Geog 3510 Assignment: Sedimemts and Soils Lab Ex. No.1

Soil Weathering on Mount Kenya
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Soil Weathering on Mount Kenya
Question 1:
One main factor during soil formation is the climatology of a region. Regarding the age of A or Ah horizon in figure 8.12, the profiles formed after 100 years due to the cold climatic conditions. Areas with high temperatures and moisture register a drastic soil weathering and formation processes. The temperatures are high with high moisture that speed up and control the processes at faster rates. The high temperatures and abundant moisture increase chemical weathering and decomposition of the organic matter to form humus. Therefore, such processes are rampant in the tropical regions compared to temperature or cold regions. Even though Mt. Kenyan falls within the tropics, its peaks have a cold climate with low temperatures and ice instead of moisture (Mahaney, 1990). Therefore, the A or Ah horizons in such areas take longer to develop are thin. The peak of Mt. Kenya has less moisture to form solution for the chemical reaction that initiates weathering. Besides, the hydrolysis processes that provide moisture for the organisms that help in weathering are very minimal. Thus, such weathering processes that lead to the soil profile formation in the regions are slow and take many years to the soil horizons A or Ah to form.
The ingress of organic matter that forms the organic complex in the soils as indicated in tables 8.4 and 8.5 include temperature, soil moisture, vegetation, soil texture, topography, and salinity. The temperature directly affects decomposition of organic matter. However, such processes are slow in cold areas such as the top of Mount Kenya. Conversely, the more organic matter found in cooler climates arises due to slower rates of mineralization and bacteria activities (Mahaney, 1990).
Secondly, soil moisture contents and water saturation are lower in mountainous regions.Therefore, the minimal biomass production release less food to the soil biota hence such organic matters are not complex. Besides, soil texture impacts on organic complex due to the presence of clay contents of the soil. The minimal clay soils on the top of the mountain increase the decomposition processes due to bonds movement between clay and organic matter as well as the reduction of the formation of aggregates (Mahaney, 1990).
Thirdly, the complexity of the organic matter at the top of Mount Kenya is minimal due to topography. The organic matter at the top of the mount is less since there is the quick transportation of these issues to the lowest points. However, the regions of the mountain with ice have high levels of organic matter due to low temperature. On a separate note, the salinity and acidity of the...