confusing. However, mostly classification of soil is based on the size of the particles it contains. Categorizing soil or dirt by the size of particles is most common, and can be easily performed at home. This classification helps to understand the basic properties of the soil and helps to conclude if the type of soil is good enough for gardening or farming.

Soil Types

Therefore depending on the size of the particles in the soil, it can be classified into these following types:

Sandy soil

Silty soil

Clay soil

Loamy soil

Peaty soil

Chalky soil

Sandy Soil

To check if soil is sandy, moisten a small sample of soil and try to make a ball using your palms. If the soil is sandy, then no dirt balls will form and the soil will crumble and fall through the fingers.

This soil type has the biggest particles; and the bigger size of the particles in a soil the better is aeration and drainage of the soil. This soil is granular and consists of rock and mineral particles that are very small. Therefore the texture is gritty. Sandy soil is formed by the disintegration and weathering of rocks such as limestone, granite, quartz and shale. Sandy soil is easier to cultivate if it is rich in organic material, but then it allows drainage more than is needed, thus resulting in over-drainage and dehydration of the plants in summer. It warms very fast in the spring season. So if you want to grow your plant in sandy soil, it is imperative that you water it regularly in the summers and give a break in the winters and rainy season. Sandy soil retains a certain amount of moisture and nutrients. In a way sandy soil is good for plants since it lets the water drain easily, so that it prevents root rot problems.

Silty Soil

To check if the soil you have is silty, take a small amount of moist soil and rub it between your fingers. If the soil is silty soil, it will feel slick and stick to your fingers.

Silty soil is considered to be one of the most fertile of soils. It can occur in nature as soil or as suspended sediment in water column of a water body on the surface of the earth. It is composed of minerals like quartz and fine organic particles. It is granular like sandy soil but it has more nutrients than sandy soil and offers better drainage. In case silty soil is dry it has a smoother texture and looks like dark sand. This type of soil can hold more moisture and at times becomes compact. It offers better drainage and is much easier to work with when it has moisture.

Clay Soil

To identify if the soil is clay soil, take a soil sample and damp it with water. Feel it between your palms. You will find clay soil is sticky and retains a good amount of water.

Clay is a kind of material that occurs naturally and consists of very fine grain material with very less air spaces. Due to this it is difficult to work with this soil, because the drainage in this soil is low. Hence, there is possible for water logging to occur, which can harm the roots of the plant. Clay soil becomes very heavy when wet and if cultivation has to be done, organic fertilizers need to be added to the soil. Clay soil is formed after years of rock disintegration and weathering. It is also formed as sedimentary deposits after the rock is weathered, eroded and transported. Clay soil due to its formation process is rich in mineral content.

Given above three types of soil sand, silty and clay are the main ones. Apart from these there are three more soil sub-types mentioned below that contain some amount of the above soils.

Loamy Soil

This soil consists of sand, silt and clay to some extent. It is considered to be the perfect soil for gardening. The texture is gritty and retains water very easily, yet the drainage is good. There are various kinds of loamy soil ranging from fertile to very muddy and thick sod. Yet out of all the different kinds of soil, loamy soil is ideal for cultivation. So, in case you are thinking of starting a vegetable patch or a small garden, apply a layer of loamy soil to the garden before you start plantation.

Peaty Soil

This kind of soil is basically formed by the accumulation of dead and decayed organic matter, it naturally contains much more organic matter than most of the soils. It is generally found in marshy areas. The decomposition of the organic matter in this soil is blocked by the acidity of the soil. This kind of soil is formed in wet climate. Though the soil is rich in organic matter, nutrients present are fewer in this soil type than any other type. Peaty soil is prone to water logging, but if the soil is fertilized well and the drainage of the soil is looked after, it can be the ideal for growing plants.

Chalky Soil

Unlike peaty soil, chalky soil is very alkaline in nature and consists of a large number of stones. The fertility of this kind of soil depends on the depth of the soil that is on the bed of chalk. This kind of soil is prone to dryness and in summers it is a poor choice for plantation, as the plants would need much more watering and fertilizing than on any other type of soil. Chalky soil, apart from being dry also blocks the nutritional elements for the plants like iron and magnesium.

Besides the above classification of soil, the next popular classification of soil is according to the pH level of soil. In this classification, soil is either acidic or alkaline soil depending on the amount of humus, organic matter and the underlying bedrock. But, no matter what the type of soil is, every soil has its own advantages and disadvantages and there are various plants that have different requirements. Because, all plants do not need the same kind of soil.

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-soil.html

"The grass is green and the rose is red ... ." Sounds familiar? Rings a bell? Well, this line is from the very famous nursery rhyme that you and your friends would hum along and play. Those were the days, indeed, when this line carried meaning. However, it could be altered to suit the present situation, "The grass is gray and the rose is dead!" The first version sounds pleasing, the second, painful. The current scenario of the environment is depressing. It, no more, has green fluff to flaunt, only grays to hide. If this description sketches a picture of your garden state as well, then here is one solution: Soil conditioner. Make your garden green, and gift yourself the beauty of nature. After all, your garden greens contribute to making the environment switch from gray to green!

What Is a Soil Conditioner?

Soil conditioners are substances that aid in improving the quality of the soil. They are a tonic supplied to soil that lacks the necessary nutrients and is ill-maintained. They make the soil fit for use, thereby creating and maintaining the soil condition.

Types of Soil Amendments

It is now a known fact that soil conditioners are beneficial no end. However, what matters is the quantity of conditioner applied to meliorate the soil. Let us instate that excess application of the conditioner may result in sinister consequences; i.e., it may serve punitive for plant health. Content of nitrogen, salts, and other nutrients, when present in excess, may prove counterproductive for the environment. Rest assured, for when soil conditioners are added optimally, they reap ample benefits.

Sphagnum Peat Moss

This is one trusted soil amendment. From horticulturists to doting gardeners; they swear by the potent properties of sphagnum peat moss. This conditioner does a good turn to your soil by retaining adequate moisture. Sphagnum peat moss is voted highly effective, when coupled with heavy clays, thereby helping the soil gain a fine texture, in the process, controlling the degree of compaction, too. It works well with sandy soil, helping it to retain optimum moisture. Sphagnum peat moss has low pH levels that inadvertently acidifies the soil, prepping it for plants that require acidic soil to facilitate growth.

Manure

Senescent manure makes all the difference, when added to flower gardens and shrubs used to profile walkways. The reason fresh manure is not used in gardens is the high levels of ammonia. The presence of pathogens also makes fresh manure unfit for use. Thus, using old manure (i.e., six to seven months old) and composting it for the stipulated period obviates the problem of pathogens.

Pine Bark Humus

This is plausibly one amongst the top-grade products bearing semblance to saw dust. Pine bark humus befits clay soil, what with the fine texture that helps compacted soils, like clay, to optimally loosen up in order to facilitate drainage of excess moisture. When coupled with sphagnum peat moss, pine bark humus becomes highly favorable to be added to soils, preparing for plantation.

Organic Compost

Constructing your own compost bin and using the byproduct to nourish your soil is one fiscally compatible idea to go by. A lot of things may be entertained in the compost bin: dried leaves, scrap, food waste, animal excreta, to name a few. However, you may find the texture of your compost conditioner not very uniform. Bottom line: It does not greatly benefit the textural structure of your garden soil; at least not the way other conditioners do.

Soilless Potting Conditioner

A soilless potting mix is considered better than soil, as it consists ingredients, such as sphagnum peat moss, perlite, coir, and vermiculite. Potting soilless mix -- as the name suggests -- is ideal for indoor containers. The mix may also be used for your green expanse; however, the choice may be expensive to endure as well. The soilless potting mix prepares your land by increasing its fertility, thereby also providing nourishment to plants.

What Is It Used For?

Besides the soil conditioner being the fountainhead of maintenance and health, it is also employed to configure the structure of the soil. As time elapses, soil clumps up and becomes unfit for use. These conditioners are designed to loosen up the soil and make it suitable for plants to boom and flowers to bloom with health.

With the passage of time, soil also tends to lose its nutrient levels. These conditioners replenish the nutrients into the soil system that encourages plants to grow healthier and glossier in appearance.

It is also of great help, when soil becomes dry. It enriches the soil by improving its power of water retention, thereby working positively on the texture and the quality of the soil.

The conditioner could be added to conform with regards to plant requirement. The soil pH could be varied to make acidic or alkaline soil, keeping the soil-plant compatibility in mind.

Why Use Soil Conditioner ...

.. For Lawns

Soil conditioners could be in the form of compost (you must know the various methods of composting so that a good compost could be added to your garden), sphagnum peat moss (a vital component in formulating soilless potting mix), coir, vermiculite, lime, chemical fertilizers, organic conditioners, such as seaweed, manure, and bone meal.

Mulching is one method, where mulches increase its water retention prowess for plants to turn out healthy.

Organic fertilizers strengthen plants and promote organic gardening.

Organic conditioners for lawns could either be administered in dry, powdery form, or they could be used in liquid form by applying the fertilizer with the foliar spray. They are conditioners that are best administered, when sprayed directly on the surface of the plant.

Conditioning the soil for the lawn could be beneficial if you don't overdo it. It may not prove helpful and may damage the well-being of the plant. It is suggested that the conditioner be added in moderation to the garden soil.

.. For Clay Soil

Soil conditioner could be a vital ingredient, as clay content can compact the soil. This makes the soil unfit for use. Thus, soil needs to have a good drainage system in place to prevent water logging that make plants look lifeless.

Adding organic material in clay soil can help the soil to clump less. Dried leaves, sphagnum moss, and bone meal could be added to the clay soil to make it loose and fit for use.

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/soil-conditioner.html

Pollution is the process that introduces contaminants into the environment, which in turn causes the instability of the ecosystem, including both the physical aspects and the living organisms. There are three types of pollution namely land pollution, air pollution and water pollution. Land pollution basically is about contaminating the land surface of the earth through dumping urban waste matter indiscriminately, dumping of industrial waste, mineral exploitation, and misusing the soil by harmful agricultural practices. Pollution includes visible litter and waste along with the soil itself being polluted. The soil gets polluted by the chemicals in pesticides and herbicides used for agricultural purposes along with waste matter being littered in urban areas such as roads, parks, and streets.

Land Pollutants Comprise: Solid Waste and Soil Pollution

Solid Waste

Semisolid or solid matter that are created by human or animal activities, and which are disposed because they are hazardous or useless are known as solid waste. Most of the solid wastes, like paper, plastic containers, bottles, cans, and even used cars and electronic goods are not biodegradable, which means they do not get broken down through inorganic or organic processes. Thus, when they accumulate they pose a health threat to people, plus, decaying wastes also attract household pests and result in urban areas becoming unhealthy, dirty, and unsightly places to reside in. Moreover, it also causes damage to terrestrial organisms, while also reducing the uses of the land for other, more useful purposes. Some of the sources of solid waste that cause soil pollution are:

Wastes from Agriculture: This comprises waste matter produced by crop, animal manure, and farm residues.

Wastes from Mining: Piles of coal refuse and heaps of slag.

Wastes from Industries: Industrial waste matter that can cause land pollution can include paints, chemicals, and so on.

Solids from Sewage Treatment: Wastes that are left over after sewage has been treated, biomass sludge, and settled solids.

Ashes: The residual matter that remains after solid fuels are burned.

Garbage: This comprises waste matter from food that are decomposable and other waste matter that are not decomposable such as glass, metal, cloth, plastic, wood, paper, and so on.

Soil Pollution

Soil pollution is chiefly caused by chemicals in pesticides, such as poisons that are used to kill agricultural pests like insects and herbicides that are used to get rid of weeds. Hence, soil pollution results from:

Unhealthy methods of soil management.

Harmful practices of irrigation methods.

Land pollution is caused by farms because they allow manure to collect, which leaches into the nearby land areas. Chemicals that are used for purposes like sheep dipping also cause serious pollution as do diesel oil spillages.

What are the Consequences of Land Pollution?

Land or soil pollution can affect wildlife, plants, and humans in a number of ways, such as:

Cause problems in the respiratory system

Cause problems on the skin

Lead to birth defects

Cause various kinds of cancers

The toxic materials that pollute the soil can get into the human body directly by:

Coming into contact with the skin

Being washed into water sources like reservoirs and rivers

Eating fruits and vegetables that have been grown in polluted soil

Breathing in polluted dust or particles

How can Land Pollution be Prevented?

People should be educated and made aware about the harmful effects of littering

Items used for domestic purposes ought to be reused or recycled

Personal litter should be disposed properly

Organic waste matter should be disposed in areas that are far away from residential places

Inorganic matter such as paper, plastic, glass and metals should be reclaimed and then recycled

It has become the need of the hour to protect the earth from the harmful effects of pollution, so that the generations to come will be able to a live a decently healthy life. Every individual will have to take the onus on himself and work towards bettering the environment and keep the earth green and healthy.

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/land-pollution.html

Land pollution is one of the gravest kinds of pollutions. I say so because we do not realize when and how we pollute land due to different things we do and decisions we take. We realize the air is getting polluted when we step out of our houses and take a deep breath. We know when our actions cause water pollution, for we can see for ourselves the quality of the water worsening. Similarly noise, light, visual pollution can all be monitored, because we can all see or sense these kinds of pollution. However, land pollution is a hard one to get since we do not understand and we cannot comprehend which of our actions cause destruction of land.

What is Land Pollution?

When the anthropogenic effects of development adversely affect land (especially in turns of quality of land), it can be termed as land pollution. This brings us to an important question - what counts as an adverse effect? The answer is simple - anything that reduces the productivity and potential of a piece of land. Here, 'productivity and potential' refers to prospective uses of a piece of land for any of the different purposes for which land is used; including infrastructure, housing, services, agriculture, forestry, etc. If any of the effects of human development reduce the potential of a piece of land to be used for any good purpose, it amounts to land pollution.

Causes of Land Pollution

1. Degenerative Actions encompass a lot of human actions, including - deforestation, overuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, desertification, mining, inefficient and / or inadequate waste treatment, landfill, litter, etc. Many of these are unavoidable; however, definitely the severity of these actions in terms of the effects they have on the land can be reduced by taking appropriate and adequate corrective measure. For example, the amount of litter produced can be hugely reduced if we all strictly say NO to plastic. The key here is to conduct a thorough EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment.

2. Misuse of Land mainly refers to felling of trees to clear land for agriculture, as well as processes like desertification and land conversion. Desertification is when anthropogenic effects of human development and / or other actions converts a piece of (essentially) fertile land into desert-land or dryland. Isn't that a scary thought? Land once converted to desert-land can never be reclaimed by any amount of corrective measures. This is also a serious issue because t does not only affect the land, but also the overall biodiversity of a place, specially when land is cleared for agriculture. A lot of indigenous flora and fauna is lost in the process.

3. Inefficient Use of Land - surprised? Does inefficient use of land count as a cause of land pollution? Yes. Why? Due to the consequences of inefficient use of land. Inefficient use of land as such is not going to cause land pollution. However, inefficient use of land amounts to wastage, and hence shortage of land; and it is precisely during such conditions that man has to resort to measure such as deforestation and others to meet his needs. It is an important, albeit an indirect cause of land pollution that is often largely neglected. 

4. Soil Pollution is when the top-most 'soil' layer of land is destroyed or polluted. Soil pollution is again another cause of land pollution that affects not only the land, but also a lot of other things such as forest cover of a region, productivity of land in terms of agriculture, grazing etc. Soil pollution is also caused by wrong agricultural practices, such as overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This causes non-biodegradable chemicals to enter and accumulate in the food-chain - a process often referred to as biomagnification of a pollutant. 

5. Land Conversion is the process whereby a piece of land is converted from its indigenous form to a form used for either agriculture or infrastructure. Land conversion is especially a growing problem that we possibly do not have a good - or a good enough - solution for. The best way to avoid land conversion is to make efficient use of the available land. Using a piece of land to its maximum potential is the key to eliminate many of the causes of land pollution.

Other key causes of land pollution include - urbanization, improper waste disposal, industrial activities, nuclear research, chemicals released by all sorts of heavy industries, coal-fired power plants, metals production industries, etc.

Effects of Land Pollution

1. Effects on Climate

Land pollution can affect the general environment of the Earth. Land pollutions leads to loss in the forest cover of Earth. This is in turn going to affect the amount of rain. Less rains mean lesser vegetation. The effect of all different kinds of pollution will eventually lead to problems like acid rains, greenhouse effect, global warming. All of these problems have already initiated and need to be curbed before the situation runs out of control.

2. Extinction of Species

One of the major causes of concern is the extinction of species. Species are pushed towards endangerment and extinction primarily by two processes. Habitat fragmentation is the fragmentation of the natural habitat of an organism; cause primarily by urban sprawl. Habitat destruction, on the other hand, is when land clearing adversely affects animals special such that their natural habitat is lost. Both the actions can cause some species to go extinct and others to become invasive.

3. Biomagnification

Biomagnification is the process in which certain non-biodegradable substances go on accumulating in the food-chain (in one or more species). The most common example is of methylmercury in fish and mercury in eagles. Not only does biomagnification put the particular species at risk, it puts all the species above and below it at risk, and ultimately affects the food pyramid.

4. Effects on Biodiversity

Species extinction and biomagnification is going to overthrow the balance of nature very significantly. The main reason for this is disturbance created in the food chain. To give you a very simple example - on account of biomagnification of mercury in eagles, they might go extinct in the subsequent years. However, we know eagles prey on snakes. Less (or no) eagles will then result in more number of snakes!

As you may have realized, land pollution is indeed going to affect a lot more things than we though it will. Hence, I leave you with some corrective measure you can take on a personal level to reduce land pollution.

Encourage organic farming - buy organic food.

Proper garbage disposal - separate your garbage before you give it to the garbage collector; and strictly say NO to plastic.

Encourage recycling - buy recycled products, notebooks, paper, etc.

Restrict use of herbicides and pesticides - they are not only used in farm, but in your own backyard as well.

If we reduce our contribution to garbage and litter, therein itself we will be able to significantly reduce land pollution and probably curb it entirely in the near future. Also do realize this isn't only about land pollution; it is about all kinds of pollution. We need to take steps to prevent damaging our Earth. We have no other place to go.

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-effects-of-land-pollution.html