Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface.[citation needed] Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical, biological and environmental processes including weathering and erosion. Soil is different from its parent rock source, altered by interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the 
biosphere. It is a mixture of mineral and organic constituents that are in solid, gaseous and aqueous states. Soil particles pack loosely, forming a soil structure filled with pore spaces. These pores contain sol solution (liquid) and air (gas). Accordingly, soils are often treated as a three state system. Most soils have a density between 1 and 2 g/cm³. Soil is also known as earth: it is the substance from which our planet takes its name. Little of the soil composition of planet Earth is older than Tertiary and most no older than Pleistocene.
Soil forming factors
Soil formation, or pedogenesis, is the combined effect of physical, chemical, biological, and anthropogenic processes on soil parent material. Soil genesis involves processes that develop layers or horizons in the soil profile. These processes involve additions, losses, transformations and translocations of material that compose the soil. Minerals derived from weathered rocks undergo changes that cause the formation of secondary minerals and other compounds that are variably soluble in water, these constitutes are moved (translocated) from one area of the soil to other areas by water and animal activity. The alteration and movement of materials within soil causes the formation of distinctive soil horizons. The weathering of bedrock produces the parent material that soils form from. An example of soil development from bare rock occurs on recent lava flows in warm regions under heavy and very frequent rainfall. In such climates, plants become established very quickly on basaltic lava, even though there is very little organic material. The plants are supported by the porous rock becoming filled with nutrient-bearing water, for example carrying dissolved bird droppings or guano. The developing plant roots, themselves or associated with mycorrhizal fungi, gradually break up the porous lava, and organic matter soon accumulates. But even before it does, the predominantly porous broken lava in which the plant roots grow can be considered a soil. How the soil "life" cycle proceeds is influenced by at least five classic soil forming factors that are dynamically intertwined in shaping the way soil is developed, they include: parent material, regional climate, topography, biotic potential and the passage of time.
Parent material
The material from which soils form is called parent material. It includes: weathered primary bedrock; secondary material transported from other locations, e.g. colluvium and alluvium; deposits that are already present but mixed or altered in other ways - old soil formations, organic material including peat or alpine humus; and anthropogenic materials, like landfill or mine waste. Few soils form directly from the breakdown of the underlying rocks they develop on. These soils are often called “residual soils”, and have the same general chemistry as their parent rocks. Most soils derive from materials that have been transported from other locations by wind, water and gravity.[11] Some of these materials may have moved many miles or only a few feet. Windblown material called loess is common in the Midwest of North America and in central Asia and other locations. Glacial till is a component of many soils in the northern and southern latitudes and those formed near large mountains, and is the product of glacial ice moving over the ground. The ice can break rock and larger stones into smaller pieces, it also can sort material into different sizes. As glacial ice melts, the melt water also moves and sorts material and deposits it varying distances from its origin. The deeper sections of the soil profile may have materials that are relatively unchanged from when they were deposited by water, ice, or wind.
Weather is the first stage in the transforming of parent material into soil material. In soils forming from bedrock, a thick layer of weathered material called saprolite may form. Saprolite is the result of weathering processes that include: hydrolysis (the replacement of a mineral’s cations with hydrogen ions), chelation from organic compounds, hydration (the absorption of water by minerals), solution of minerals by water, and physical processes that include freezing and thawing or wetting and drying. The mineralogical and chemical composition of the primary bedrock material, plus physical features, including grain size and degree of consolidation, plus the rate and type of weathering, transforms it into different soil materials.
Climate
Soil formation greatly depends on the climate, and soils from different climate zones show distinctive characteristics Temperature and moisture affect weathering and leaching. Wind moves sand and other particles, especially in arid regions where there is little plant cover. The type and amount of precipitation influence soil formation by affecting the movement of ions and particles through the soil, aiding in the development of different soil profiles. Seasonal and daily temperature fluctuations affect the effectiveness of water in weathering parent rock material and affect soil dynamics, freezing and thawing is an affective mechanism to break up rocks and other consolidated materials. Temperature and precipitation rates affect biological activity, rates of chemical reactions, and types of vegetation cover.
Topography
Slope and surface orientation affect the moisture and temperature of soil and the rate of weathering of parent material. Steep slopes facing the sun are warmer. Steep land may erode faster than soil forms or material is deposited, causing a net loss of topsoil. Low areas receive deposits moved by water from areas up slope, often producing deeper soils. Topography also effects depositional rates; Sediments along river banks, on flood plains and deltas have different textures, dependent on the rate and duration of water flow; fast moving water can move larger material along with fine material, while slow moving water moves finer material only.[13] Water in rivers and wind with strong enough currents deposit gravel, rocks, and sand, and remove smaller-sized particles which are deposited when the currents slow down. Bodies of water like lakes, ponds and shallow seas leave fine-textured material, which form fine-textured sediments like clay and silt.
Biological factors
Plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and humans affect soil formation. Animals and micro-organisms mix soils and form burrows and pores allowing moisture and gases to seep into deeper layers. In the same way, plant roots open channels in the soils, especially plants with deep taproots which can penetrate many metres through the different soil layers bringing up nutrients from deeper in the soil. Plants with fibrous roots that spread out near the soil surface, have roots that are easily decomposed, adding organic matter. Micro-organisms, including fungi and bacteria affect chemical exchanges between roots and soil and act as a reserve of nutrients. Humans can impact soil formation by removing vegetation cover, which promotes erosion. They can also mix the different soil layers, restarting the soil formation process as less weathered material is mixed with and diluting the more developed upper layers.
Vegetation impacts soils in numerous ways. It can prevent erosion from rain or surface runoff. It shades soils, keeping them cooler and slowing evaporation of soil moisture. Or it can cause soils to dry out by transpiration. Plants can form new chemicals that break down or build up soil particles. Vegetation depends on climate, land form topography, and biological factors. Soil factors such as soil density, depth, chemistry, pH, temperature and moisture greatly affect the type of plants that can grow in a given location. Dead plants and dropped leaves and stems of plants fall to the surface of the soil and decompose. There, organisms feed on them and mix the organic material with the upper soil layers; these organic compounds become part of the soil formation process, ultimately shaping the type of soil formed.
Time
Time is a factor in the interactions of all the above factors as they develop soil. Over time, soils evolve features dependent on the other forming factors, and soil formation is a time-responsive process dependent on how the other factors interplay with each other. Soil is always changing. For example, recently-deposited material from a flood exhibits no soil development because there has not been enough time for soil forming activities. The soil surface is buried, and the formation process begins again for this soil. The long periods over which change occurs and its multiple influences mean that simple soils are rare, resulting in the formation of soil horizons. While soil can achieve relative stability in properties for extended periods, the soil life cycle ultimately ends in soil conditions that leave it vulnerable to erosion. But despite the inevitability of soil retrogression and degradation, most soil cycles are long and productive.
Soil-forming factors continue to affect soils during their existence, even on “stable” landscapes that are long-enduring, some for millions of years. Materials are deposited on top and materials are blown or washed away from the surface. With additions, removals, and alterations, soils are always subject to new conditions. Whether these are slow or rapid changes, depends on climate, landscape position, and biological activity.
Characteristics
Soil color is often the first impression one has when viewing soil. Striking colors and contrasting patterns are especially memorable. The Red River (Mississippi watershed) carries sediment eroded from extensive reddish soils like Port Silt Loam in Oklahoma. The Yellow River in
Soil structure is the arrangement of soil particles into aggregates. These may have various shapes, sizes and degrees of development or expression. Soil structure affects aeration, water movement, resistance to erosion, and plant root growth. Structure often gives clues to texture, organic matter content, biological activity, past soil evolution and human use, and chemical and mineralogical conditions under which the soil formed.
Soil texture refers to sand, silt and clay composition. Sand and silt are the product of physical weathering, while clay is the product of chemical weathering. Soil content affects soil behavior, including the retention capacity for nutrients and water. Sand and silt are the products of physical weathering, while clay is the product of chemical weathering. Clay content has retention capacity for nutrients and water. Clay soils resist wind and water erosion better than silty and sandy soils, because the particles are more tightly joined to each other. In medium textured soils, clay is often translocated downward through the soil profile and accumulates in the subsoil.
The electrical resistivity of soil can affect the rate of galvanic corrosion of metallic structures in contact with the soil. Higher moister content or increased electrolyte concentration can lower the resistivity and thereby increase the rate of corrosion. Soil resistivity values typically range from about 2 to 1000 Ω·m, but more extreme values are not unusual.
Soil horizons
The naming of soil horizons is based on the type of material the horizons are composed of; these materials reflect the duration of the specific processes used in soil formation. They are labeled using a short hand notation of letters and numbers. They are described and classified by their color, size, texture, structure, consistency, root quantity, pH, voids, boundary characteristics, and if they have nodules or concretions. Any one soil profile does not have all the major horizons covered below, soils may have few or many horizons.
The exposure of parent material to favorable conditions produces initial soils that are suitable for plant growth. Plant growth often results in the accumulation of organic residues, the accumulated organic layer is called the O horizon. Biological organisms colonize and break down organic materials, making available nutrients that other plants and animals can live on, and after sufficient time, a distinctive organic surface layer forms with humus which is called the A horizon.
Classification
Soil is classified into categories in order to understand relationships between different soils and to determine the usefulness of a soil for a particular use. One of the first classification systems was developed by the Russian scientist Dokuchaev around 1880. It was modified a number of times by American and European researches and developed into the system commonly used until the 1960s. It was based on the idea that soils have a particular morphology based on the the materials and factors that form them. In the 1960s, a different classification system began to emerge, that focused on soil morphology instead of parental materials and soil forming factors. Since then, it has undergone further modifications.
Orders
Orders are the highest category of soil classification. Order types end in the letters sol. In the
- Entisol - recently formed soils that lack well-developed horizons. Commonly found on unconsolidated sediments like sand, some have an A horizon on top of bedrock.
- Vertisol - inverted soils. They tend to swell when wet and shrink upon drying, often forming deep cracks that surface layers can fall into.
- Inceptisol - young soils. They have subsurface horizon formation but show little eluviation and illuviation.
- Aridisol - dry soils forming under desert conditions. They include nearly 20% of soils on Earth. Soil formation is slow, and accumulated organic matter is scarce. They may have a subsurface zones (calcic horizons) where calcium carbonates have accumulated from percolating water. Many aridiso soils have well-developed Bt horizons showing clay movement from past periods of more moisture.
- Mollisol - soft soils.
- Spodosol - soils produced by podsolization. They are typical soils of coniferous and deciduous forests in cooler climates.
- Alfisol - soils with aluminum and iron. They have horizons of were clay accumulates, and form where there is enough moisture and warmth for at least three months of plant growth.
- Ultisol - soils that are heavily leached.
- Oxisol - soil with heavy oxide content.
- Histosol - organic soils.
Other order schemes may include:
- Andisols - volcanic soils, which tend to be high in glass content.
- Gelisols - permafrost soils.
Organic matter
Most living things in soils, including plants, insects, bacteria and fungi, are dependent on organic matter for nutrients and energy. Soils often have varying degrees of organic compounds in different states of decomposition. Many soils, including desert and rocky-gravel soils, have no or little organic matter; while soils, such as peat (Histosols), that are all organic matter are infertile.
Humus
Humus refers to organic matter that has decomposed to a point where it is resistant to further breakdown or alteration. Humic acids and fulvic acids are important constituents of humus and typically form from plant residues like foliage, stems and roots. After death, these plant residues begin to decay, starting the formation of humus. Humus formation involves changes within the soil and plant residue, there is a reduction of water soluble constituents including cellulose and hemicellulose; as the residues are deposited and break down, humin, lignin and lignin complexes accumulate within the soil; as microorganisms live and feed on the decaying plant matter, an increase in proteins occurs.
Lignin is resistant to breakdown and accumulates within the soil, it also chemically reacts with amino acids which add to its resistance to decomposition, including enzymatic decomposition by microbes. Fats and waxes from plant matter have some resistance to decomposition and persist in soils for a while. Proteins normally decompose readily but when bound to clay particles they become more resistant to decomposition, clay particles also absorb enzymes that would break down proteins, thus clay soils often have higher organic contents that persist longer than soils without clay. The addition of organic matter to clay soils, can render the organic matter and any added nutrients inaccessible to plants and microbes for many years, since they can bind strongly to the clay. High soil tannin (polyphenol) content from plants can cause nitrogen to be sequestered by proteins or cause nitrogen immobilization, also making nitrogen unavailable to plants.
Humus formation is a processes dependent on the amount of plant material added each year and the type of base soil; both are affected by climate and the type of microorganisms present. Soils with humus can vary in nitrogen content but have 3 to 6 percent nitrogen typically; humus as a reserve of nitrogen and phosphorus, is a vital component effecting soil fertility. Humus also adsorbs water, acting as a moisture reserve, that plants can utilize; it also expands and shrinks between dry and wet states, providing pore spaces. Humus is less stable than other soil constituents, because it is affected by microbial decomposition, and over time its concentration decreases without the addition of new organic matter.
Climate and organics
The production and accumulation or degradation of organic matter and humus is greatly depended on climate conditions. Temperature and soil moisture are the major factors in the formation or degradation of organic matter, they along with topography, determine the formation of organic soils. Soils high in organic matter tend to form under wet conditions and/or were there is enough precipitation to sustain thick plant growth.
Soil solutions
Different soils, under varying conditions, have diverse colloidal solutions. These solutions exchange gases with the soil atmosphere. These solutions can contain dissolved sugars, fulvic acids and other organic acids, plant micronutrients such as zinc, iron and copper, plus other metals, ammonium plus a host of others. Some soils have sodium solutions that great impact plant growth, calcium is common in forest soils. Soil pH effects the type and amount of anions and cations that soil solutions contain and exchange with the soil atmosphere and biological organisms.
In nature
Biogeography is the study of special variations in biological communities. Soils are restricting factor as to what plants can grow in which environments. Soil scientists survey soils in the hope of understanding controls as to what vegetation can and will grow in a particular location.
Geologists also have a particular interest in the patterns of soil on the surface of the earth. Soil texture, color and chemistry often reflect the underlying geologic parent material and soil types often change at geologic unit boundaries. Buried paleosols mark previous land surfaces and record climatic conditions from previous eras. Geologists use this paleopedological record to understand the ecological relationships in past ecosystems. According to the theory of biorhexistasy, prolonged conditions conducive to forming deep, weathered soils result in increasing ocean salinity and the formation of limestone.
Geologists use soil profile features to establish the duration of surface stability in the context of geologic faults or slope stability. An offset subsoil horizon indicates rupture during soil formation and the degree of subsequent subsoil formation is relied upon to establish time since rupture.
Due to their thermal mass, rammed earth walls fit in with environmental sustainability aspirations.
A homeowner sifts soil made from his compost bin in background. Composting is an excellent way to recycle household and yard wastes.
Sediment in the
Soil examined in shovel test pits is used by archaeologists for relative dating based on stratigraphy (as opposed to absolute dating). What is considered most typical is to use soil profile features to determine the maximum reasonable pit depth than needs to be examined for archaeological evidence in the interest of cultural resources management.
Soils altered or formed by man (anthropic and anthropogenic soils) are also of interest to archaeologists, such as terra preta soils.
Uses
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Soil is used in agriculture, where it serves as the primary nutrient base for the plants. The types of soil used in agriculture (among other things, such as the purported level of moisture in the soil) vary with respect to the species of plants that are cultivated.
Soil material is a critical component in the mining and construction industries. Soil serves as a foundation for most construction projects. Massive volumes of soil can be involved in surface mining, road building, and dam construction. Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using soil for external thermal mass against building walls.
Soil resources are critical to the environment, as well as to food and fiber production. Soil provides minerals and water to plants. Soil absorbs rainwater and releases it later thus preventing floods and drought. Soil cleans the water as it percolates. Soil is the habitat for many organisms.
Waste management often has a soil component. Septic drain fields treat septic tank effluent using aerobic soil processes. Landfills use soil for daily cover.
Organic soils, especially peat, serve as a significant fuel resource.
Both animals and humans in many cultures, occasionally consume soil.
Soils filter and purifying water and effect its chemistry. Rain water and pooled water from ponds, lakes and rivers percolated through the soil horizons and the upper rock strata, and thus becomes groundwater. Pollutants such as viruses, oils, metals, excess nutrients, and sediments are filtered out by the soil and soil organisms.
Degradation
Land degradation is a human-induced or natural process which impairs the capacity of land to function. Soils are the critical component in land degradation when it involves acidification, contamination, desertification, erosion, or salination.
While soil acidification of alkaline soils is beneficial, it degrades land when soil acidity lowers crop productivity and increases soil vulnerability to contamination and erosion. Soils are often initially acid because their parent materials were acid and initially low in the basic cations (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium). Acidification occurs when these elements are removed from the soil profile by normal rainfall or the harvesting of crops. Soil acidification is accelerated by the use of acid-forming nitrogenous fertilizers and by the effects of acid precipitation.
Soil contamination at low levels is often within soil capacity to treat and assimilate. Many waste treatment processes rely on this treatment capacity. Exceeding treatment capacity can damage soil biota and limit soil function. Derelict soils occur where industrial contamination or other development activity damages the soil to such a degree that the land cannot be used safely or productively. Remediation of derelict soil uses principles of geology, physics, chemistry, and biology to degrade, attenuate, isolate, or remove soil contaminants and to restore soil functions and values. Techniques include leaching, air sparging, chemical amendments, phytoremediation, bioremediation, and natural attenuation.
Desertification is an environmental process of ecosystem degradation in arid and semi-arid regions, often caused by human activity. It is a common misconception that droughts cause desertification. Droughts are common in arid and semiarid lands. Well-managed lands can recover from drought when the rains return. Soil management tools include maintaining soil nutrient and organic matter levels, reduced tillage and increased cover. These practices help to control erosion and maintain productivity during periods when moisture is available. Continued land abuse during droughts, however, increases land degradation. Increased population and livestock pressure on marginal lands accelerates desertification.
Soil erosional loss is caused by wind, water, ice, movement in response to gravity. Although the processes may be simultaneous, erosion is distinguished from weathering. Erosion is an intrinsic natural process, but in many places it is increased by human land use. Poor land use practices include deforestation, overgrazing, and improper construction activity. Improved management can limit erosion using techniques like limiting disturbance during construction, avoiding construction during erosion prone periods, intercepting runoff, terrace-building, use of erosion suppressing cover materials and planting trees or other soil binding plants.
A serious and long-running water erosion problem occurs in China, on the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. From the
Soil piping is a particular form of soil erosion that occurs below the soil surface. It is associated with levee and dam failure as well as sink hole formation. Turbulent flow removes soil starting from the mouth of the seep flow and subsoil erosion advances upgradient.[ The term sand boil is used to describe the appearance of the discharging end of an active soil pipe.
Soil salination is the accumulation of free salts to such an extent that it leads to degradation of soils and vegetation. Consequences include corrosion damage, reduced plant growth, erosion due to loss of plant cover and soil structure, and water quality problems due to sedimentation. Salination occurs due to a combination of natural and human caused processes. Arid conditions favor salt accumulation. This is especially apparent when soil parent material is saline. Irrigation of arid lands is especially problematic. All irrigation water has some level of salinity. Irrigation, especially when it involves leakage from canals, often raise the underlying water table. Rapid salination occurs when the land surface is within the capillary fringe of saline groundwater. Soil salinity control involves flushing with higher levels of applied water in combination with tile drainage.
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