Exploring Soil Formation Along Stream Channels

This lesson plan introduces lower division college students to soil formation concepts and soil formation variability along stream channels. This lesson is structured to emphasize how streams influence the soil-forming factors of climate, organisms, relief, parent material, and time. Through fieldwork and soil analysis, student groups will compare soil properties from two (or more) distinct locations along a stream, examining how the locations and properties might reflect the soil-forming processes and fluvial geomorphology. The activities within this lesson include discussion of soil forming factors at play along a reach of stream, hands-on soil sampling, estimation of soil structure, color analysis using a Munsell Color Chart, hand texture analysis, and discussion to enhance students’ understanding of soil dynamics and stream interactions.