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soil - (i) The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the Earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
A state soil is a soil that has special significance to a particular state. Each state in the United States has selected a state soil, twenty of which have been legislatively established. These “Official State Soils” share the same level of distinction as official state flowers and birds.
It is generally a zone 40 cm thick, beginning at the base of the subsurface tier, commonly at 90 or 120 cm, depending on the kind of organic materials in the upper part of the soil. The concept of tiers is used in organic soils because they lack diagnostic horizons as defined for mineral soils.
Soil organic matter is the fraction of the soil that consists of plant or animal tissue in various stages of breakdown (decomposition). Most of our productive agricultural soils have between 3 and 6% organic matter. Soil organic matter contributes to soil productivity in many different ways.
When organic materials, such as residues (leaves and roots) or organic amendments (manures and composts), are added to the soil, they provide a source of active organic matter, which is consumed by soil organisms for metabolism and growth.
Histosols are mainly composed of organic material in their upper portion. The Histosol order mostly contains soils commonly called bogs, moors, peatlands, muskegs, fens, or peats and mucks. These soils form when organic matter, such as leaves, mosses, or grasses, decomposes more slowly than it accumulates due to a decrease in microbial decay rates.
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Organic matter contributes to aggregation and water-retention properties of soil. Soil chemical composition reflects not only the original geologic materials (e.g. limestone, granite, basalt), but also soil-forming processes since deposition. In much of the northern US, soil formation commenced either shortly after glacial retreat at the end of ...
