Course Description
Soils play critical roles in sustaining life. They support plants and agriculture, serve as home to a plethora of organisms, recycle organic matter and nutrients, provide materials for construction, art and medicine, preserve paleo-ecological and archaeological records, regulate global climate through the exchange of greenhouse gasses and filter contaminants in water and waste. This course introduces fundamentals of soil formation, physical, chemical and biological characteristics, and classification schemes. It explores the role of, and how humans interact with, soils in Canadian forests, wetlands, agricultural systems, and industrial and urban settings. Aspects of carbon, nutrient and pollutant biogeochemistry in soils are explored in detail. This course fulfills two field days.
Distribution Requirement: Science
Lecture hours: 24
Practicum hours: 36
Prerequisite: 9.0 credits
Core Skills Developed
- fundamentals of soil formation, classification and properties
- role of soils in different environments
- collect, analyze and interpret soil data
- scientific communication skills