Lithosphere Unit Guidelines
Lithosphere Unit
More help for the components of the Lithosphere Unit can be found below.
1. Soil: Describe the general condition/type of soil found in your biome. Is it moist, dry, rocky, sandy? Is it thick, thin, fertile? Is it acidic or basic? Is it used for growing crops or grazing herd animals? Does it have a large organic component?
2. Minerals: List two main minerals found in the soil or ground in your biome. Write out the molecular formulas and at least two uses for each mineral.
More Help with Soils
Finding information about soils in your biome can be tricky. However, you can take advantage of the fact that the United States has representative areas that resemble each of the major biomes. Using that fact and a special Website, you can get information about your particular biome's soil. Follow the directions below.
1. Go to the US Ecosystems Mapsite
2. Scroll down to the text below the map and find a US ecosystem that contains your biome name in it.
3. Click on the text of that ecosystem to get information about the soil found there.
4. NOTE: Some of the biomes have different names/spellings than we are used to using. Choose "Broadleaf Forest" for Deciduous Forest, "Hawaiian Province" for Tropical Rainforest, "Tayga" for Coniferous Forest, "Subtropical Prairie" for Savanna or "Temperate Prairie" for Grasslands. All other biomes will be named the same way that we are used to seeing.
More Help with Minerals
1. Go to the Minerals Net site.
2. Choose the "Search" option from the menu.
3. In the search screen, put in the name the COUNTRY in which your representative city is located. You may need to use another country if there is no information found.
4. Click on the choices the search found to get the name, the formula and the uses of the minerals found in your representative area.
