Geography 120

World Soil Types and Distribution

To the leaven'd soil they trod calling I sing for the last,
(Forth from my tent emerging for good, loosing, untying the tent-ropes,)
In the freshness the forenoon air, in the far-stretching circuits
and vistas again to peace restored,
To the fiery fields emanative and the endless vistas beyond, to the
South and the North,
To the leaven'd soil of the general Western world to attest my songs,
To the Alleghanian hills and the tireless Mississippi,
To the rocks I calling sing, and all the trees in the woods,
To the plains of the poems of heroes, to the prairies spreading wide,
To the far-off sea and the unseen winds, and the sane impalpable air;
And responding they answer all, (but not in words,)
The average earth, the witness of war and peace, acknowledges mutely,
The prairie draws me close, as the father to bosom broad the son,
The Northern ice and rain that began me nourish me to the end,
But the hot sun of the South is to fully ripen my songs.

From To the Leaven'd Soil They Trod by Walt Whitman

1. Inspect the soils map. Observe the soil types and their distribution. The associated table describes the soil types and their associated characteristics. Choose 4 regions of the world, identify the specific location, and describe the soils common to that region.

2. What factors may contribute to the formation of different soils? Using your knowledge of soils, describe how those factors influence the formation of soils.

3. Retrieve the climate distribution map used in the previous activity. Does climate seem to be a factor? Site three specific examples.

4. Locate the region that you chose as your final project. What soil(s) are present? How does this relate to other natural factors? Can you see any influence on the people.