Overview
Soils are the physical and chemical foundation of terrestrial ecosystems and Australian soils are among the oldest and most fragile in the world. In this unit you will learn the origin of soils and how they are affected by geology, geography, climate, living organisms and time. You will develop soil classification and testing skills in the laboratory and in the field, and study the conservation, management and remediation of Australian soils.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisites: CHEM11043 Atoms, Molecules and Matter or CHEM11041 Chemistry for the Life Sciences and BIOL11099 Living Systemsor BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from SUTE
Students reflected positively on teaching staff and commented that they learnt a lot of valuable skills and enjoyed the field trip/laboratory experience.
This comment reinforced the value of preparing thoroughly for the residential school to ensure all activities could be clearly explained and students could learn from them. Any staff teaching this unit in future should review the residential school handbook carefully to ensure activities and calculations are explained clearly to the students.
Feedback from Staff reflections
Assessment 3 (End of term online quiz) is open to students using generative AI to come up with answers.
Replace Assessment 3 with an alternative type of assessment that has lower risk of academic integrity breaches through use of GenAI.
Feedback from Staff reflections
Staff turnover in the unit coordinator role has been high and unit content has not been substantially reviewed and updated in the past 3 years.
Allocate unit coordinator role to a staff member who is likely to continue in the role and that staff member should review, and where relevant update, the unit content to reflect more recent trends and case study examples of soil conservation and management.
- Describe the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil
- Describe and classify a range of soils
- Plan and conduct soil tests in the laboratory and field
- Discuss the major challenges for the sustainable management and remediation of Australian soils.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment - 40% | ||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment - 40% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
Australian Soils and Landscapes
- (2004)
- Authors: Neil McKenzie, David Jacquier, Ray Isbell, Katharine Brown
- CSIRO
- ISBN: 9780643104334
- Binding: Hardcover
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Australian soils and landscapes: an illustrated compendium http://ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/login?url=http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/lib/cqu/detail.action?docID=714045
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
n.english@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 09 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Soil Development (pedogenesis)
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 1 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 16 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Physical properties of soils and classification
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 2 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 23 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Soil microbes, sampling and processing
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 3 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 30 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Soil Chemistry and solutions
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 4 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 06 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Field Trip and Res School (no lectures this week)
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 5 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Residential School and Field trip (Compulsory). See Moodle for more details and scheduling updates.
Week 6
Begin Date: 13 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Guest Speakers
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 6 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 20 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 27 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Soil ion chemistry and biochar
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 7 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 04 May 2026Module/Topic
Soil acidity and nutrients
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 8 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 11 May 2026Module/Topic
Soil microbial ecology, nutrient cycling, and transport
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 9 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 18 May 2026Module/Topic
Soil pollutants and wastes
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 10 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Group Written Report must be submitted before 5PM AEST Monday Week 10.
Week 11
Begin Date: 25 May 2026Module/Topic
Soil conservation (biodegradation and bioremediation)
Chapter
Readings as assigned on Moodle Week 11 tile.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 01 Jun 2026Module/Topic
In-class Group Oral Presentations, unit overview and End of Term Online quiz preparation.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Group Oral Presentation slides must be submitted before 8AM AEST Monday Week 12. Presentation will be delivered online (Zoom) and the times will be advised on Moodle.
Self and Peer Assessments (SPA) must be submitted before 5PM AEST Friday Week 12.
End of Term Online Quiz Due: Week 12 Thursday (4 June 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Exam Week
Begin Date: 08 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation/Exam Week
Begin Date: 15 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical and Written Assessment
For this assessment you will submit:
1. A scanned copy of your Field Workbook and worksheets completed on the field trip. The worksheets must include a legible soil characterisation for the sites we visited (10%).
2. A Summary of work completed at the residential school. This short report should include a brief description of the experiments carried out and their results, including relevant figures. It must be no more than 1500 words, excluding title page, references, table, figures and captions. Figures must be publication ready and generated using Excel, R or other suitable software. Resources and exemplars are available on the Moodle site to explain how to make publication ready figures in Excel (20%).
The ENVR12001 Residential School is compulsory for all students. You may not complete this activity using notes produced by another student.
Level of GenAI use allowed:
Level 2: You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
Week 7 Monday (27 Apr 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 9 Monday (11 May 2026)
The Field Workbook and worksheets will be marked on:
- Completeness and legibility of information in field workbook/notebook;
- Completeness and legibility of information in worksheets.
The Summary will be marked on:
- Completeness (all descriptions, field and laboratory soil tests and results presented);
- Clarity, grammar, punctuation and organisation;
- Figure presentation (figures and tables should be publication ready);
- Accuracy and supporting evidence of the final soil classifications.
A complete rubric and exemplar with weightings will be available on Moodle.
- Describe the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil
- Describe and classify a range of soils
- Plan and conduct soil tests in the laboratory and field
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
2 Presentation and Written Assessment
This assessment consists of:
- Group written report will be a maximum of 3000 words long (excluding title page, figure and picture captions, tables and references) (25%).
- Group Oral Presentation will consist of an 8-minute online (Zoom) presentation of the report with an additional 4 minutes for questions (10%). Each student will be given an individual mark for their portion of the presentation and that will form a part of your overall mark for the group presentation (i.e. you may receive a different mark from your group members). Please allow an additional 30 minutes for feedback and discussion.
- Mark from the Self and Peer Assessment (SPA) tool, based on your contributions to the group work. It is in your best interests to participate fully and professionally with your peers. There is a guide to Working in Groups on the Moodle page (5%).
Both the written report and oral presentation should include:
- a region-appropriate acknowledgement/welcome to country;
- a description of the setting;
- a summary of the approach you would take to identify potential problems regarding soil at the site, and how you would assess, quantify and measure these issues.
A more detailed task description and exemplar is available on Moodle. All scientific article citations must include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI: e.g. doi.org/10.1071/BT25033) that when entered into a web browser leads to the cited article.
The 72 hour grace period does not apply to any portion of this assessment.
Level of GenAI use allowed:
Level 2: You may use Al for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
Group Written report must be submitted by 5PM AEST Monday Week 10. Group Oral Presentation slides must be submitted before 5PM AEST Monday Week 11. Presentations will be completed during Thursday and Friday of Week 11. Specific presentation times will be advised on Moodle. Self and Peer Assessments (SPA) must be submitted before 5PM AEST Friday Week 12.
Exam Week Friday (12 June 2026)
For the Group Written and Oral assessment all scientific article citations must include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI: e.g. doi.org/10.1071/BT25033) that when entered into a web browser leads to the cited article.
The Group Written Report, Group Oral Presentation & SPA will be graded in the following way:
Group Written Report:
- Completeness of scenario description;
- Approach and reasoning;
- Appropriateness of the methods selected to assess, quantify and measure the issues;
- Clarity, grammar, spelling, references, and contribution statement.
Group Oral Presentation:
- Presentation quality (including slides, oral presentation, on-time delivery, organization and focus);
- Audience targeting;
- Equal division of presentation time;
- Quality of answers to questions asked after the presentation;
- Each student will receive an individual mark based on presentation quality for their portion of the presentation excluding the Acknowledgement of Country.
Self and Peer Assessment (SPA):
- Each student's final mark for the SPA will be an average of their peers' assessment of their contribution to the group.
- Describe the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil
- Plan and conduct soil tests in the laboratory and field
- Discuss the major challenges for the sustainable management and remediation of Australian soils.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
3 Online Quiz(zes)
This is the End of Term Online Quiz, it will be open for 24 hours. You will get one attempt and have 90 minutes to complete it once you start. Make sure to begin the quiz at least 90 minutes before the closing time to ensure you have the full 90 minutes to complete the quiz. The quiz is worth 60 marks, and the marks are divided in the following manner:
- Five 1 mark Short Answer Soil Physics questions (1 Soil order, 1 Soil Texture, 3 Non-Specific) (5 marks total)
- One 15 mark Soil Classification question (15 marks total)
- Two 5 mark Soil Chemistry questions (10 marks total)
- One 10 mark Soil Chemistry question (10 marks total)
- Two 10 mark Soil Biology questions (20 marks total)
The questions in each category are selected from a question bank and are balanced for difficulty and type. The marks are a relative guide to how long is required to answer each question (1 mark ~ 1 minute). For each question, type your answer in the box provided. It is an open book quiz but your answers must be your own work and will be checked against answers available in textbooks or on ChatGPT/Google/Reddit/DuckDuckGo/etc. The unit coordinator has provided required/suggested materials (e.g. Soil Texture Triangle) in a Moodle tile titled "Useful documents/links for the End of Term Quiz". Spelling and grammar are not a primary concern in marking (you won't lose marks for misspelling or poor punctuation), but you will not get full marks if your ideas are hindered or obscured by poor spelling/grammar.
Some questions allow you to submit a hand-drawn sketch with your answer. Before beginning the quiz, you must have a digital camera/smart phone to take pictures with and a means to upload the images to Moodle from that camera before the quiz attempt ends). Please confirm that you can transfer pictures from your camera or phone to your computer before you begin.
The 72 hour grace period does not apply to any portion of this assessment.
Level of GenAI use allowed:
Level 1: You must not use Al at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.
1
Other
Week 12 Thursday (4 June 2026) 11:59 pm AEST
Vacation/Exam Week Monday (15 June 2026)
Quiz answers will be marked based on:
- Completeness of the answer;
- Relevance of the answer (did you answer the question);
- Accuracy of the answer.
Spelling and grammar will not be marked except as it impacts the ability of the marker to understand the answer.
- Describe and classify a range of soils
- Discuss the major challenges for the sustainable management and remediation of Australian soils.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
