Schedule for Soil 4505 - Soil Geography

Spring Semester 2007

Class Schedule

Soil 4505 - Soil Geography  Soil Variability on the planet earth
 Spring  Semester - 2007

Professor Cooper's E-mail=tcooper@umn.edu 

Wed 12:20 to 2:00 pm S415 Soils Building
Welcome to Soil Geography. This course is designed to investigate the soil variability of planet earth.
We will use soil Taxonomy and FAO World Soil Map
http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/agricult/agl/agll/key2soil.stm & Soil Map=http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/wrb/wrbmaps/htm/domsoi.htm to investigate the soils and their properties that inhabit this planet. We will not look at every country, but we will look at every continent's soils.
The web page for this course http://www.soils.agri.umn.edu/academics/classes/soil4505/ will provide most of the course information. The textbook (Soil Geography by Foth & Schafer) is out of print and I will provide copies of the important chapters for you at cost of reproduction.
Prerequisite Information: It is important that you have an understanding of Soil Taxonomy. Therefore either Basic Soils or the Soil Resources is the prerequisite, or approval of the instructor. Please review Soil Taxonomy at http://www.soils.agri.umn.edu/academics/classes/soil4505/
Goals and Objectives:
1) Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge about the soil resources of the various continents on planet earth.
2) Students will be able to indicate how the soil resources have been used and the current state of productivity
3) Students will relate to the human culture of the continent and how that has played a role in the protection or lack of protection of the soil resources.

World Reference Base Information=http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/W8594E/W8594E00.htm

The course format will be to review and discuss the readings from the Text and the Web. I will not usually lecture. I trust you all will have completed the readings for the week so we can discuss what we have found out about the region. We will use the Web to bring up maps, soil profiles and other information about the region during lecture. We may have some guest speakers from selected countries to discuss with us their perspective.

Class Schedule:
Jan 17- Introduction to Soil Geography & Review of Soil taxonomy
Jan 24 Soils of the United States -A review
Jan 31 - Soils of Canada Soils of Canada
Feb 7 - Soils of Mexico Soils of Mexico
Feb 14 - Soils of Central America
Feb 21 - Soils of South America Soils of South America Brazil
Feb 28 - Soils of South America - Argentina
March 7 - Soils of Africa Soils of Africa Ethiopia & Zambia
March 14 Spring Break
March 21 - Soils of the Europe & Middle East Soils of Europe - Norway, Scotland, Spain, Turkey
March 28 - Soils of Eastern Europe & Middle East- Soils of Romania Romania and Soils of Israel Israel
April 4 - Soils of Russia
April 11 - Soils of Asia Soils of Southeast Asia & Vietnam --& -- Soils of China
April 18 Soils of Australia & New Zealand and Pacific Islands Soils of Australia
April 25 - Student Projects
May 2 - Student Projects.

Grading - Students in Soil Geography will be graded on: 1) student participation (attendance); 2) student power point presentation; 3) Final Exam. Participation will be required for each class session. This will require that students have done the assigned readings prior to class so we can actively discuss the soil geography of the region.
Course Points: Attendance/participation=150 (10 each day) Student Presentation=100; Final Exam=50. Total=300 The take home final exam will consist of 5 questions that will cover some of the major items discussed this semester. Information for the final will be available from the readings, web pages, in-class discussions, and guest speakers. The final will be available on May 2 and due back on May 9- Grading Scale >93=A; >90=A-; >88=B+; >84=B;>80=B-;>78=C+;>74=C;>70=C-;<70=D or F.

Course Project: Students will select a country (or part of a country if it is a big country) they are interested in and develop a power point presentation ( 30 min) that gives information about the soil geography of that country. Students will present the web page to the class for feedback and discussion. This will begin the development of web pages that can be used in the future for this course. We will look at some of the presentations used last year.
If any student has disabilities that need special consideration, please see me early in the semester so we can develop a plan that will accommodate you.

Office Hours: 9-10 a.m. MTWF. You are welcome to make an appointment for any other time also. The best way to contact me is via e-mail. I have voice mail but I may miss your message. I do not have a preference as to how you address me. You can use: Dr. or Professor, or Mr. or Terry, whatever is comfortable for you. I will try to learn your first name and use it during class.
I have been soils since 1975 and since 1980 at the University of Minnesota. I have a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Soil Science. I have worked for the Natural Resource and Conservation Service and the US Forest Service as a soil scientist. I am very interested in how our soil resources can be protected so they are a sustainable resource. I also teach courses in Field Study of Soils, Environmental Impact Statements and Env. Science Seminars.