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By Alfred R.
Conklin, Jr.
There are many useful and
important sources of information about soils. They run the
gambit from general to specific. Introductory soils texts give
a basic introduction to all aspects of soil. Specific texts
about soil formation, soil chemistry, physics, microbiology
biochemistry, etc., are also available. There is a soil survey
for each county in the United States. This has a great deal of
specific information about soils in a county. For even more
specific or detailed information one can search the soils
journals or contact the Land Grant University of the state or
the state soil scientist. Also each county has a soil
conservation office which has information about and experience
working with the soils of a specific county. Information about
soil is readily available if you know where it is.
Textbooks are the easiest source
of soils information. There are several good texts on the
market. Some concentrate on temperate region soils some on
arid soils and some on tropical soils. The nature and
Properties of Soils by N. Brady and R. Weil from Prentice
Hall is a good all around general text. There are
unfortunately few books in print, which give a general
introduction to tropical soils. Introduction to The Study
of Soils in Tropical and Subtropical Regions by P. Buringh
from Wageningen Press
is one that is readily available.
In addition there are texts that
cover specific areas of soil in more detail. Examples are
texts devoted to soil formation, which is also called soil
genesis. Other examples are soil microbiology, soil chemistry
and soil physics. There are also texts covering such
specialized topics as soil water relationships and soil plant
relationships. These are of particular importance to those
interested in phytoremediation. Other books deal with general
topics such as environmental chemistry and biology. Some
examples of these types of texts are below.
Fundamentals of Soil Physics.
Daniel Hillel. Academic Press
Soil Chemistry. Bohn et al. John Wiley
Soil Acidity and Liming. Adams ed. Soil Science Society
of America.
Principles of Soil-Plant Interrelationships. Reading
and Taylor. McGraw-Hill
Introduction to Soil Microbiology. M. Alexander.
Krieger Publishing Company
Soil Genesis and Classification. Buol et al. Iowa State
University Press.
Environmental Soil Chemistry. D. L. Sparks. Academic
Pr.
Water Relations of Plants and Soils. P. J. Kramer, et.
al. Academic Press
There are also a number of
monographs that deal with some particular soil concern. These
cover such topics as soil quality, phosphate, nitrate, etc.
Other topics such as soil cleanup and soil environmental
problems are also covered. For instance books on soil bio and
phytoremediation are available. These books are very
interesting and important. However, the more general text
should be read before tackling these monographs. They often,
rightly, assume that the reader has a basic knowledge of soil
and soil terminology.
If the latest in research results
are desired the Soil Science Society of America Journal (SSSAJ)
and the Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) are suggested.
SSSAJ covers a range of topics from Soil Physics, Soil
Chemistry, Conservation to Nutrient Management and Wetland
Soils. JEQ covers topics from Atmospheric Pollutants and Trace
Gases, Ecosystems Restoration to Wetlands and Aquatic
processes.
A word of caution about journal
articles. They are reporting current research results. In some
cases this work has not replicated. That is, not done on soils
from many different locations. Often additional research is
needed before one can be sure that such research results are
applicable to the problem at hand. However these results can
help in deciding the best method for remediation of a soil.
Every county in the United States
has a soil survey. This is a book, available from your local
soil conservation service or your local extension agent, which
describes the soils in the county and their characteristics.
The information is presented in a written section. It is also
presented on maps of the county. These maps are produced by
showing a soils location and its characteristics on aerial
photographs of the county. The information is quite extensive
including agriculture, engineering, water, erosion, geological
and hydrologic characteristics of the soils. This is an
excellent source of information about soil regardless of the
use to which or the activity envisioned for that soil. An
additional value of the soil survey is that the local soil
conservationist will be more than willing to aid in the
interpretation of any part of the survey. And they have access
to the latest soil research information relating to the
county.
Many states will also have
publications about specific soil uses. For instance they may
have a book on pond construction. This information would be
directly applicable to questions of lagoon construction. It
would also be applicable to land fill sites and percolation of
water through the soil. There are also pamphlets describing
soil erosion potential. These are appropriate sources of
information when a toxic spill has occurred on the soil
surface. They provide methods of estimating the potential for
pollution due to runoff. Specifically they answer questions
regarding the likely hood of contaminated soil eroding into
and thus polluting nearby water sources.
The Soil Science Society of
America, Crop Science Society of America and the American
Society of Agronomy have a set of books that describe methods
of soil analysis. This set called Methods of Soil Analysis has
three volumes that deal with the physical, chemical and
biological analysis of soils. Even if one does not intend to
do soil analysis this is a valuable set because it explains
what can and what cannot be learned by the various analytical
methods.
Internet access to soil
information through two abstract services is available.
Perhaps the best is Agricola. It is accessed through First
Search under Life Sciences. Sometimes interesting and
important information is found using Chemical Abstracts, which
is the abstracting service of the American Chemical Society.
Chemical abstracts will be particularly informative if the
question is related to the chemistry of a pollutant in soil.
You must subscribe to both these services. Billing under first
search is by the search so you need to pick your search topics
carefully. Chemical Abstracts billing is by the hour so
planning your search well before hand is important. Both
services give references and abstracts for the topics
searched. Thus, you will still need access to a library to
find the original article.
For a topic as important as soil
one might expect there to be a large amount of information on
the world wide web. Generally speaking soils information on
the web is scarce. The Internet is not a place to find
reliable soils information.
If you need to explain soil
processes to the general public, a class or as part of a
lecture a demonstration to help illustrate the concept
discussed is good. A source of such demonstrations is – Soil
Demonstrations for Geoscience, Environmental Science, Soil
Science, Environmental Chemistry, Soil Chemistry, Earth
Science, Environmental Engineering is available from Petra
Publishing through Books ‘N’ More.
This book provides demonstrations of soil chemistry, soil
physics, landscape and soil plant interactions.
One should obtain several basic
soils texts for answering general and basic questions about
the characteristics of soils. More specific texts can be used
for answering specific questions about specific problems. A
soil map, such as those in a soil survey, of the area where
the pollution occurs should be obtained and consulted before
biding on a job or starting a cleanup procedure. If questions
about the soil are still unanswered the local soil
conservationist should be consulted. When explaining soils use
a demonstration for clarity and to heighten interest
ISBN 9022006913
ISBN 0894645129
Books ‘N’ More 28
West main St., Wilmington, OH 45177 (937) 383-7323 Fax
(937) 383-3355. http://booksnmore.seekbooks.com
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