Soils 101 - Introduction to Soils

Instructors:

Dr. Daniel D. Fritton and Katharine L. Butler

Credits:

3

Semesters Offered:

Fall and Spring

Texts:

Butler, K.L. and D.D. Fritton, Spring 2005. Soils 101: Study Guide and Lab Manual. The Pennsylvania State University, Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences, University Park, PA.

Braker, W.L. 1981. Soil Survey of Centre County, Pennsylvania, USDA-SCS, Washington D.C.

Prerequisites:

A web version of the course syllabus may be found at Soils 101 Syllabus - Spring 2005.

General Course Resources

• Announcements. News, announcements, etc. about Soils 101.
• Soils 101 Team The staff of Soils 101 includes 12 people. We are committed to helping you succeed in this course. Please contact us when you need help (or even if you don't).
• Plaster Terms. The "Terms to know" from Plaster are found arranged alphabetically by chapter on the Soils 101 Angel Site . These terms are found at the beginning of each chapter in the Plaster textbook. Exams will draw questions from the definitions of these terms. The definitions have been taken either from the glossary in the book (pp 490-506), or from the definitions found within the text of each chapter.
  
• Soils Glossary Link to a collection of terms and definitions by the Soil Science Society of America.
  

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Lab Resources

• Elements of a Good Lab Report. Lab reports should be professional, college-level documents that include the concepts, results, and a discussion relating the two in a manner that convinces the reader of the author's understanding of the material.
• An Example Lab Report. Joe Agronomo, budding professional, shows how it's done.

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Land Use Project Resources

• Examples! check this link out for examples of data maps and tables and data descriptions of both. These should be helpful as you work on your current LUP assignment.

• More Examples! This link has some examples of data maps and tables from previous semesters.

• Centre County Map with Townships and

  Centre County Map without Townships

  These two maps are helpful when making your location map.

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Other Interesting Stuff

• Search Engines: If you want to look on the Web for information you can use one of the "search engines" below to do a keyword search.
  • Google
  • Lycos
  • Web Crawler
  • Yahoo
    • Yahoo-Science

• USDA home page. The USDA has a web site with a variety of information and data.
• The NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) web site has many valuble links and much interesting information for soils students (and others).
  • A link to soils data and other information can be found at Official Series Descriptions (OSD). This site includes descriptions of all soil series in the U.S.
• Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). The SSSA is the professional home for over 6,000 professionals throughout the world dedicated to the advancement of soil science. The primary purpose of the Society is to advance the discipline and practice of soil science by acquiring and disseminating information about soils in relation to crop production, environmental quality, ecosystem sustainability, bioremediation, waste management and recycling, and wise land use. The SSSA is one of the tri-societies along with the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA).

• Soil ordersAn excellent page offered by The University of Idaho that illustrates soil profiles and landscapes for the 12 soil orders.

• The National Society of Consulting Soil Scientists. The National Society of Consulting Soil Scientists (NSCSS) Homepage provides a wide range of soils information that includes Soil Morphology and Pedology, Soil Microbiology, Edaphology, Soil chemistry and Soil Physics. The NSCSS Homepage includes links to many other related sciences, such as Earth, Water and Environmental Sciences as well as NSCSS Soil Science Links, a page of links to everything soils.
• The Bureau of Land Managment and National Sciences and Technology Center have developed the BLM NSTC Soil Biological Communities web site. Be sure to check out this site for great information and photos/illustrations of the abundant biota that live in the soil.

• Penn State's Earth System Science Center in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has some soils-related information and links.
• Reducing Radon Risks This informative page from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gives an overview of radon gas, what it is, its impact and the extent of the radon problem. It gives advice for testing for this radioactive gas and includes links to other helpful sites that discuss the problems and myths about radon. Other related sites can be found at the EPA site Concerned Citizens - At Home and in the Garden .
• The Microbe Zoo. Michigan State University's Center for Microbial Ecology has a digital zoo to visit, including our favorite, Dirtland.
• Groundwater.com. A page of links to topics related to groundwater quality, geosciences, etc.

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