Ask an expert that isn't me

Ever want an answer to your question from a person, and not The Google?  You know, cuz books are so passé?  With these links, you can get the personalized soil attention we all crave:

• Ask a soil expert from the Professional Soil Scientists Society of Texas, or
• Ask a native plant expert from the Lady Bird JohnsonWildflower Center (University of Texas), or
• Ask an extension agent, fluent in all types of natural resources from Texas Agrilife Extension (Texas A&M University).

These pages will also find you someone to answer your deep, dark, fertile questions on the world around you.  Yay!

What is Science?

Science isn't being bored in class while someone lectures.
Science is the learning we gain through the scientific method.


Observation Hey, look!
Question Why is it like this?
Hypothesis Well one time, at band camp, this happened, so maybe ...
Prediction it would happen the same way here.
Testing No.  Hmm.  Wonder why.  Let's try this.

And that is all in the way of learning you will get from me today.  But you wanna see something cool (Doyle, did you post about this?  I forget where I first saw it, but THANKS to who did!)?  Look at this.

Wanna read something cool? Read how they did it.

Can you imagine how much sky-watching and tinkering they'd have to do before they'd come up with that system? Quite obviously, for at least a few people, staring out into space (and actually paying attention) was the thing to do.  Sweet.

And then there is this:

•   More outer space, but also really teeny tiny stuff. You must look.

And thanks to Classic Detritus, we get beautiful art, with an explanation of some of it's scientific limitations.

 In a nutshell, in "real life," the shell they have in the movie dons't match the math they are showing.  It is still a logarithmic spiral though.  But I can't confirm, I didn't do the measurements myself.

And of course, there is one of the reasons I wrote this whole post: I found some awesome shells on Galveston Beach on New Year's Day (To my hubs, these shells seemed much more fragile this year than he remembers.  Of course, his hands don't count as a scientific instrument.  We'd need something with more accuracy and precision.  But it got us thinking.  What would make them more fragile?  What happened between last year and this one?  The BP oil spill happened.  What was that dispersant again? But maybe these are just older, more worn shells than the ones you've crushed before?  No, he says.  Well, we know CO2 makes water more acidic.  And an increase of CO2 in the atmosphere would influence the dissolved CO2 in the ocean.  And acidity "eats away" at calcium carbonate.  And if they are made of calcium carbonate...but we don't know.  We weren't using the scientific method all the way through, you see?  No testing, no researching through peer review journal articles.  But observation, paying attention, and wondering and being curious will get you pretty far, but the tedious tinkering of the dedicated and hardworking may save us all.)

You see, science is everywhere.  All we have to do is pay attention.

All I got so far in my new room.  Don't judge.  We can go from here to the scientific method, no probs.

P.S. The way that my tutor groups are divided, I only get the same kids 9 times before my gig is up.  I got 9 80-minute sessions to inspire them to consider that Science is the way, the truth, and the life, and that they should never be discouraged from challenging themselves with it's study.  No pressure, right?  Send advice, now please, thanks.

Bad Mother Earth Daughter

Ooooh, I've been a bad Mother Earth Daughter!  Please Mom, allow me to apologize! But first, let us look at what seems to be the new theme of my blog: illegal yet agronomic art.  Let us pause to say

Dearest vandals and/or artists,

I do not support your allegedly illegal acts, oh no! I do however, like your topics of interest.  Please pursue them constructively.  Mayhaps my Introduction to Environmental Science class at ACC would interest you next semester.  You may learn that there are VOCs in them thar spray paints, and there are health risks involved in exposing yourself to them, and then perhaps you would choose to use milk-based paints. Legally.  Heh.

 Thank you.  

Love, TheDirtOnSoil

PS Sorry for the commersh milk link, I'm not getting paid to link to it.  But you and Martha Stewart do have something in common!!! And it is a recipe, so- Awesome!

You see? It is hard not to admire the topic.

Back to why I am not on Mother Earth's Good List right now:

The basil seeds will replant themselves, no problem! 

1. I am on a compost break.
2. My pet soldier flies disappeared (I think I can blame the cold, at least in part. But you know the whole not-giving-them-food thing has got to be causing problems.).
3. I haven't been prosthelytizing about soil to my full potential: educational blog post frequency = decreasing.
4. My garden... you know, has been neglected.

Maybe a few minutes of your time, Amanda?

Yet there is hope for me, fellow souls.  There is yet hope.  For example,

1. Prosthelytizing will increase next week when I start tutoring science to high school kids and professoring environmental science to college kids.  
2. Also, I did take the Soil Science licensing exam.  I didn't say I passed it. That is to be determined.  
3. I've been planning an awesome post *since September cough cough cough* on how urine is chemically transformed to plant food (AKA nitrate) by bacteria.  You didn't think it happened all by itself did you?  It might be free fertilizer to us, but those nitrosomonas and nitrobacter gotta work for their money.  So you know, please keep the faith and stay tuned.

Wait, what is my point?  Oh that is right, I didn't have one.  Blogging is fun!! 

Thank you Parsley, for not making it look so bad.  You look great.  Keep it up.

Math Science Photo Series

Found this art on the Speedway Grocery at the corner of Speedway and 38th in ATX.  BTW, if you are a very strict parent, don't take your adorable toddler in there because the nice people inside will offer him/her free candy (I guess not everyone is immune to his smile)!  But if you are very strict, said toddler will freak out with chocolate glee.

See Roots in their Natural Habitat

Dearest soil enthusiasts,


¡Feliz año nuevo!  ¿Cómo fue su celebración?

To celebrate my new science teaching jobs that I mentioned on Twitter, I'm looking around for fun soil science ideas that address our Texas HS Science learning objectives, TEKS.  I found instructions for making a root viewing box where you can make lots of fun experiments.   I hope I can muster up the motor skills to make one.  Hammer, please avoid my fingers.  Thank you.  I found instructions here (horizontally oriented) and here (vertically oriented).  Mickey over at My Wisconsin Garden made a pretty one with cedar with some nice germination results.

Vertically oriented root viewing box by the NRCS

Of course, we can use root viewing boxes to learn about tropism*, like

• positive geotropism (grow towards the source of gravity), and 
• negative light tropism (grow away form the source of light), and 
• negative thigmatropism (growing away from obstacles touching them)  (activity details for all here)

You could

• see how the roots respond to different soil textures (sand, silt, and clay), and
• varying soil moisture at depth (water it for longer or shorter time periods)

You could

• compare the root lengths of different plants, like native Texan prairie grass to conventional lawn grasses, and then 
• think about what that means for facilitating erosion (Native is better! But find out for yourself).  

You could

• do so many things!  Heh, you though you were getting more, eh?

Also, the Capital Area Master Naturalist's Education and Outreach Committee has a learning activity on root length, and you can ask them to present it to your group.  Any age.

If I make this you'll soooo get pictures, hopefully in a classroom setting, administration-willing.


HUGS.


*Definiciones:
Tropism: A response to stimuli by plants is called a tropism (source).

The Dirt on Enchanted Rock, TX

An honor to be climbing with The Prez of the Texas Invasive Plant and Pest Council and The Lady that is responsible for my love of science (and wavy hair)

So, me and some lovies went to Enchanted Rock, Texas.  It reminded me of my last trip to Enchanted Rock, wayyyy too long ago with a precious godmother, or madrina, who was visiting for a baptism circa the spring equinox.  I also have many a memory of camping here during college.  Ergo, during this hike, I was twice filled with The Love: the lovies of the present, and the lovies of the past.    I will spare you the relevant Sesame Street video, but let's all agree, climbing Enchanted Rock is fun.

What is Enchanted Rock?  It is a big granite intrusion.  It's most common minerals, I believe, are microcline, plagioclase, quartz, and biotite.  You can follow a geological tour up the hill, it's nice.

Schmanyways, obvs there are associated soil photos, but first (!!!) here is what Enchanted Rock looks like from the road.

Since Texas is unfairly known for being quite flat, this is kindof a big deal.  Look, a protuberance!

A closer peek...

We climbed to the top and had some cool views.  

Forgive me because I have lots of pictures I want to share about an obsession I didn't really know I had: plants appearing to grow out of rocks (!!!).  

People in the know are calling them vernal pools.  Vernal pool ecology is created by pioneer species: they are the first to colonize a mostly abiotic area.

I like this pic: this is a vernal pool - the first inklings of entisol soil formation.

I think  that is an oak tree.  Sorry for my photo smidge on the right.  

Looking uphill, presumably native grass.

Same area.

Some cactus.

Spatial distribution.

The top.

According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the plants and animals that live here are "uniquely adapted to a harsh environment."

In fact, by studying weather pits, ecologists learn: (1) how plants and animals colonize a newly formed habitat;  (2) how those organisms modify their environment and help develop soils; and, (3) how plant and animal community structure and composition change over time.

In other words, they are super neat.

At Enchanted Rock you can see the progressive development from bare rock-bottom pits, to annual plant establishment, to miniature prairies with grasses like little bluestem and even trees like live oak. Vernal pools also support an interesting species of invertebrate, the fairy shrimp. These tiny animals survive total desiccation as fertilized eggs, and hatch into larvae and grow into adults each time water collects after sufficient rainfall.

Since these things are super cool, and their ecosystems are so fragile, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wants to make sure visitors are aware of their significance and asks them to back off. 

"STAY ON THE ROCK," they say.  And, 

"Thank you for protecting an important part of the Enchanted Rock experience."  

Look at the length of the root compared to the height of the above-ground portion (green leaves only).  This was on the bank of a dry creek bed.

Have a great visit!

P S.  Natural resources of Enchanted rock found here.

Six Degrees of Separation: Smectite Style

Hello, my dearest little poblano peppers!

How are you today?  Where are you today?  You know, I clicked on something according to my research, there are twelve whole readers of you out there. TWELVE of you that lovingly indulge me with a subscription!  I thank our usual suspects, Dr. Doyle, Soilduck, GonferalinID, and Layla.  And you others aren't my mom or dad (well, two of you are, but you don't actually subscribe, LOVE YOU!), so... who are you? Please let me know, so instead of me talking about soils I encounter, we can talk about our soils.  For example, uno de mis amigos vive en un ultisol importante, y otro vive sobre de  roca y un poco suelo (his guest post here).

So please, will you comment and introduce yourself?  Or what you want to hear about next? Or a random thought? I'll pause and wait, to give you a moment to do that....

Waiting for you to comment gives me similar existential issues as those confronted by Grover and Telly Monster in "Waiting for Godot Elmo" by Sesame Street's Monsterpiece Theater. 

Moving on, I have this little "6 degrees of soil separation" game going on in my head all the time.  I believe you can link anything back to soil, just like Kevin Bacon.  So today I am going to relate annoying small toads to the chemical structure of smectite*. I know, it's magic!  Thank you ;-)

First of all, let us let us focus our attention on a gentle, young, unsuspecting Bufo valliceps toad.

Actually, he indeed suspects, see why below.

According to my research hubs, this toad is a Bufo Valliceps. I like to water my foundation, catch them, and gawk at them adoringly.  I pour water onto the side of my house and they all come jumping out from the crack between the foundation and the soil. 

You see, when it doesn't rain, my clay shrinks to provide these naifs space to cuddle in a nice, moist resting area. 

And when it doesn't rain, I water my foundation to get rid of the very same crack in which they reside (Does it help your foundation stability for reals? No idea).

You see, this toad and my humble abode are located upon a smectite clay. I'm obsessed Perhaps you have heard of this soil here, here and here.  Anyways, the crystal pattern for smectite involves adjacent planes, or sheets of oxygen (among other elements).  And adjacent oxygens don’t “bond” with each other very strongly compared to say, hydrogen bonding [the polarity of water: discuss].  This means that when precipitation (rain) percolates into the soil, fresh soil water molecules have an opportunity to get all up in between the tetrahedal layers, which pushes the layers apart and increases the soil volume(!!!).  Yes dude, the soil gets bigger, and in an annoyingly uneven way.  "Le sigh," says my house.

Imagine, the soil under your house is a smectitic, and whenever it rains, the clay under your house expands, and shrinks when it doesn't.  It is like building on ... some other slowly flowing (viscous) material.  Your walls may crack, your door jams stick.  Anyways, we water it in a futile? effort at keeping soil moisture nice and even at all times, which should supposedly preserve our foundation's integrity.  And this is where the toads come in again.

In conclusion, our 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon separation:

1. I pour water onto the soil next to my house foundation so that it will expand to close the crack between the two.  Toads hop out of the crack, annoyed (and then I catch them!).  You see,
2. Maintaining near constant soil moisture levels may preserve our foundation located on a smectite clay. 
3. Smectites change volume depending on soil moisture, 
4. Cuz their adjacent tetrahedral layers are only bonded by oxygen bonds and 
5. Water is more electrostatically attracted to the oxygens in between the tetrahedral layers than the oxygens are to each other.  
6. Once hydrated, the smectite clay mineral expands with the added molecules.

Ta da!  You too, can use your soil science expertise to mildly inconvenience small animals!

PS These smectitic soils are characterized by high base saturation, partially explained here and here.  

Definiciones:

Smectite: A mineral found in great quantities in vertisols, which are known for their shrink swell capacity due to expanding 2:1 lattice clays (source).
Phyllosilicates: Silicates (atomic structures featuring silicon) that combine to form planar sheets.
P.S. They discovered phylosilicates on Mars.