CHOICE 1

The lectures are designed to introduce the basic concepts for describing, classifying, and characterizing soils: their various components (minerals, clays, organic matter, living organisms); their physical properties (particle size distribution, texture, structure); chemical properties (clay-humic complex, CEC, redox), and biological properties (soil horizons and humus, root systems, plant nutrition, the role of bacteria, C/N ratio, soil fauna). We will study the factors involved in soil formation (climate, bedrock, living organisms, topography, time), the various processes of soil formation and evolution (weathering, humification, leaching, podzolization, pedoturbation, ferrallitization, etc.), the major soil classification systems, and the distribution of soils around the world. This scientific foundation will enable students to address current societal issues related to soils in the lab sessions: soil degradation (erosion, pollution, land conversion, compaction, etc.) and soil restoration (decontamination, phytoremediation, agroecology).

The field trip will provide an opportunity to apply the concepts covered in class.

Hourly volumes:

CM: 12:00 p.m.

TD: 9 a.m.

Land: 6 hectares

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The purpose of this course unit is to synthesize the concepts and knowledge acquired in L1 and L2 (stratigraphy, sedimentology, and the history of life) and to reinforce them with concepts from sedimentology, biostratigraphy, and anatomy. When combined, these concepts provide the keys to surface geology for analyzing and reconstructing ancient depositional environments and for interpreting their fossil content within a temporal context.

Number of hours:

CM: 6H

Practical Training: 12 hours

TD: 3 hours

LAND: 6 H

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