2017 NACTA Contest FAQs for 2-Year and 4-Year Universities

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Arlene Blake
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1 2017 NACTA Contest FAQs for 2-Year and 4-Year Universities 1. Have you determined how many practice days there will be? a. We plan on having 10 practice sites. They will be open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the week of the contest. We plan on sending out keys to the practice sites along with other contest information via on Friday, March 31. The practice site keys will not be posted on the contest website because we assume that most coaches do not want their judgers to have access to the keys. We are not planning on having a definite practice site schedule because some coaches work with more than one judging team, and they are unable to follow a definite schedule for all three days. However, we ask that all teams limit their practice schedule to only 90 minutes per pit. Also, please do not allow your team to occupy more than one pit at one time. In order to keep things moving, teams may need to sometimes share a pit with another team. Please respect the time limitations of other teams and cooperate on the practice times. At this point, we are not sure that we will have everyone s correct address because of the way some contest registrations are being completed. Therefore, coaches should send an message to mdransom@ksu.edu if you want to make sure that we have your correct address. This way we can keep everyone informed about changes. 2. We understand that K-State hosted the National Collegiate Soils Contest in Spring Will some of the same sites be used? a. Yes, K-State hosted the National Collegiate Soils Contest sponsored by the American Society of Agronomy/Soil Science Society of America in April A total of 23 teams participated. The website used for this contest is still open: You are welcome to use any materials available at this website. Eight of the 10 practice sites will be at similar locations from The other two practice sites are at a different location. We will not be using the locations for the five contest sites from 2016 for practice or contest sites at the NACTA Contest. By the way, some of the FAQs for the 2016 Contest are recycled for the NACTA Contest. The answers have been modified in some cases because of differences in the handbooks and scorecards. 3. Can K-State provide 10% HCl for those teams that are flying? a. Yes, frequent use of 10% HCl will be required at this contest. We will supply everyone who needs it with at least a 500 ml bottle and refills will be available. However, everyone will need to bring their own empty dropper bottles for their judgers. 4. In the Parent Material section of the Handbook, how do we tell the difference between Eolian Loam and Loess?

2 a. The Parent Material section of the Handbook provides a good description of the characteristics that will be used to differentiate eolian loam and loess. I would add that the loess in the contest area tends to have <25% sand, approximately. The % sand in eolian loam is quite a bit higher. 5. Will measuring tapes be provided in the control sections? a. A measuring tape will be provided and attached to all contest and practice pit control sections. 6. Is the contest open book? a. Yes, the 4-year contest is open book. However, the coaches for the 2-year universities prefer to have a closed book contest, so it will be closed book. 7. The contest rules indicate that two control areas will be provided at each pit. Each contestant will be assigned to judge either the left or right control area. Will judgers from 4-year universities be assigned to one control area, and judgers from 2-year universities be assigned to the other control area? a. It was necessary to do this at previous NACTA contests because the scorecard was quite different between two and four year universities, and often the number for horizons was not the same. Since the two scorecards are more similar this year, there is no need to make a separation. Hence, judgers from 2- year and 4-year universities can be assigned to the same control area. This will give more flexibility in obtaining an equal number of contestants for both control areas. 8. RMF Conc. box on the scorecard: This includes what in the old days we would call high chroma mottles, right? a. Judgers should check Y in the box for RMF Conc. if pedogenic accumulations of Fe and Mn occur. Such accumulations would include what would be called high chroma mottles in the old days. However, it would also include Fe and Mn nodules and concentrations and pore linings of Fe and Mn. 9. RMF Depl box on the scorecard: This includes what in the old days we would call low chroma mottles, from poor drainage, right? a. Judgers should check Y in the box for RMF Depl. when zones of chroma 2 or less and normally values of 4 or more are present when either Fe-Mn oxides alone or Fe-Mn oxides and clays have been removed by eluviation. This does not exactly fit what we would have called low chroma mottles in the old days. 10. The rules appear to read that a soil which has a depleted or gleyed matrix would not automatically have RMF Depl. checked Y, even though the entire matrix is depleted? Instead, we will only answer Y for depletions if there are other depleted zones/areas in addition to the depleted/gleyed matrix. Is that correct? This seems insane to me since a depleted matrix is obviously a depletion (and a big one at that). a. The key issue here is for judgers to determine whether a soil horizon with a color for example of 10YR4/2 is in fact a depleted matrix. We have some very dark colored soils on floodplains and terraces where the value is 4 and the chroma is

3 2, i.e., mollic colors to a depth of 150 cm or more. Unless redox concentrations were present, we would not consider this as a depleted matrix, and we would not check Y on the scorecard for RMF-Depl. If redox concentrations were present, Y should be marked for both RMF-Conc. and RMF-Depl. The official judges will not make automatic decisions in regard to linking RMF-Conc., RMF- Depl., and a g designation (used for 4-year universities only). Instead, they will be consistent in the way they make decisions. For example, they will make two separate decisions in assigning a g designation and indicating a Y for RMF- Depl. 11. Would you say that the occurrence of depletions that are not related to a seasonally high water table are common in the contest area? a. Relict depletions are not common in the contest area. The official judges will associate depletions with a chroma of 2 or less with a seasonally high water table. The presence of these depletions will affect the soil wetness class. Judgers need to be careful not to confuse carbonate concentrations with depletions. 12. Is a blank box on the scorecard counted the same as none, no, or -? a. We want this to be a positive educational experience for all participants. We will try to avoid enforcing rules that could be considered as picky rules. However, in order to make grading easier, we are going to enforce the rules as stated in the handbook where a - should be indicated for a negative response for horizon prefix, horizon subscript, horizon number, RMF concentrations, and/or RMF depletions. Hence, a no, none, or blank response for these boxes on the scorecard will be counted incorrect. 13. Can you explain a little more background on "clayey sediments" being listed as a parent material in some of the soil surveys in the area? a. The term clayey sediments is sometimes used in older soil survey reports from the Bluestem Hills in association with paleosols when the exact parent material source of the sediments was not known. We will not use this term during the contest. 14. Can you give an explanation of where you expect footslope to be used as a landform? a. In the Bluestem Hills, we sometimes have a prominent, elongated footslope at the base of a hillslope. This landform will be shown at one or more practice sites. These elongated footslopes may have formed due to solifluction under periglacial conditions during the Late Wisconsin. Colluvium/pedisediment will be the parent material for this landform. Unless a situation develops that we do not anticipate, the selection of footslope as a landform will accompany the selection of footslope as a hillslope profile position. 15. When assessing soil limitations for septic tank effluent treatment areas, the first of the criteria is average hydraulic conductivity between 45 and 180 cm. How do you average two (or more) HC classes?

4 a. To simplify, we have decided to base the determination on the most restrictive layer between 45 and 180 cm. If an R or Cr occurs within that depth, the hydraulic conductivity would be very low. Please note that this procedure will be used for all practice and contest sites. It is different than what is written in the handbook, but it is too late to make changes to the handbook at this point. For the practice sites, the judges will write a note for the reason for the suitability rating. 16. For the criteria for Evaluating Soil Limitations for Dwellings Without Basements, how would an average for rocks > 7.5 cm in diameter be determined? Also, I assume you do not go below a bedrock contact? a. If necessary, we will calculate the weighted-average content of rocks > 7.5 cm in diameter from the soil surface to a depth of 100 cm. If an R or Cr horizon occurred at a depth < 100 cm, we would make the calculation to the top of the R or Cr horizon. Please note that in most cases, the occurrence of an R or Cr at a depth < 100 cm would cause a more restrictive limitation than that caused by the rock content. 17. For Dwellings without Basements, what is the limitation being referred to in the criteria Texture of most limiting horizon? Is it the most limiting for subsurface hydraulic conductivity, or does it refer to the texture of any horizon that occurs within the cm depth range? a. It refers to the texture of any horizon that occurs with the depth range of 25 to 100 cm. 18. For the criteria for Evaluating Soil Limitations for Septic Tank Effluent Treatment Areas, how is the coarse fragment content in the cm depth evaluated? a. If necessary, the weighted average content of coarse fragments from cm would be used. 19. In regard to the Official Series Description for Wymore, there are redox concentrations in the Bt2 (43 64 cm) horizon and in horizons below. The matrix color of the Bt2 is 10YR 4/2. Would it be considered to have aquic conditions within 50 cm? Wymore is also listed as moderately well drained. Do the redox concentrations allow us to interpret the colors (value of 4 or more and chroma 2 or less) as redox depletions? a. Most of the soils in the contest area that are mapped as Wymore would be better drained than the soil at the type location for Wymore. Typically, the soils mapped as Wymore in the contest area will have a matrix chroma 3 in the upper part of the Bt and to a depth of at least 50 cm. In addition, for this contest, we would not interpret the morphology of the soil at the type location to have aquic conditions. Please note that this soil has dark colors due to the organic matter content. We would not interpret the chroma 2 matrix color in the Bt2 horizon as redox depletions. Typically, the Wymore soils that occur in the contest area will exhibit either a chroma 3 matrix or else with a chroma 2 matrix without

5 RMF concentrations in the upper part of the Bt. The official judges will assign Wetness Class 3 for such soils. 20. If a site occurred within a drainageway, what would be the Hillslope Profile Position? a. To answer this question, we need to consider first how we are interpreting the landform for a drainageway. We do have landforms in the contest area that could be described as upland drainageways. This landform would occur along a small, intermittent stream. We considered putting an additional landform on the scorecard for this landform that would have been listed as upland drainageway. However, we thought it would add too much complexity for the judgers, and we would have difficulty explaining to them how this landform would be separated from a small floodplain. In addition, we have upland drainageways in the contest area where a very small stream valley is filled with colluvium without a noticeable floodplain. For the landform where a small floodplain with alluvium occurs, judgers should check Floodplain as the landform. If the small valley is filled with colluvium without a noticeable floodplain, Footslope should be checked for the landform. Now, to get to the question of Hillslope Profile Position for the upland drainageways in the contest area. If Floodplain is checked for the landform, the Hillslope Profile Position will be Toeslope. If Footslope is checked for the landform, the Hillslope Profile Position will be Footslope. The upland drainageways in the contest area will not have a floodplain that would be extensive enough to select None (gradient <2%) for the Hillslope Profile Position. 21. In the bottom of an upland depression, will the Hillslope Profile Position be Toeslope or None (gradient <2%)? a. The depressions that occur in the contest area tend to be small and are often filled with colluvium. To avoid controversy, we will give credit for either Toeslope or Footslope for the bottom of these small depressions. The bottoms are not of large enough extent to select None (gradient <2%). It is also possible for these upland depressions to have a backslope and a footslope component along the hillslope grading into the depression. 22. If Stream Terrace is checked for the Landform, do we mark None (gradient <2%) even if the Hillslope Profile Position is a summit (slopes down on all sides of the terrace)? a. Most of the terraces that occur in the contest area are well defined and will be extensive enough to select None (gradient <2%). If the terrace has limited extent with a slope >2%, the Hillslope Profile Position that is the most appropriate should be checked. 23. Will the students be told if the site floods, and will a frequency be given? Or will it be obvious? a. If a site is subject to occasional or frequent flooding, we will provide that information. Otherwise, the students should assume that a site is not subject to flooding.

6 24. Can your low terraces flood? a. Yes, we have low terraces that are subject to occasional flooding. Added Will a maximum of 6 horizons be described at each pit? a. The 2-year and 4-year handbooks indicate that a maximum of 6 horizons will be described. However, in some situations, we will need to ask the judgers to describe up to 7 horizons to give the best understanding of the parent materials for each pit. Some pits will also have less than 6 horizons. 26. Where will the nail be placed in the 3 rd horizon? a. Unfortunately, the handbooks are not consistent about this. We have decided to make it easy for everyone by placing the nail at the bottom of the third horizon.

2017 NACTA Contest FAQs for 4-Year Universities

2017 NACTA Contest FAQs for 4-Year Universities 2-6-17 1. Do you recognize Cd horizons in the contest area? a. We have Permian mudstones and shales in the contest area that have traditionally been described