Web Exam 1
Soil Science WEB Exam 1---- Fall 2009
Dept. of Soil, Water and Climate
Directions: 1) There is ONE BEST answer per question.
2) Place your answers on the answer sheet, you only need to turn in the
answers.
Name __________________________________
1.________ 2._______ 3._________ 4._______ 5.______ 6._______ 7._________
8._______ 9.______ 10._______ 11. _________ 12.________ 13.______ 14.________
15._________
Total _____
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Questions 1-15
1. Soil is a natural body is how a _________ defines soil, while a ________
refers to soil as regolith __________.
a) environmental scientist......... soil scientist
b) soil scientist...........geologist
c) green house manager.... engineer
d) soil scientist............environmental scientist.
2. The soil is called ____________ when the percent composition is 45%
water, 45% mineral, 5% organic.
a) too wet
b) too dry
c) too organic
d) ideal.
3. Soil is too important of a resource for the planet's survival to call it
____________.
a) mineral particles
b) mixture of soil and peat
c) regolith
d) dirt
4.The interface between the atmosphere, biosphere,
lithosphere and hydrosphere is called the ______.
a) horizosphere
b) geosphere
c) pedosphere
d) climosphere
5. In an ideal soil, the soil component that is most likely to remain the
same percentage during the growing season is the ___________
a) mineral b) organic c) water d) air
6. The weathering of rocks and minerals provide to the soil the _______
while the rotting of leaves, stems, wood provide the ______________of soil.
a) framework for water and air......nutrients for
plants
b) parent material.....solid fraction.
c) regolith under the soil ......black color
d) sand, silt & clay ........food for the microorganisms
7. The building blocks of rocks are ____________ while the building blocks
of minerals are ___________
a) minerals ......elements.
b) igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.......quartz,
granite and basalt
c) crystals ......... rocks.
d) always the same ...........varied depending on the
environment in which they form.
8. Igneous rocks are ____.
a) from other rocks that have undergone additional
heating and pressure.
b) the primary rock from which all other rocks are
formed
c) dark colored rocks
d) always found near the areas of volcanic activity.
9. A very new rock (it is still molton rock) forms on a layer of a hard, dark gray to black rock with very small crystals. The layers vary from 8 to 50 inches thick. The kind of rock in both layers is most likely a ______________.
a) clastic sedimentary rock like sandstone in SE Mn.
b) solution sedimentary rock like limestone in SE Mn.
c) basalt -similar to the rocks of NE Mn.
d) Granite - igneous rock in Central Mn.
10. A residual soil is different from a non-residual soil because the
residual soils parent material ________
a) has never been moved by geologic processes after it formed.
b) can be only found in areas that were never
glaciated.
c) is more easily weathered.
d) has to be the same ratio of sand, silt and clay as
the soil.
11. Suppose you find a large (2 feet across) rock in
a) grinding for the crack and chemical dissolution for
the surface.
b) freeze thaw for the crack and organisms for the
surface.
c) chemical dissolution for the crack and chemical
reduction for the surface
d) wetting and drying for the crack and physical grinding for the surface
12. A single sand grain from a
a) basalt
b) quartz
c) feldspar
d) limestone
13. Water is needed for most of the chemical reactions in chemical
weathering. Evidence for a chemical weathering process is the complete
disappearance of a solid material when immersed into a liquid. This type of
weathering is called ___?__.
a) hydration
b) hydrolysis
c) dissolution
d) oxidation
14. Over _____% of the world's soils show at least moderate or severe
degradation from human activities.
a) 20; b) 40; c) 60; d) 80
15. The largest component of soil degradation world wide for all land uses
is
a) agricultural activities b) industrial pollution c) deforestation d)
overgrazing
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