Meeting Times	Course Content and Justification	Intended Audience	Prerequisites
Course Structure	Instructors	Educational Objectives	Course Homepage
Reading Assignments	Field Trips	Field Trip Reports	Hydric Soil Delineation Project
Course Policy	Grading	Course Schedule	Return to Homepage

Lecture:	Recitations:
Tuesday and Thursday 4:05 - 4:55PM	Tuesday or Thursday 5:10 - 6:00M
375 Borlaug Hall	415 Soils Building

Course will focus on the morphology, chemistry, hydrology, and formation of mineral and organic soils in wet environments. We will examine soil morphological indicators of wet conditions and field techniques of identifying hydric soils for wetland delineations. Course includes two Saturday field trips and a group hydric soil delineation exercise in Shoreview. Additional topics include peatlands; wetland benefits, preservation, regulation, and mitigation. Course material is not of an introductory nature and assumes prior knowledge of soil science and the ability to integrate information from several disciplines in order to understand biochemical and physical processes occurring in hydromorphic soils.

The identification and management of wetlands has received considerable attention in recent years as state and federal agencies strive to implement various wetland preservation regulations and deal with the complexities of identifying and managing wetland environments. An understanding of soils in wet environments from a scientific viewpoint is needed to address many of the questions being raised concerning the identification, mitigation, and utilization of these lands. There is a clear need for a field-oriented course that focuses on soils in wetland environments. This course is designed to accommodate both day and extension students.

Intended Audience:

1. Senior students in the Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources and Environmental Studies programs.
2. Graduate students in disciplines of study related to wetland science and/or soil science.
3. The following extension students:
   
   • State or federal government professionals involved in resource management or assessment activities.
   • Environmental consultants.

Prerequisites:

Introductory soils course or instructor permission

 

Recommended: A course in soil morphological description (can be taken concurrently), Senior standing

3credits

2 -	50 minute lecture sessions per week
1 -	50 minute recitation session per week
2 -	Weekend field trips
1 -	Field project involving the delineation and description of hydric and associated upland soils. This will be a multi-week project and will provide opportunities for students to work together in small groups.

Dr. Jay Bell
Associate Professor of Pedology
Office: 570 Borlaug Hall
Office Hours: by appointment
Office Phone: 625-6703 (leave a message on my voice mail if I am out)
Home Phone: 483-2091 (evenings before 9:00 PM)
Email: jay.bell@soils.umn.edu

I am originally from Southwestern Virginia and received my BS and MS degrees in Agronomy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and my Ph.D. in 1990 from The Pennsylvania State University. I have been an assistant professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate since 1991 and an associate professor since 1997. I received the Distinguished Teaching Award for College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences in 1995. I have also worked as a Research Associate conducting research on surface-mine reclamation in the Southern Appalachians, as a Post-Doctoral Associate studying soil remediation of waste water, and as Senior Soil Scientist for Geo Decisions, Inc., of Lemont, Pennsylvania. During 1995 I was a Visiting Scientist with CSIRO Division of Soils in Canberra Australia collaborating on pedological and quantitative land assessment research. My current research interests are in hydric soil genesis, soil hydrology, wetland ecology, soil geomorphology, digital terrain analysis, and applications of geographic information system technology for quantitative land assessment. I developed and first taught this course in 1993 and also teach Soil 3220 - Soil Conservation and Land-Use Management, and a soil genesis field tour alternating summers.

Educational Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course you should be able to:

• Describe the biogeochemical processes leading to the reduction and translocation of nitrates, manganese, iron, and sulfur in wet soil environments.
• List the specific criteria used to define hydric soils according to the 1987 Federal Manual for Wetland Delineation.
• Identify and delineate hydric soils in outwash sand and glacial till soils according the most recent publication of Field Indicators of Hydric Soils.
• List and describe morphological indicators of mineral soils that have formed in wet environments per the Guide to Field Indicators of Hydric Soils. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these indicators.
• Use field instruments to monitor free water surface levels, soil tension, soil temperature, and redox potential. Explain how these instruments work and their limitations.
• Use a soil survey and hydric soils list for off-site identification of hydric soils and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.
• Determine if a soil meets the criteria for aquic suborder or aquic subgroup under the US. system of Soil Taxonomy.
• Understand the definition of the term peatlands and describe several mechanisms for the formation of peatlands.
• Describe the hydrologic, chemical, and botanical differences among kinds of peatlands.

Course Home Page:

http://www.soils.agri.umn.edu/academics/classes/soil5555/

contains course info and links to other related sites

course info including lecture notes and slides, some assignments, study guides, etc.

Required Textbook: Wetland Soils: Genesis, Hydrology, Landscapes, and Classification. J. L. Richardson and M. J. Vepraskas Editors. 2001.

Note Packet: A note packet including PowerPoint slides, guidelines for soil profile descriptions, hydric soil indicators, and a glossary is available through the St. Paul Bookstore. Will probably not be available until second week of class due to last minute edits necessitated by availability of the textbook.

The Department of Soil, Water, and Climate in collaboration with the Department of Rhetoric and the Natural Resources Conservation Service have developed a computer-based learning module focusing on hydric soils. The module was complete last year and was tested in this course. You will need to purchase the CD containing the modules from either the University Bookstore or myself. The component of the module that you will be working with allows you to examine landscape and soil morphological characteristics and temporal changes in hydrology, temperature, and redox potential for a catena of soils on a hillslope at our research site near Faribault, Minnesota; a module explaining the genesis of certain soil hydromorphic features; and an on-line version of the NRCS hydric soil indicators.

This course includes two Saturday class field trips and a field-based, hydric-soil delineation project. The field trips will leave at 8:30 AM from Borlaug Hall and we should return by mid-afternoon. Please plan on bringing a bag lunch for both field trips. Remember, in this course we are studying wet soils, so you will be getting your feet wet and your hands and clothes muddy. Waterproof boots are highly recommended and you may want to consider bug repellent, depending on the weather. We will not cancel the field trip unless the weather is severe - so please come prepared. Backpacks of field gear, augers, and spades will be issued to each group during the first field trip and each group will keep a set of field gear until their field project is completed. Field gear is provided to courtesy of the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. Groups will be responsible for returning all gear and will need to pay for any lost or damaged equipment.

Field trip #1 Saturday September 15 -

This field trip will be led by Dan Wheeler (Dept. Soil, Water, and Climate) and Greg Larson (Board of Water and Soil Resources) Depart from the front of Borlaug Hall at 8:30 AM.

We will travel to the Cedar Creek Natural History Area, which is about an hour's drive north of the Twin Cities on the Anoka Sand Plain. We will examine organic soils in several peatlands and the transition to the sandy upland soils. You will also collect data on soil water table levels, tension, temperature, and redox potential from instruments that were installed as part of a research project to monitor aquic soil moisture conditions along a hydrosequence leading from the uplands into a peatland. We should return to Borlaug Hall by mid-afternoon.

Field trip #2 Saturday October 2 - Depart from the front of Borlaug Hall at 8:30 AM and travel to Lake Rebecca Regional Park. We will do a group delineation of the hydric soil boundary around a wetland area and focus on soil-landscape relationships. We should return to Borlaug Hall by mid to late afternoon.

My expectations of YOU:

*	To read and note the information contained in this syllabus.
*	To attend lecture and recitation sessions and to read required material prior to each session. Several lectures and recitations will involve discussions based on information contained in the CD. It is imperative that you have reviewed this material prior to class.
*	To ask questions. I encourage you to critically evaluate what you read and what is discussed in class. Also, if you don't understand something, please ask. Chances are that you are not the only person with that question. If you should ask a question that is not relevant to the current class topic, I may ask you to see me later. If at any time during the course you have concerns about how you are doing in the class, need more information about something covered in lecture or lab, or want help in preparing for an exam, please come see myself or Ron Reuter.
*	To hand in assignments on time. Assignments will not be accepted after the due date unless you have spoken with me or one of the teachin assistants before the due date.
*	To prepare assignments in a professional manner. Correct spelling and grammar are expected. Hand-written answers to short exercises are acceptable unless your handwriting is difficult to decipher; if this is the case, you should type your answers. All reports should be prepared in a professional manner. We will consider spelling, grammar, organization, and presentation in addition to report content.
*	To notify me or the teaching assistant ahead of time if you cannot be present for an exam. Make-up exams may not be identical to the original exam.
*	To actively participate in small group discussions.
*	To complete and submit course evaluations at mid- and end-of-term. The course evaluations are used to help improve the course and as feedback for the instructor. The self-evaluation is for you to summarize what you have learned during the course and will be due on the last day of class.

Assignment	% of Grade
Exercises / Reports (approx. 5% each)	35
1st Midterm Exam	15
2nd Midterm Exam	15
Group Delineation Project	20
Final Comprehensive Exam	15

Midterm exams will be taken in class during the regular class period and will primarily consist of short answer questions. If you should have any questions regarding how your exam was graded, please make an appointment to see me or write down your question and return it to me with your original exam within one week after the exams are returned.

Final course grades will be based on +/- system and adhere to the University Uniform Grading Standards.

University Grading Standards

A

achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements.

B

achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements.

C

achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect.

D

achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements.

F

represents failure (or no credit) and signifies that the work was either (1) completed but at a level of achievement that is not worthy of credit or (2) was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and the student that the student would be awarded an I.

I

(Incomplete) Assigned at the discretion of the instructor when, due to extraordinary circumstances, e.g., hospitalization, a student is prevented from completing the work of the course on time. Requires a written agreement between instructor and student.

Academic dishonesty in any portion of the academic work for a course shall be grounds for awarding a grade of F or N for the entire course.

For undergraduate courses, one credit is defined as equivalent to an average of three hours of learning effort per week (over a full semester) necessary for an average student to achieve an average grade in the course. For example, a student taking a three credit course that meets for three hours a week should expect to spend an additional six hours a week on coursework outside the classroom.