2016 Region V Soil Judging - Contest Day

Contest Day! A pre-dawn wake up on a frosty Nebraska morning was no problem for our high-speed team. We drove north and west out of Lincoln to the contest sites, all with beautiful views of dawn-break over the glaciated uplands of eastern Nebraska. The teams got organized and started the two individual pits, which took most of the morning hours:

The Minnesota Formation

Region V schools preparing for the individual pits

Frost on the goldenrods as the contest begins

Individual Pit #1

Stefan Swenson doing some early morning coloring

Captain Luke Ratgen claims his spot on the spoil pile

Sara Bauer prepping to go into the pit

Mekuria Zemede prepping texture samples

Drea Williams pondering textural classes

Bri Egge deep in clay percentage thought

Hatley Christensen finding the right light for coloring

After lunch, the teams and coaches packed up and drove north again to the site of the 3 group pits, all on a till upland. Rotations were completed by mid-afternoon and after the contest, the official judges took the students back through the pits in what has now become a Region V tradition, promoting on-site education and discussion.

Team picture before afternoon group judging

Minnesota A cranking out some morphology with the "Mekuria motion"

Contemplating horizon boundaries in Team Pit #4

Minnesota B discussing landforms before entering Team Pit #4

Minnesota A members Luke Ratgen, Stefan Swenson and Allison Harvey
collecting horizon samples. Note that Captain Luke Ratgen is an expert multi-tasker,
eating and describing at the same time!

The results of the contest will be announced at tomorrow morning's awards breakfast. Although the team is anxious to hear the results, regardless of the outcome of this specific contest the destination has been in the journey. This fall's team is the largest group of soil judgers in school history, many of them Soil Science minors. They can now say they have crossed the Des Moines Lobe till plain, stood on top of the Loess Hills overlooking the Missouri River valley, and discussed soil morphology, genesis and interpretation in both alluvial and pre-Illinoian glacial landscapes of eastern Nebraska. These experiences have changed the way they read landscapes and understand the properties, use and management of our soil resource. They represent a bright future, and they are at one with their textural triangles.

2016 Region V Soil Judging - Practice Day 3: Wanahoo Reservoir

The team's final day of practice was a short one - two pits at the Wanahoo Reservoir site (two Argiudolls formed in loess on a summit and backslope). Our practice pits were dual-utilized by the Regional FFA Land Judging contest in the morning.

The level of discussion on this year's team has still never ceased to amaze me - our students are asking and answering questions that go far beyond the boxes on the scorecard and written rules of interpretation. They are reading landscapes and placing soils and parent materials in context, applying fundamental principles from other classes, and carefully considering the implications of soil properties for management. These discussions lead to increased confidence in developing rationales for decision-making, an important skill for all resource professionals.

Tomorrow morning brings contest day on what looks to be a frosty October morning. Wish the Gophers luck!

Individual judging at the Wanahoo-1 practice site (an Argiudoll on a summit formed in loess)

Panoramic perspective of the Wanahoo site

An Argiudoll against the backdrop of a clear October sky!

New team uniform? Flannel.

2016 Region V Soil Judging - Practice Day 2: UNL Agricultural Research and Development Center and Wanahoo Reservoir

The team stuck it out for a long 10-hour day in the field today, completing 3 group pits and 2 individual pits. The team made the drive north and east from Lincoln into the Todd Valley, a large valley cut into the glaciated uplands by the Platte River before it was abandoned in favor of the modern day Platte River Valley. We met Keith Glewen (Extension Educator) at the UNL Agricultural Research and Development Center (ARCD) who gave us some background on the landscape and pumped the first pit out for us (thanks Keith!). 

The contest organizers arranged a nice catena of soils which exposed our students to the wide variety of parent materials in the Todd Valley, ranging from modern alluvium to old alluvium, eolian sand, and loess:

Todd Valley landscape

Stefan Swenson considering landforms

Bri Egge (L) and Kathleen Hobert (R) describing and sampling a Hapludoll formed in alluvium over eolian sands

The team then travelled to the Wanahoo reservoir, where they described 2 soils - a Hapludalf formed in loess on a backslope (likely a former eroded Mollisol), and an Argialboll (!) in an upland depression:

Luke Ratgen and Anthony Bosch work on a description in a pair

Excellent prismatic structure in the argillic horizon of an Argialboll formed in loess

Sara Bauer (R), Hatley Christensen (C) and Bri Egge (L) work as a small team to complete a description

Goldy meets his first Argialboll!!

Tomorrow brings the final day of practice and the coaches meeting. The team is in very high spirits and looking forward to the contest on Thursday! We are at one with our textural triangles.

2016 Region V Soil Judging - Practice Day 1: UNL Nine-Mile Prairie

The team began practice pits by describing 3 Argiudolls in some morning wind and driving rain at the University of Nebraska's Nine-Mile Prairie, completing 2 group judged pits and 1 individual pit. The pits selected on pre-Illinoian glacial till uplands allowed our students to see examples of soils with both intact loess mantles and completely eroded (and removed) loess mantles. The Sioux Quartzite erratics and secondary carbonates in the old till were reminiscent of materials that several of our students experienced in Kansas last spring. Although they weren't on the official scorecard, several team members noted (and their coach agreed) that there were reasonably well developed pressure faces/slickensides in one of the profiles. After lunch, the weather broke and gave us a nice cloudy October Nebraska afternoon. Looking forward to new landscapes and soils tomorrow! We are at one with our textural triangles.

Nine-Mile Prairie Pre-Illinoian glaciated upland landscape.

Sioux Quartzite erratic (L), clay films, and redoximorphic features (R) in Pre-Illinoian till.

Secondary carbonates and redoximorphic features in Pre-Illinoian till.

Great attitudes and hard work in wind and driving rain!

2016 Region V Soil Judging - The Road to Lincoln

After waking up on another beautiful fall morning in Luverne, MN, the Gophers drove north to the Van Grootheest property near Hardwick (thanks Eric!) to describe soils on a loess-mantled pre-Wisconsin glacial landscape. The team was back on the road to Lincoln by mid-morning on Sunday, stopping at the Murray Hill overlook near Little Sioux, IA in the Loess Hills to get an up close perspective of the hills and their source, the broad valley of the Missouri River. We reached Lincoln by 3:30PM, checked into our hotel, and drove to the University of Nebraska's Hardin Hall, where we broke bread with other Region V teams and received an introduction to Eastern Nebraska's geology, soils and landscapes by Dr. Paul Hanson (thanks Paul!). Tomorrow we begin our practice pits - we appreciate all of the hard work that has gone in to organizing this contest and are looking forward to learning and expanding our horizons this week! We are at one with our textural triangles.

UMN Soil Judging at the Murray Hill overlook near Little Sioux, Iowa.

2016 Region V Soil Judging Kickoff: Lamberton, MN

The University of Minnesota Soil Judging team left Borlaug Hall bright and early on Saturday morning to spend a beautiful fall day in Lamberton, MN describing several Hapludolls at the University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center (SWROC). From Lamberton, the team headed south and west up onto the Prairie Coteau to Luverne, MN. Tomorrow will bring a short jaunt up to the Van Grootheest farm near Hardwick, MN and then on to Lincoln Nebraska for the start of contest festivities. We are at one with our textural triangles!

Gopher Soil Judging ready to roll!

SWROC Des Moines Lobe ground moraine landscape at Lamberton, MN

Hapludoll on a summit formed in Des Moines Lobe till

2016 Region V Soil Judging - Pine County and St. Paul Experimental Fields

An update on team activities: On Saturday, September 24th, our students ventured to Pine County to describe some Aqualfs formed in loess over Superior Lobe till. Saturday, October 1st was spent in  St. Paul scouting for new teaching pit locations.

Our team embarks on their journey to Nebraska in just 6 short days. A huge advance thank you to Dr. Paul Hanson (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and many others who have been organizing this year's contest. It is sure to be an excellent experiential learning opportunity for all students and faculty involved.

Look for daily posts once we leave and be sure to follow us on Instagram! @umnsoiljudging (https://www.instagram.com/umnsoiljudging/).

Luke Ratgen, Julia Otten and Anthony Bosch describing an Aqualf in Pine County, MN

Platy structure in an Aqualf E horizon - Pine County.

Goldy posing with some outwash - St. Paul.