Soil Sample from Floating Vegetation on Loktak Lake, Manipur

Dec 06, 2018 • 7:41 AM UTC

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Anjali Manoj

I am currently studying in 2nd PUC at CMR National PU College at ITPL, Bangalore. I am a passionate learner and keen observer. I am very fond of biology as a subject because it helps me connect with everthing that I see around me.

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Student Name: Anjali Manoj College/School: CMR National PU College, ITPL, Bangalore. Specimen: Soil Sample from ‘Phumdi ‘, the floating vegetation on Loktak Lake Specimen collected from: Loktak Lake, Manipur on 2nd December, 2018 Specimen observed at: CMR National PU College at ITPL, Bangalore on 6th December, 2018

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On the 2nd of December, I collected a sample of the dark, humus-rich, fine-particled soil from one of the phumdis , the floating vegetation on the Loktak Lake in Manipur. The appearance of the soil is blackish and clayey and it has a very high water retention capacity. I was informed by the locals that it is laden with the nutrients deposited in the lake as a result of siltation and hence is extremely fertile and well-suited for agriculture. The objective of our study was to determine the size of the particles of the soil. We passed it through sieves of various sizes and have come to the conclusion that the size range of the fine particles of the soil is between 0.005mm to 0.3 mm. When observed under the foldscope, it becomes very clear just how minute each soil particle is.
Below is a picture of the soil sample and the sieves used for the above mentioned study.

Below is a picture of the phumdi on the Lokatk Lake where I collected the sample.