Great chemistry/earth science lesson

I love soils. I go on a soils field trip yearly with the local college and take anyone I can shanghai with me. So I was very excited to see this article on soils. The authors do a wonderful ... See More

I love soils. I go on a soils field trip yearly with the local college and take anyone I can shanghai with me. So I was very excited to see this article on soils. The authors do a wonderful job of not only explaining the physical processes but also the chemical processes that lead to certain types of soils (although I felt that some of the calcite soils were neglected - poor things!). Additional resources that would be a big help (and did not exist at the time of this article) can be found at the NRCS web site - I would start here http://soils.usda.gov/gallery/ with the photos of soil profiles in different parts of the US. Another with interactive lesson ideas and world-wide information at a variety of grade levels is http://www.soil-net.com/ In my area, there is a university that collects columns of soil profiles from all over the world and can send someone to your school to share them and discuss why they are important. Finally, you should check with your local NRCS agency - although a lot of local data is available on the above website - it is always nice to hear from the experts and they may have local issues you can investigate!