CSP 509 – Soil Survey and Classification COURSE PARTICULARS Course Code: CSP 509 Course Title: Soil Survey and Classification No. of Units: 3 Course Duration: One hour of theory and three hours of practicals per week for 15 weeks. Status: Compulsory Course Email Address: Course Webpage: http://www.csp.futa.edu.ng Prerequisite: NIL

COURSE INSTRUCTORS Dr. F.O. Adekayode Room 108, SAAT Annex, Dept. of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. Phone: +2348035398410 Email: [email protected]

and Dr. B.S. Ewulo Room 10, SAAT Annex Dept. of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. Phone: +2348035398410 Email: [email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION Processes of soil formation. Physical, chemical and biological weathering of rocks in soil formation. General and specific processes of soil formation. Factors of soil formation. Soil

survey methods, definition of mapping units. Soil profile description – soil morphological studies. Soil classification systems: Soil taxonomy, FAO, Local system. Classification of Nigeria soils: Soil taxonomy, FAO, Nigerian vegetation in relation to soil types. Soil survey interpretations for potential uses of soils. Land evaluation: land capability and land suitability classification. Introduction to Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System. Application of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System in soil mapping. Field and computer based laboratory Exercises.

COURSE OBJECTIVES The objectives of this course are to:  teach students the concept of physical, chemical and biological weathering of rocks as precursor to soil formation.  explain to students the concept of various classification systems and their relationship  teach students to prepare soil map using the geospatial technology of remote sensing, global positioning system and the geographic information systems

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES / COMPETENCIES Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: (Knowledge based)  explain the concept of reorganisation general and specific processes of soil formation  understand the concept of the five factors of soil formation  explain the types of soil survey methods and soil morphological descriptions  understand the concept of soil classification methods, specifically the soil taxonomy and the FAO classification systems and the classification of Nigeria soils  explain land evaluation methods, specifically the land capability and suitability classification systems (Skills)  application of geospatial technology in soil mapping  use of the global positioning system receiver to obtain the coordinates of latitude and longitude of location  input the coordinates to generate map boundaries for the purpose of soil mapping  use the computer to generate the contour and slope maps for soil mapping  Have knowledge of computer software like ILLWIS and Arcview that can be used in image processing

GRADING SYSTEM FOR THE COURSE

This course will be graded as follows: Class Attendance

10%

Assignments

10%

Test(s)

20%

Final Examination

60%

TOTAL

100%

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS Attendance: It is expected that every student will be in class for lectures and also participate in all practical exercises. Attendance records will be kept and used to determine each person’s qualification to sit for the final examination. In case of illness or other unavoidable cause of absence, the student must communicate as soon as possible with any of the instructors, indicating the reason for the absence. Academic Integrity: Violations of academic integrity, including dishonesty in assignments, examinations, or other academic performances are prohibited. You are not allowed to make copies of another person’s work and submit it as your own; that is plagiarism. All cases of academic dishonesty will be reported to the University Management for appropriate sanctions in accordance with the guidelines for handling students’ misconduct as spelt out in the Students’ Handbook. Assignments and Group Work: Students are expected to submit assignments as scheduled. Failure to submit an assignment as at when due will earn you zero for that assignment. Only under extenuating circumstances, for which a student has notified any of the instructors in advance, will late submission of assignments be permitted. Code of Conduct in Lecture Rooms and Laboratories: Students should turn off their cell phones during lectures. Students are prohibited from engaging in other activities (such as texting, watching videos, etc.) during lectures. Food and drinks are not permitted in the laboratories.

READING LIST Brady, N.C. and Weil, R.R. (2007). The Nature and Properties of Soils, 14th. Macmillian. Dent, D. and Young, A. (1981). Soil Survey and Land Evaluation. Publisher, George Allen and unwin, UK, 278pp. Esu, I.E. (2010). Soil Characterization, Classification and Survey. HEBN Publishers Plc. Nigeria. 232pp.

Fitzpatrick, E.A. (1986) An Introduction to Soil Science. Second Edition Publisher, AddisonWesley Longman. 255p. Foth, H.D. (1990). Fundamental of Soil Science Glinski, J and Step (1986). Soil Aeration and its Role for Plants. Second Edition, 230pp. Lynch, J.M. (1983). Soil Biotechnology: Microbiological Factors in Crop productivity. Wiley and Sons Incorporation Rowell, D.L. (1997). Soil Science Methods and Applications Singer, M.J. and munns, D.N. (2002). Soils: An Introduction. 5th Edition. Prentice hall, New York Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (TSBF-CIAT) (2009). Integrated Soil Fertility Management in Africa: Principles, Practices and Developmental Process. Editors: Sanginga, N. and Woomer, P.L. 263pp. Udo, E.J., Ibia, T.O., Ogunwale, J.A., Ano, A.O. and Esu, I.E. (2009). Manual of Soil, Plant and water Analyses. First Edition. Publisher, sibon books ltd Lagos. 183p. . Uphoff et al., (2006). Biological Approaches to Sustainable Soil System. Publisher, Taylor and Francis. Havlin, J.L., Beaton, J.D., Tisdale, S.L and Nelson, W.L. (2009). Soil Fertility and Fertilizers. Seventh Edition. Publisher, PHI Learning, new Delhi. 515p.

The books are all available in SAAT Library .

COURSE OUTLINE Week 1

Topic Introduction and Course Overview Processes of soil formation. 

2&3 

4&5

6

7&8

 

Physical, chemical and biological weathering of rocks in soil formation. General and specific processes of soil formation Factors of soil formation. Soil survey methods, definition of mapping units.

Soil profile description – soil morphological studies.  

Soil classification systems: Soil taxonomy, FAO, Local system Classification of Nigeria soils: Soil taxonomy, FAO, Nigerian vegetation in relation to soil types

Remarks During this first class, the expectation of the students from the course will also be documented. Students will be divided into groups and given topics to prepare slides on, for group presentation Students will be divided into groups and given topics to prepare slides on, for group presentation.

Students will be taken to the field to observe pits as profiles and divided into groups to prepare a monograph of the profile morphology. Students will be divided into groups and given topics to prepare slides on, for group presentation..

MID-SEMESTER TEST 9 & 10

 

Soil survey interpretations for potential uses of soils. Land evaluation: land capability and land suitability classification. Land evaluation: land capability and land suitability classification.

Students will be divided into groups and given different crops for land evaluation.

11 & 12

 

13 & 14

Introduction to Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System. Application of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System in soil mapping

Students will be taught with a link to the internet to such website as the Global Land Cover facilities (GLCF) for imagery download and the classification of such images using various algorithms.

Field and computer based laboratory Exercises. Students will be taken to the field with the global positioning system receiver to obtain coordinates and input such to generate features observed in the field. The data obtained will also be used for soil mapping

15

REVISION

This is the week preceding the final examination. At this time, evaluation will be done to assess how far the students’ expectations for the course have been met.