We were very excited for the first practice day! We started out the day on coastal plain sediments, which are located in the Eastern part of the state. The colors on these soils differ from those in the Piedmont, as they are generally yellower.
We also were practicing diagnosing plinthite in our soil horizons. Plinthite is a mix of clay, quartz and other materials. It is often characterized by stratified, red redox colors. For a true plinthite test, you would need to pull out chunks of the soil, let it dry for two days, and then slake it (put in water and see what dissolves). Plinthite should irreversibly harden when exposed to oxygen. However, in an hour-long contest, this is not possible. We had to practice identifying pieces that were harder than the others, but might still break under great pressure.
Investigating in muddy conditions!
The judgers learning about plinthite!
We also saw very sandy soils! The picture above is a sandy soil characterized as “grossarenic”, meaning it had over 100cm of sandy material at the top! The E horizon (where the clay has eluviated) is also very prominent.
This led us to be very curious about all the new things we would see this week! We ended the day with a team meal and recap of the soils.
