The Particles and Prairies pre-visit
activities include a student activity entitled Soil Formation
and Tests. This section contains the procedures and techniques
used by soil expert Julie Jastrow of Argonne National Laboratory
for collecting prairie soil cores, for processing soil aggregates
and separating the roots. It is part of a research project in the early 90s to
illustrate the difference between soils of native prairies and
soil used for farming or soils dominated by foreign plants.
The Particles and Prairieís
slides show her equipment, procedures and techniques, and
the results of the research. Don't be intimidated by the
technical terms in the graphs. You can access all
slides by title only or look at the annotated slides by subject.