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Soil filters the rainwater and regulates the discharge of excess rainwater, preventing flooding. It also buffers against pollutants, thus protecting groundwater quality. Soil is capable of storing large amounts of organic carbon. It is the largest terrestrial store of carbon.
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Healthy soil is the root source of a livelihood that sustains farmers and communities all around the world: good soil produces good crops that deliver a good income that enables families to ...
- Jon Heggie
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- 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
Jul 25, 2022 · Soil, also commonly referred to as dirt or earth, is our life support system. It is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, living organisms and water that are vital for healthy plant growth, human nutrition, and regulation of the Earth’s climates.
Soil science is the study of soil, a complex natural system that plays a vital role in agriculture, environmental protection, and human health. Soil is a mixture of minerals, organic matter, air, and water that supports plant growth and provides habitat for a wide range of organisms.
Why is soil important? Soil carries out a range of functions and services without which human life would not be possible. It provides an environment for plants (including food crops and timber wood) to grow in, by anchoring roots and storing nutrients.
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Jul 29, 2015 · This article introduces many important soil concepts including development, classification, properties (physical, chemical, and biological), quality, and conservation. A general understanding of soil concepts and these interwoven relationships is essential to making sound land management decisions.
