PowerPoint on soils

2. What is Soil?
Soil is a very important mixture of minerals, organic matter,
gases, liquids as well as a myriad of organisms that support plant
life an growth.

4. Soil is important for five specific reasons:-
1. Plants rely on it for many of their requirements and it
provides anchorage for plant roots. provides nutrient
minerals, particularly minerals such a nitrates,
potassium, salts etc.
2. Soil supports the life span of several organisms such as
earth worms and insects.

5. 3. Soil also helps in the water purification process.
4. Soil provides a medium for several construction
processes i.e. buildings.
5. Soil helps in the recycling of nutrients after death.

6. How is soil formed?
 Soil is formed from rock waste. Rock waste is formed through several methods of
weathering which include physical weathering, biological weathering, and chemical
weathering.
 The rock particles are gradually colonized by flowering plants, followed by
lichens and then mosses. As the plants die and decay, their remains add organic
materials to the mineral particles of the rock waste. Other plants and animals then
begin to colonize the soil. Suitable agricultural soil takes thousands of years to
develop.

7.  Soils in the Caribbean.
 The Caribbean is a popular destination for those wanting to escape
to an island oasis and natural paradise. With over 115 islands
including Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Cuba, this tropical environment
has several types of rich soil that help support plant life, animals and
the rest of the ecosystem. It is important to know the most common
soil types, whether you are trying to landscape or understand the
composition of the islands better.

8.  Clay soil is another of the types of soil, but clay has incredibly small
particles. This means that clay has little space between individual
particles, allowing for virtually no drainage. For this reason, clay
soil is bad for growing things in, because water tends to not be able
to escape, and it is difficult for root systems to break through the
clay layer. Clay soils tend to be much older than sandy soils, since it
makes many, many years for rock particles to break down to be
small enough to form clay.

9.  Silty soil is one of the most fertile of the many types of soil,
with rich nutrients and good drainage. It is slightly smaller in
size than sandy soil, but otherwise is very similar in
composition, albeit with more nutrients and minerals. Silty soil
is generally quite dark and pungent, and is excellent for
planting almost anything.

10.  Loamy soil is actually made up of a few different types of soil,
with varying amounts of clay soil, silty soil, and sandy soil
mixed together. Loamy soil holds water well because of the
heavy grittiness given from the sand, has exceptional drainage
so that the water doesn’t build up too much and rot plant roots,
and is nutrient rich. Loamy soil is the ideal soil for gardening,
and wide ranges of loam can be found at most supply stores.

11. Type of Problem Soil Brief Description of
Properties/Status
 Problem Soils of the Caribbean
Locations in the
Caribbean
Salt affected
soils
Saline soils and Acid sulphate soils Mainly in coastal areas on a
restricted basis throughout the
region.
Haiti.
Peats Soils with more than 40% of the
material consist of organic remains. The deposits
accumulated in swamp and marsh conditions
Mainly in Guyana and small areas of
Trinidad
Sands Soils are fragile and have poor nutrient and water
holding properties. In Guyana, the sands are also
acidic.
Large areas in Guyana, Belize and to
a lesser extent , Cuba, the Dominican
Republic and Trinidad
Rocky soils Soils have a high proportion of limestone which
restrict soil manipulation and plant growth
Large areas of Turks and Caicos
Islands, Bahamas and Cayman
Islands
Polluted soils In South Trinidad and the Scotland
District of Barbados where there are
oil extractions soils are polluted by the crude
petroleum products
Mainly with petroleum products in
Trinidad and Barbados.
Mined soils The reclaimed bauxite lands of
Jamaica are shallow, high in Calcium
and prone to erosion. Owing to their
prominence rehabilitation is essential.
Bauxite mining in Jamaica and
Guyana. Gold mining in Guyana

12.  Problem soils
 Examples are acid sulphate soils of Guyana, Suriname and
Trinidad, peats of Guyana and Suriname, sands of Guyana,
Suriname, Belize, Cuba and the Dominican Republic as well as
petroleum polluted soils of Trinidad and Barbados.
 These soils are being used for agriculture to some extent, but they
require special treatment for successful utilization in each case.
These countries are relatively financially stable, as opposed to Haiti.
Therefore, the necessary treatments are readily available in most
cases.

13. Guyana:
 The coastal soils are fertile but acidic.
 The fine-particle grayish blue clays of the coastal plain are composed of
alluvium from the Amazon (the mouth of which lies east of Guyana, on the
Brazilian coast) deposited by the south equatorial ocean current and of
much smaller amounts of alluvium from the country’s rivers.
 They overlie white sands and clays and can support intensive agriculture
but must be subjected to fallowing to restore fertility.

14. Jamaica
 More than half of the island’s surface is covered with white
limestone, beneath which are yellow limestone, older metamorphic
rocks (compact rocks formed by heat and pressure), and igneous
rocks (formed by the cooling of molten material).
 The shallow soils of many upland areas are particularly susceptible
to erosion.
 Alluvial soils on the coastal plains chiefly consist of deep loam and
clay, and residual clays cover the valley floors.
 Jamaica produces bananas, Blue Mountain coffee, citrus, cocoa,
tobacco, coconuts, pimento and ginger.