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Air, water, and micro-organisms
beyondpesticides.org
- Soil is a mixture of mineral and organic matter that contains air, water, and micro-organisms. It provides a medium in which plants grow, a habitat for animals, and storage for water.
cosmos.ceh.ac.uk/soil
3 days ago · Detritus is also known as active soil matter, and is composed of dead plants and animals that are actively decomposing. Fallen leaves, dead flowers, and deceased animals all contribute to the formation of detritus, but that's only the first step in forming the organic materials in our soil. The other kind of organic material in soil is humus.
Oct 19, 2023 · Soil contains air, water, and minerals as well as plant and animal matter, both living and dead. These soil components fall into two categories. In the first category are biotic factors—all the living and once-living things in soil, such as plants and insects.
- Overview
- Soil horizons
- Pedons and polypedons
Soil is the biologically active and porous medium that has developed in the uppermost layer of Earth’s crust. It serves as the reservoir of water and nutrients and a medium for the filtration and breakdown of injurious wastes. It also helps in the cycling of carbon and other elements through the global ecosystem.
What are the grain sizes in soil?
The grain size of soil particles are categorized into three groups: clay, silt, and sand. Clay measures less than 0.002 mm (0.0008 inch) in diameter, silt is between 0.002 mm (0.0008 inch) and 0.05 mm (0.002 inch), and sand is between 0.05 mm (0.002 inch) and 2 mm (0.08 inch).
What are the five factors of soil formation?
The evolution of soils and their properties is called soil formation, and according to pedologists, five fundamental soil formation processes influence soil properties. These five “state factors” are parent material, topography, climate, organisms, and time.
What are the layers of soil?
Soils differ widely in their properties because of geologic and climatic variation over distance and time. Even a simple property, such as the soil thickness, can range from a few centimetres to many metres, depending on the intensity and duration of weathering, episodes of soil deposition and erosion, and the patterns of landscape evolution. Nevertheless, in spite of this variability, soils have a unique structural characteristic that distinguishes them from mere earth materials and serves as a basis for their classification: a vertical sequence of layers produced by the combined actions of percolating waters and living organisms.
These layers are called horizons, and the full vertical sequence of horizons constitutes the soil profile (see the figure). Soil horizons are defined by features that reflect soil-forming processes. For instance, the uppermost soil layer (not including surface litter) is termed the A horizon. This is a weathered layer that contains an accumulation of humus (decomposed, dark-coloured, carbon-rich matter) and microbial biomass that is mixed with small-grained minerals to form aggregate structures.
Below A lies the B horizon. In mature soils this layer is characterized by an accumulation of clay (small particles less than 0.002 mm [0.00008 inch] in diameter) that has either been deposited out of percolating waters or precipitated by chemical processes involving dissolved products of weathering. Clay endows B horizons with an array of diverse structural features (blocks, columns, and prisms) formed from small clay particles that can be linked together in various configurations as the horizon evolves.
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Below the A and B horizons is the C horizon, a zone of little or no humus accumulation or soil structure development. The C horizon often is composed of unconsolidated parent material from which the A and B horizons have formed. It lacks the characteristic features of the A and B horizons and may be either relatively unweathered or deeply weathered. At some depth below the A, B, and C horizons lies consolidated rock, which makes up the R horizon.
Soils are natural elements of weathered landscapes whose properties may vary spatially. For scientific study, however, it is useful to think of soils as unions of modules known as pedons. A pedon is the smallest element of landscape that can be called soil. Its depth limit is the somewhat arbitrary boundary between soil and “not soil” (e.g., bedrock). Its lateral dimensions must be large enough to permit a study of any horizons present—in general, an area from 1 to 10 square metres (10 to 100 square feet), taking into account that a horizon may be variable in thickness or even discontinuous. Wherever horizons are cyclic and recur at intervals of 2 to 7 metres (7 to 23 feet), the pedon includes one-half the cycle. Thus, each pedon includes the range of horizon variability that occurs within small areas. Wherever the cycle is less than 2 metres, or wherever all horizons are continuous and of uniform thickness, the pedon has an area of 1 square metre.
Soils are encountered on the landscape as groups of similar pedons, called polypedons, that contain sufficient area to qualify as a taxonomic unit. Polypedons are bounded from below by “not soil” and laterally by pedons of dissimilar characteristics.
- Garrison Sposito
Oct 31, 2024 · Soil is a complex natural resource that plays a vital role in supporting life on Earth. It acts as a medium for plant growth, a habitat for various organisms, and a crucial component of the Earth's ecosystem. Understanding soil composition and types is essential for sustainable agriculture, land management, and environmental conservation. This article delves deeper into the components of soil ...
Up close, soil is a maze of mineral grains, organic matter, air and water, plus a whole host of living organisms, including microbes, plants, fungi and invertebrates. Soil sits on top of the bedrock and can be anything from centimetres to metres deep.
Soils perform vital functions to sustain plant and animal life, regulate water flow, filter and buffer pollutants, cycle nutrients, and provide physical stability and sort. This definition is from the Soil Science Society of America.
Jul 10, 2023 · The last really important component of the deposit comprises soil organisms: the plants and animals that spend part or all of their lives in the soil. The soil is one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems. (For a brief brush-up on ecology and ecosystems, see the background section below.)
