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Unit of Study SOIL5001 - Soil Processes (2023)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

    There will be a 3-day compulsory residential for Online students that will be held on the Lismore campus. Please refer to https://www.scu.edu.au/timetables for further information on timetables.

Unit description

Examines the main soil forming processes and the role of both organic matter and clay minerals in soil processes and properties explored. Field soil assessment and classification skills are developed and methods for the examination of soil invertebrates introduced. The main concepts and methods used to assess soil physical and chemical properties are introduced, as is the use of soil moisture characteristics for the prediction of water movement. The behaviour of soil nutrients is examined. This unit includes a Masters tutorial component in which students critically analyse the unit topics at an advanced level.

Unit content

The unit will cover the following topics (not necessarily in the order presented) which will be dealt with in the topic notes, readings, laboratory notes and in the field:

  • soil and its constituents
  • soil physical properties: texture, structure
  • soil water
  • soil organic matter
  • soil and clay mineralogy
  • soil and plant nutrition: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and trace elements
  • soil formation
  • soil classification
  • soil biology.

Availabilities

Not currently available in 2023

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

describe the main soil forming processes

describe the role of organic matter and clay minerals in soil processes and properties

discuss the role of the major soil nutrients in plant nutrition and outline the main plant nutrient cycles

assess soil structure, texture and consistence in the field sufficient to enable soil classification

demonstrate soil surveying technique

discuss the use of soil classification systems in general and understand the features of a range of soil classification systems as well as classify soils according to two major Australian soil classification systems with interpretation of their limitations

describe some important soil chemical and physical processes and properties and discuss their implications for management.