Soil Definitions Soil is a combination of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and various organisms that come together to support life on Earth (Gupta, 2015). Buol et al., (2011) described it as a tiny layer of material on the surface of the earth, which are made up a lot of things, such as weathered rock and decomposed plant and animal matter. Doran and Parkin, (1994) referred to it as the unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the direct surface of the earth that serves as a natural
What is soil? “Soil is a complex mixture of eroded rock, mineral nutrients, decaying organic matter, water, air, and billions of living organisms, most of them microscopic decomposers.” (Miller and Spoolman, 211). As stated, soil is made when a mixture of items such as eroded rock and mineral nutrients come together. Soil is used in a plethora of ways. Soil is where many of the nutrients plants need to grow comes from, soil purifies water, and even absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to be
Soil is one of the most important natural resources. We use soil for everything. We use it to grow our food, we use it for fuel and we use it to build homes. It is important that we understand the soil that we build, design, work, and grow on. When we understand the soil we can work to preserve and protect it. There are many definitions of soil. Soil is the loose surface of the earth made up of materials that provide nutrients for plants. Soil is made up of a mixture of mineral matter, organic matter
agriculture on the soil is erosion. Though erosion is a natural process that occurs through the movement of soil by water, wind, and gravity, intensive farming acts as a catalyst. The manner in which industrial agriculture is performed makes the farmland more susceptible to erosion. Over-plowing the land removes the protective layer of plants and decaying organic matter whose root systems hold the soil in place. Soil erosion becomes problematic as a result of the slowness of soil formation. Because
clay are of extreme importance in soil science. Plant growth, and hence crop production, within any environmental condition is largely controlled by soil structure which results from reactions involving clay. The active clay material in .soil, particularly in combination with small amounts of organic matter, exerts a tremendous effect on soil properties. This effect may be on structure (the arrangement of soil particles), or on consistence (the response of the soil to mechanical manipulation). Where
To the farmer, soil is where crops grow. To the engineer, soil is a foundation upon which to build. To the ecologist, soil supports communities of living things. To the archaeologist, soil holds clues to past cultures. To the city dweller, soil nurtures grass and gardens. To the scientist, soil is all of these things. Soil has been called “the skin of the earth” because it is the thin outermost layer of the Earth’s crust. Like our own skin, we can’t live without soil (“Story of Soil”). No matter where
Lateritic Soils Soil structure is the size, shape and arrangement of mineral grains which form the soil mass. Soil structure is a major characteristic that influences all other engineering properties of the soil. Due to the processes of laterization, lateritic soils have attained distinct structural characteristics. It is an over-simplification to identify all temperate zone soils with dispersed structure and lateritic soils with concretionary structure (Remillon, 1967), lateritic soils may be on
Soil Conservation Soil is highly useful to us. We grow plants and trees in it. It holds the trees in place and supply nutrients and water to the plants to grow. The top soil is very healthy for plants to grow, and therefore, farmers take good care of the top soil for better yield. However, a strong wind or heavy rains can easily remove the fertile top soil. The removal of soil by water or wind is called soil erosion. A forest is a great collector and storeroom of water. The root structure of a tree
positions. Primary soil-forming materials are the omnipresent Triassic trappean rocks. After Sokolov et al. (2002) soils in this province mainly develop from residuum of bedrocks or from their loose derivatives of colluvial and solifluctional origin. In general mineral and chemical composition of the “sediment mantles” resemble underlying bedrock (Sokolov et al., 2002). Due to the low thermal regimes chemical weathering is hampered, while physical, cryopedogenic processeses dominate soil genesis. Cryopedogenic
Soil of Our Souls When considering planting a garden, there are many things to contemplate. One must take time to plan space, time, and commitment. What kind of garden are you going to plant? Will it contain vegetables only, perhaps flowers, or will you make it a combination of both? Are you going to start seedlings, or buy established green-house plants, and will the plants you choose flourish in your zone? What type of soil does your garden space have? Do you need to add fertilizer, nutrients
Factors of Soil Aggregation There are many features that characterize a soil. One such feature is aggregates. There are many different types of aggregates, such as platy, prismatic, granule, blocky, angular, and more. There are several different factors which influence the formation of these aggregates. Hans Jenny, in his book Factors of Soil Formation (1941), recognizes five factors which influence soil formation: climate, biota, topography, parent material, and time. This paper will explore
Introduction: Soil washing is one of the most suitable ex-situ remediation techniques that have been used for the treatment of soils contaminated with heavy metals, hydrocarbons and semi-volatile organic compounds. The hazardous contaminants can be removed from soil by washing the soil with a liquid (often with a chemical additive), scrubbing the soil, and then separating the clean soils from contaminated soil and wash water. The concept of soil washing is based on the theory that contaminants are
This paper reviews various methods used for the stabilization of the soil in the past. Papers summarizes the experiments done by the various researchers. As the soil weakness is the major cause of failure or degradation of structures standing on weak soil. A stabilized soil provides good contact between the foundation and the structure. The transfer of load takes place easily if the soil is stabilized. So the stabilization of soil is required and this paper enlightens some techniques and experiments
view the world. To most people soil is just dirt but to a farmer its potential.”-DOE ZANTAMATA. Soil is a complex ecosystem; it is made up of organic materials, liquids, minerals and gases which forms a habitat for all animals and plants. We normally tend to take soil for granted but it’s much more than mud or dust. There is no life without soil because all the plants grow in soil and we either eat these plants that grow in soil or the animals that eat the plants and soil also acts as a filter for any
researches have been done to determine the various factors that lead to the salinity/sodicity of soils in order to find the most effective techniques and methods for best treatment of these types of soils and make them arable. Experiments have been conducted on different kinds of soil, irrigation water, and agricultural crops trying to gather all pieces of the puzzle to solve the problem of salty soils, which threaten the availability of natural food resources for the livings. Those experiments has
The purpose of soil erosion is to show how the relationship between precipitation and soil along with how it can make water. It will identify the causes and effects, the process, and solutions of soil erosion. This will discuss what farmers and others need to be mindful of due to soil erosion of their lands and crops. Soil erosion is identified as a “the wearing away of rocks and other deposits on the earth's surface by the action of water, ice, wind and the act of process of eroding or the state
Types of Soils Soil is defined as the earth surface that serves as a natural medium for plants growth. “Soil is a combination of organic materials, mineral grains, water, and gas” (Thompson & Turk, 1993, p.253). It is very important to the environments as it produced essential products and provide critical ecosystem for life. In general soils are classified into three major categories. Which are Histosols, Oxisols and Ultisols (Refer to figure 1 in appendix 1). The first type of soil is Histosols
The term expansive soil indicates to soils, which ahs the tendency to swell when their moisture content is allowed to increase. The moisture may come from rain, flooding, leaking water or sewer lines, or from a reduction in surface evapotranspiration when an area is covered by a building or pavement. The term cracking soils is also used for these soils as they have the tendency to shrink and crack when the moisture is allowed to decrease. Soils containing the clay mineral montmorillonite generally
Sommer & Schlichting, 1997 quote “Studying soils along a slope is one of the simplest, yet most elegant ways to discern spatial interrelationships between soil and topography”. Various factors are responsible for the difference in soil characteristics and pattern along a slope. The aim of this assignment is to demonstrate the credibility of this statement by providing relevant information about the different processes along topography that affects the soil and thus enable readers to value the statement
the structure of the soil in relation to small, medium or large particles in a specific soil mass (Ball 2001). Soil texture is classified based on the amount of sand, silt and clay present in a soil sample (Schoonover & Crim 2015). A coarse soil is a sand or loamy soil, a medium soil is a loam, silt loam or silt whereas a fine soil is a sandy clay, silty clay or just clay (Ball 2001). The particles of the clay are very small which means they have a large surface area (What is Soil Texture? 2017). Due