This was created to meet the curriculum outcomes in New Brunswick's Grade 7 Science Earth's Crust Unit.

1. Friday, January 30, 2015
The Earth’s Crust
Soil

2. Once rocks have been weathered into
small enough sediments, soil can begin
to form.

3. Soil – a mixture
of:
weathered rock
(sediments)
organic matter
(living and dead
material)
minerals
water
and air.
Make up a memory sentence with
actions and write it down in the blank
provided.

4. Rock is turned
into sediment and
mineral
fragments by
weathering but it
is not considered
soil until plants
and animals live,
die, and decay in
it (e.g. leaves,
insects, twigs,
worms, bacteria,
etc)

5. Compost – dead and decaying
plant matter.

7. Compost mixed
with rocks and
mineral is
called humus,
which forms
the dark
coloured part
of the soil
which is very
fertile.

8. Fertile soil –
soil that
provides
nutrients for
plant growth.
We add
fertilizers to soil
to make sure it
has all of the
nutrients for
plants to grow.

9. Plants need three nutrients
to grow properly:
N - nitrogen
P - phosphorus
K - potassium)

10. Different bags have different amounts of N, P or K depending on what
you need. If you put too much of any one of these chemicals in the soil, it
could kill your plants.
On the side of a fertilizer bag you’ll see
three numbers.
Example
15 - 5 – 5
N P K
Each number stands for how much nitrogen,
phosphorus, or potassium the fertilizer has in it.

11. Soils can take thousands
of years to form. They
can range in thickness
from 60 meters in some
areas to just a few
centimeters in others.
Soil varies in structure
and appearance,
depending on its depth.
These different layers of
soil can be mapped to
make a soil profile.

12. Soil profile –
a picture of
what the layers
of soil look like
underground.

13. Soil profiles will look
different from area
to area.
You can make a soil
profile by digging
and exposing a
vertical edge of the
soil or you can drill a
core sample using a
soil sampler