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Soils: Where do they come from, what do they consist of and how do
they affect plant life?
Background Information:
Different parts of this country are made up of different rocks. These
rocks weather in different ways and therefore produce soils of different
mineralogy and composition.
Proposed research:
Students will identify what the rocks are where they live (e.g. how old
they are, how they formed, what minerals are in the rocks, what is the
chemical composition of the rocks). This information will be related to
the soils (e.g. minerals and composition of the soils). The students will
then grow a plant in the different soils to see whether the plant grows
differently in the various soils. Finally they will check, whether the
plants take up certain minor and trace elements preferentially after "spiking"
the soil with some elements. Furthermore a link to the weather and rainfall
may be established.
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