Regional soil science and pedology

obligatory courses

The participants should have a basic knowledge of soil genesis and composition and geological engineering properties of soils.

The course consists of two parts. First part – pedology – deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology and classification, physical and chemical properties of soils and organic matter. Second part – regional soil science – presents a general characterization of main types of mineral and organic subsoils in Poland: occurrence, testing methods, geological engineering characteristic.

The objective of the lecture is to provide the students with a background for understanding the following problems:

1) part one - pedology:

a) basic definitions,

b) soil forming processes and factors,

c) soil morphology – morphological features and methods of description,

d) physical and chemical properties of soils,

e) soil classifications – Polish Soil Classification, agricultural classifications,

f) organic matter – composition, structure, properties, transformation,

2) part two - regional soil science:

a) organic subsoils: lake marls, gyttja, peats, alluvial soils – occurence, composition, genesis, characteristic of physicochemical and geological engineering properties, index parameters, testing methods

b) mineral subsoils: glacial tills, loesses, stangnant-lake clays, varved clays – occurence, composition, genesis, classification, characteristic of physicochemical and geological engineering properties, index parameters, testing methods.

After completion of the lecture students:

P2A_W01 understand the complexity of the phenomena and processes in the soil environment

P2A_W04 has knowledge of the occurrence and geological engineering properties of the main types of the organic and mineral subsoils in Poland,

P2A_K07 regularly update the knowledge in the field of soil science and know its practical applications.

Final exam and resit – written test.