Soil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Soil (disambiguation).

A, B, and C represent the soil profile, a notation firstly coined by Vasily Dokuchaev, the father of pedology; A is
the topsoil; B is a regolith; C is a saprolite, a less-weathered regolith; the bottom-most layer represents
the bedrock.

Surface-water-gley developed in glacial till, Northern Ireland.

Soil is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life.
The Earth's body of soil is the pedosphere, which has four important functions: it is a medium for
plant growth; it is a means of water storage, supply and purification; it is a modifier of Earth's
atmosphere; it is a habitat for organisms; all of which, in turn, modify the soil.
Soil has been called the Skin of the Earth[1] as it interfaces with the lithosphere, the hydrosphere,
the atmosphere, and the biosphere.[2]The term pedolith, used commonly to refer to the soil, literally
translates ground stone. Soil consists of a solid phase of minerals and organic matter (the soil
matrix), as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil
solution).[3][4][5]Accordingly, soils are often treated as a three-state system of solids, liquids, and
gases.[6]
Soil is a product of the influence of climate, relief (elevation, orientation, and slope of terrain),
organisms, and its parent materials (original minerals) interacting over time.[7] Soil continually
undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which
include weathering with associated erosion. Given its complexity and strong
internal connectedness soil has been considered as an ecosystem by soil ecologists.[8]
 Most soils have a dry bulk density (density of soil taking into account voids when dry) between 1.1
and 1.6 g/cm3, while the soil particle density is much higher, in the range of 2.6 to 2.7 g/cm3.[9] Little
of the soil of planet Earth is older than the Pleistocene and none is older than
the Cenozoic,[10] although fossilized soils are preserved from as far back as the Archean.[11]
Soil science has two basic branches of study: edaphology and pedology. Edaphology is concerned
with the influence of soils on living things.[12] Pedology is focused on the formation, description
(morphology), and classification of soils in their natural environment.[13] In engineering terms, soil is
included in the broader concept of regolith, which also includes other loose material that lies above
the solid geology.[14] Soil is commonly referred to as earth or dirt; technically, the term dirt should be
restricted to displaced soil.[15]

Contents
[hide]

1Overview
o 1.1Functions of soils
o 1.2Description
2History of the study of soil
o 2.1Studies concerning soil fertility
o 2.2Studies concerning soil formation
3Soil formation
o 3.1Soil-forming factors
3.1.1Parent material
3.1.1.1Classification of parent material
3.1.1.2Weathering of parent material
3.1.2Climate
3.1.3Topography
3.1.4Organisms
3.1.5Time
4Physical properties of soils
o 4.1Texture
o 4.2Structure
o 4.3Density
o 4.4Porosity
o 4.5Consistency
o 4.6Temperature
o 4.7Color
o 4.8Resistivity
5Soil water
o 5.1Water retention forces
o 5.2Moisture classification
o 5.3Soil moisture content
o 5.4Water flow in soils
5.4.1Saturated flow
5.4.2Unsaturated flow
o 5.5Water uptake by plants
o 5.6Consumptive use and water efficiency
6Soil atmosphere
7Composition of soil particles
o 7.1Gravel, sand and silt
 o 7.2Mineral colloids; soil clays
7.2.1Alumino-silica clays
7.2.2Crystalline chain clays
7.2.3Amorphous clays
7.2.4Sesquioxide clays
o 7.3Organic colloids
o 7.4Carbon and terra preta
8Soil chemistry
o 8.1Cation and anion exchange
8.1.1Cation exchange capacity (CEC)
8.1.2Anion exchange capacity (AEC)
o 8.2Soil reaction (pH)
8.2.1Soil pH
8.2.2Base saturation percentage
o 8.3Buffering of soils
9Nutrients
o 9.1Soil processes important for nutrient uptake
o 9.2Carbon
o 9.3Nitrogen
9.3.1Nitrogen gains
9.3.2Nitrogen sequestration
9.3.3Nitrogen losses
o 9.4Phosphorus
o 9.5Potassium
o 9.6Calcium
o 9.7Magnesium
o 9.8Sulfur
o 9.9Micronutrients
o 9.10Non-essential nutrients
10Soil organic matter
o 10.1Humus
o 10.2Climate and organic matter
o 10.3Plant residue in soil
11Soil horizons
12Classification
o 12.1Soil classification systems
12.1.1Australia
12.1.2European Union
12.1.3United States
13Uses
14Degradation
15Reclamation
16See also
17References
18Further reading
19External links

Overview[edit]
Soil Profile: Darkened topsoil and reddish subsoil layers are typical in some regions.

Functions of soils[edit]
Soil is a major component of the Earth's ecosystem. The world's ecosystems are impacted in far-
reaching ways by the processes carried out in the soil, from ozone depletion and global warming,
to rainforest destruction and water pollution. With respect to Earth's carbon cycle, soil is an
important carbon reservoir, and it is potentially one of the most reactive to human disturbance[16] and
climate change.[17] As the planet warms, it has been predicted that soils will add carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere due to increased biological activity at higher temperatures, a positive
feedback (amplification).[18] This prediction has, however, been questioned on consideration of more
recent knowledge on soil carbon turnover.[19]
Soil acts as an engineering medium, a habitat for soil organisms, a recycling system
for nutrients and organic wastes, a regulator of water quality, a modifier of atmospheric composition,
and a medium for plant growth, making it a critically important provider of ecosystem
services.[20] Since soil has a tremendous range of available niches and habitats, it contains most of
the Earth's genetic diversity. A gram of soil can contain billions of organisms, belonging to thousands
of species, mostly microbial and in the main still unexplored.[21][22] Soil has a mean prokaryotic density
of roughly 108 organisms per gram,[23] whereas the ocean has no more than 107 procaryotic
organisms per milliliter (gram) of seawater.[24] Organic carbon held in soil is eventually returned to the
atmosphere through the process of respirationcarried out by heterotrophic organisms, but a
substantial part is retained in the soil in the form of soil organic matter; tillage usually increases the
rate of respiration, leading to the depletion of soil organic matter.[25] Since plant roots need oxygen,
ventilation is an important characteristic of soil. This ventilation can be accomplished via networks of
interconnected soil pores, which also absorb and hold rainwater making it readily available for plant
uptake. Since plants require a nearly continuous supply of water, but most regions receive sporadic
rainfall, the water-holding capacity of soils is vital for plant survival.[26]
Soils can effectively remove impurities,[27] kill disease agents,[28] and degrade contaminants, this latter
property being called natural attenuation.[29] Typically, soils maintain a net absorption
of oxygen and methane, and undergo a net release of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.[30] Soils offer
plants physical support, air, water, temperature moderation, nutrients, and protection from
toxins.[31] Soils provide readily available nutrients to plants and animals by converting dead organic
matter into various nutrient forms.[32]
Description[edit]
Components of a loam soil by percent volume

Water (25%)
Gases (25%)
Sand (18%)
Silt (18%)
Clay (9%)
Organic matter (5%)

A typical soil is about 50% solids (45% mineral and 5% organic matter), and 50% voids of which half
is occupied by water and half by gas.[33]The percent soil mineral and organic content can be treated
as a constant (in the short term), while the percent soil water and gas content is considered highly
variable whereby a rise in one is simultaneously balanced by a reduction in the other.[34] The pore
space allows for the infiltration and movement of air and water, both of which are critical for life in
soil.[35] Compaction, a common problem with soils, reduces this space, preventing air and water from
reaching plant roots and soil organisms.[36]
Given sufficient time, an undifferentiated soil will evolve a soil profile which consists of two or more
layers, referred to as soil horizons, that differ in one or more properties such as in their texture,
structure, density, porosity, consistency, temperature, color, and reactivity.[10] The horizons differ
greatly in thickness and generally lack sharp boundaries; their development is dependent on the
type of parent material, the processes that modify those parent materials, and the soil-forming
factors that influence those processes. The biological influences on soil properties are strongest
near the surface, while the geochemical influences on soil properties increase with depth. Mature
soil profiles typically include three basic master horizons: A, B and C. The solum normally includes
the A and B horizons. The living component of the soil is largely confined to the solum, and is
generally more prominent in the A horizon.[37]
The soil texture is determined by the relative proportions of the individual particles of sand, silt, and
clay that make up the soil. The interaction of the individual mineral particles with organic matter,
water, gases via biotic and abiotic processes causes those particles to flocculate (stick together) to
form aggregates or peds.[38] Where these aggregates can be identified, a soil can be said to be
developed, and can be described further in terms of color, porosity, consistency, reaction (acidity),
etc.
Water is a critical agent in soil development due to its involvement in the dissolution, precipitation,
erosion, transport, and deposition of the materials of which a soil is composed.[39] The mixture of
water and dissolved or suspended materials that occupy the soil pore space is called the soil
solution. Since soil water is never pure water, but contains hundreds of dissolved organic and
mineral substances, it may be more accurately called the soil solution. Water is central to
the dissolution, precipitation and leaching of minerals from the soil profile. Finally, water affects the
type of vegetation that grows in a soil, which in turn affects the development of the soil, a complex
feedback which is exemplified in the dynamics of banded vegetation patterns in semi-arid regions.[40]
Soils supply plants with nutrients, most of which are held in place by particles of clay and organic
matter (colloids)[41] The nutrients may be adsorbed on clay mineral surfaces, bound within clay
minerals (absorbed), or bound within organic compounds as part of the living organisms or dead soil
organic matter. These bound nutrients interact with soil water to buffer the soil solution composition
(attenuate changes in the soil solution) as soils wet up or dry out, as plants take up nutrients, as
salts are leached, or as acids or alkalis are added.[42][43]
Plant nutrient availability is affected by soil pH, which is a measure of the hydrogen ion activity in the
soil solution. Soil pH is a function of many soil forming factors, and is generally lower (more acid)
where weathering is more advanced.[44]
Most plant nutrients, with the exception of nitrogen, originate from the minerals that make up the soil
parent material. Some nitrogen originates from rain as dilute nitric acid and ammonia,[45] but most of
the nitrogen is available in soils as a result of nitrogen fixation by bacteria. Once in the soil-plant
system, most nutrients are recycled through living organisms, plant and microbial residues (soil
organic matter), mineral-bound forms, and the soil solution. Both living microorganisms and soil
organic matter are of critical importance to this recycling, and thereby to soil formation and soil
fertility.[46] Microbial activity in soils may release nutrients from minerals or organic matter for use by
plants and other microorganisms, sequester (incorporate) them into living cells, or cause their loss
from the soil by volatilisation (loss to the atmosphere as gases) or leaching.

History of the study of soil[edit]

Studies concerning soil fertility[edit]
The history of the study of soil is intimately tied to our urgent need to provide food for ourselves and
forage for our animals. Throughout history, civilizations have prospered or declined as a function of
the availability and productivity of their soils.[47]
The Greek historian Xenophon (450355 BCE) is credited with being the first to expound upon the
merits of green-manuring crops: "But then whatever weeds are upon the ground, being turned into
earth, enrich the soil as much as dung."[48]
Columella's "Husbandry," circa 60 CE, advocated the use of lime and that clover and alfalfa (green
manure) should be turned under, and was used by 15 generations (450 years) under the Roman
Empire until its collapse.[48][49] From the fall of Rome to the French Revolution, knowledge of soil and
agriculture was passed on from parent to child and as a result, crop yields were low. During the
European Dark Ages, Yahya Ibn al-'Awwam's handbook,[50] with its emphasis on irrigation, guided the
people of North Africa, Spain and the Middle East; a translation of this work was finally carried to the
southwest of the United States when under Spanish influence.[51] Olivier de Serres, considered as the
father of French agronomy, was the first to suggest the abandonment of fallowing and its
replacement by hay meadows within crop rotations, and he highlighted the importance of soil (the
French terroir) in the management of vineyards. His famous book Le Thtre dAgriculture et
mesnage des champs[52] contributed to the rise of modern, sustainable agricultureand to the collapse
of old agricultural practices such as the lifting of forest litter for the amendment of crops (the
French soutrage) and assarting, which ruined the soils of western Europe during Middle Ages and
even later on according to regions.[53]
Experiments into what made plants grow first led to the idea that the ash left behind when plant
matter was burned was the essential element but overlooked the role of nitrogen, which is not left on
the ground after combustion, a belief which prevailed until the 19th century.[54] In about 1635, the
Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont thought he had proved water to be the essential element
from his famous five years' experiment with a willow tree grown with only the addition of rainwater.
His conclusion came from the fact that the increase in the plant's weight had apparently been
produced only by the addition of water, with no reduction in the soil's weight.[55][56] John Woodward (d.
1728) experimented with various types of water ranging from clean to muddy and found muddy
water the best, and so he concluded that earthy matter was the essential element. Others concluded
it was humus in the soil that passed some essence to the growing plant. Still others held that the
vital growth principal was something passed from dead plants or animals to the new plants. At the
start of the 18th century, Jethro Tull demonstrated that it was beneficial to cultivate (stir) the soil, but
his opinion that the stirring made the fine parts of soil available for plant absorption was
erroneous.[55][57]
As chemistry developed, it was applied to the investigation of soil fertility. The French
chemist Antoine Lavoisier showed in about 1778 that plants and animals must [combust] oxygen
internally to live and was able to deduce that most of the 165-pound weight of van Helmont's willow
tree derived from air.[58] It was the French agriculturalist Jean-Baptiste Boussingault who by means of
experimentation obtained evidence showing that the main sources of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
for plants were air and water, while nitrogen was taken from soil.[59] Justus von Liebig in his
book Organic chemistry in its applications to agriculture and physiology (published 1840), asserted
that the chemicals in plants must have come from the soil and air and that to maintain soil fertility,
the used minerals must be replaced.[60] Liebig nevertheless believed the nitrogen was supplied from
the air. The enrichment of soil with guano by the Incas was rediscovered in 1802, by Alexander von
Humboldt. This led to its mining and that of Chilean nitrate and to its application to soil in the United
States and Europe after 1840.[61]
The work of Liebig was a revolution for agriculture, and so other investigators started
experimentation based on it. In England John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry Gilbertworked in
the Rothamsted Experimental Station, founded by the former, and (re)discovered that plants took
nitrogen from the soil, and that salts needed to be in an available state to be absorbed by plants.
Their investigations also produced the "superphosphate", consisting in the acid treatment of
phosphate rock.[62] This led to the invention and use of salts of potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) as
fertilizers. Ammonia generated by the production of coke was recovered and used as
fertiliser.[63] Finally, the chemical basis of nutrients delivered to the soil in manure was understood
and in the mid-19th century chemical fertilisers were applied. However, the dynamic interaction of
soil and its life forms still awaited discovery.
In 1856 J. Thomas Way discovered that ammonia contained in fertilisers was transformed into
nitrates,[64] and twenty years later Robert Warington proved that this transformation was done by
living organisms.[65] In 1890 Sergei Winogradsky announced he had found the bacteria responsible
for this transformation.[66]
It was known that certain legumes could take up nitrogen from the air and fix it to the soil but it took
the development of bacteriology towards the end of the 19th century to lead to an understanding of
the role played in nitrogen fixation by bacteria. The symbiosis of bacteria and leguminous roots, and
the fixation of nitrogen by the bacteria, were simultaneously discovered by the German
agronomist Hermann Hellriegel and the Dutch microbiologist Martinus Beijerinck.[62]
Crop rotation, mechanisation, chemical and natural fertilisers led to a doubling of wheat yields in
western Europe between 1800 and 1900.[67]
Studies concerning soil formation[edit]
The scientists who studied the soil in connection with agricultural practices had considered it mainly
as a static substrate. However, soil is the result of evolution from more ancient geological materials,
under the action of biotic and abiotic (not associated with life) processes. After studies of the
improvement of the soil commenced, others began to study soil genesis and as a result also soil
types and classifications.
In 1860, in Mississippi, Eugene W. Hilgard studied the relationship among rock material, climate,
and vegetation, and the type of soils that were developed. He realised that the soils were dynamic,
and considered soil types classification.[68] Unfortunately his work was not continued. At the same
time Vasily Dokuchaev (about 1870) was leading a team of soil scientists in Russia who conducted
an extensive survey of soils, finding that similar basic rocks, climate and vegetation types lead to
similar soil layering and types, and established the concepts for soil classifications. Due to language
barriers, the work of this team was not communicated to western Europe until 1914 through a
publication in German by Konstantin Dmitrievich Glinka, a member of the Russian team.[69]
Curtis F. Marbut was influenced by the work of the Russian team, translated Glinka's publication into
English,[70] and as he was placed in charge of the U. S. National Cooperative Soil Survey, applied it
to a national soil classification system.[55]

Soil formation[edit]
Soil formation, or pedogenesis, is the combined effect of physical, chemical, biological
and anthropogenic processes working on soil parent material. Soil is said to be formed when organic
matter has accumulated and colloids are washed downward, leaving deposits of clay, humus, iron
oxide, carbonate, and gypsum, producing a distinct layer called the B horizon. This is a somewhat
arbitrary definition as mixtures of sand, silt, clay and humus will support biological and agricultural
activity before that time. These constituents are moved from one level to another by water and
animal activity. As a result, layers (horizons) form in the soil profile. The alteration and movement of
materials within a soil causes the formation of distinctive soil horizons. However, more recent
definitions of soil embrace soils without any organic matter, such as those regoliths that formed on
Mars[71] and analogous conditions in planet Earth deserts.[72]
An example of the development of a soil would begin with the weathering of lava flow bedrock, which
would produce the purely mineral-based parent material from which the soil texture forms. Soil
development would proceed most rapidly from bare rock of recent flows in a warm climate, under
heavy and frequent rainfall. Under such conditions, plants (in a first stage nitrogen-
fixing lichens and cyanobacteria then epilithic higher plants) become established very quickly
on basaltic lava, even though there is very little organic material. The plants are supported by the
porous rock as it is filled with nutrient-bearing water that carries minerals dissolved from the rocks.
Crevasses and pockets, local topography of the rocks, would hold fine materials and harbour plant
roots. The developing plant roots are associated with mineral-weathering mycorrhizal fungi[73] that
assist in breaking up the porous lava, and by these means organic matter and a finer mineral soil
accumulate with time. Such initial stages of soil development have been described on
volcanoes,[74]inselbergs,[75] and glacial moraines.[76]
Soil-forming factors[edit]
How soil formation proceeds is influenced by at least five classic factors that are intertwined in the
evolution of a soil. They are: parent material, climate, topography (relief), organisms, and
time.[77] When reordered to climate, relief, organisms, parent material, and time, they form the
acronym CROPT.[78]
Parent material[edit]
The mineral material from which a soil forms is called parent material. Rock, whether its origin is
igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic, is the source of all soil mineral materials and the origin of all
plant nutrients with the exceptions of nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon. As the parent material is
chemically and physically weathered, transported, deposited and precipitated, it is transformed into a
soil.
Typical soil parent mineral materials are:[79]

Quartz: SiO2
Calcite: CaCO3
Feldspar: KAlSi3O8
Mica (biotite): K(Mg,Fe)3AlSi3O10(OH)2
Classification of parent material[edit]
Loess field in Germany.

Parent materials are classified according to how they came to be deposited. Residual materials are
mineral materials that have weathered in place from primary bedrock. Transported materials are
those that have been deposited by water, wind, ice or gravity. Cumulose material is organic matter
that has grown and accumulates in place.
Residual soils are soils that develop from their underlying parent rocks and have the same general
chemistry as those rocks. The soils found on mesas, plateaux, and plains are residual soils. In the
United States as little as three percent of the soils are residual.[80]
Most soils derive from transported materials that have been moved many miles by wind, water, ice
and gravity.

Aeolian processes (movement by wind) are capable of moving silt and fine sand many hundreds
of miles, forming loess soils (6090 percent silt),[81] common in the Midwest of North America,
north-western Europe, Argentina and Central Asia. Clay is seldom moved by wind as it forms
stable aggregates.
Water-transported materials are classed as either alluvial, lacustrine, or marine. Alluvial
materials are those moved and deposited by flowing water. Sedimentary depositssettled in lakes
are called lacustrine. Lake Bonneville and many soils around the Great Lakes of the United
States are examples. Marine deposits, such as soils along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and in
the Imperial Valley of California of the United States, are the beds of ancient seas that have
been revealed as the land uplifted.
Ice moves parent material and makes deposits in the form of terminal and lateral moraines in the
case of stationary glaciers. Retreating glaciers leave smoother ground moraines and in all
cases, outwash plains are left as alluvial deposits are moved downstream from the glacier.
Parent material moved by gravity is obvious at the base of steep slopes as talus cones and is
called colluvial material.
Cumulose parent material is not moved but originates from deposited organic material. This
includes peat and muck soils and results from preservation of plant residues by the low oxygen
content of a high water table. While peat may form sterile soils, muck soils may be very fertile.
Weathering of parent material[edit]
The weathering of parent material takes the form of physical weathering (disintegration), chemical
weathering (decomposition) and chemical transformation. Generally, minerals that are formed under
high temperatures and pressures at great depths within the Earth's mantle are less resistant to
weathering, while minerals formed at low temperature and pressure environment of the surface are
more resistant to weathering.[citation needed] Weathering is usually confined to the top few meters of
geologic material, because physical, chemical, and biological stresses and fluctuations generally
decrease with depth.[82] Physical disintegration begins as rocks that have solidified deep in the Earth
are exposed to lower pressure near the surface and swell and become mechanically unstable.
Chemical decomposition is a function of mineral solubility, the rate of which doubles with each 10 C
rise in temperature, but is strongly dependent on water to effect chemical changes. Rocks that will
decompose in a few years in tropical climates will remain unaltered for millennia in
deserts.[7] Structural changes are the result of hydration, oxidation, and reduction. Chemical
weathering mainly results from the excretion of organic acids and chelatingcompounds by
bacteria[83] and fungi,[84] thought to increase under present-day greenhouse effect.[85]

Physical disintegration is the first stage in the transformation of parent material into soil.
Temperature fluctuations cause expansion and contraction of the rock, splitting it along lines of
weakness. Water may then enter the cracks and freeze and cause the physical splitting of
material along a path toward the center of the rock, while temperature gradients within the rock
can cause exfoliation of "shells". Cycles of wetting and drying cause soil particles to be abraded
to a finer size, as does the physical rubbing of material as it is moved by wind, water, and
gravity. Water can deposit within rocks minerals that expand upon drying, thereby stressing the
rock. Finally, organisms reduce parent material in size and create crevices and pores through
the mechanical action of plant roots and the digging activity of animals.[86] Grinding of parent
material by rock-eating animals also contributes to incipient soil formation.[87]
Chemical decomposition and structural changes result when minerals are made soluble by
water or are changed in structure. The first three of the following list are solubility changes and
the last three are structural changes.[88]

1. The solution of salts in water results from the action of bipolar water molecules on ionic
salt compounds producing a solution of ions and water, removing those minerals and
reducing the rock's integrity, at a rate depending on water flow and pore channels.[89]
2. Hydrolysis is the transformation of minerals into polar molecules by the splitting of
intervening water. This results in soluble acid-base pairs. For example, the hydrolysis
of orthoclase-feldspar transforms it to acid silicate clay and basic potassium hydroxide, both
of which are more soluble.[90]
3. In carbonation, the solution of carbon dioxide in water forms carbonic acid. Carbonic acid
will transform calcite into more soluble calcium bicarbonate.[91]
4. Hydration is the inclusion of water in a mineral structure, causing it to swell and leaving it
stressed and easily decomposed.[92]
5. Oxidation of a mineral compound is the inclusion of oxygen in a mineral, causing it to
increase its oxidation number and swell due to the relatively large size of oxygen, leaving it
stressed and more easily attacked by water (hydrolysis) or carbonic acid (carbonation).[93]
6. Reduction, the opposite of oxidation, means the removal of oxygen, hence the oxidation
number of some part of the mineral is reduced, which occurs when oxygen is scarce. The
reduction of minerals leaves them electrically unstable, more soluble and internally stressed
and easily decomposed. It mainly occurs in waterloggedconditions.[94]
Of the above, hydrolysis and carbonation are the most effective, in particular in regions of high
rainfall, temperature and physical erosion.[95] Chemical weathering becomes more effective as
the surface area of the rock increases, thus is favoured by physical disintegration.[96] This stems in
latitudinal and altitudinal climate gradients in regolithformation.[97][98]
Saprolite is a particular example of a residual soil formed from the transformation of granite,
metamorphic and other types of bedrock into clay minerals. Often called [weathered granite],
saprolite is the result of weathering processes that include: hydrolysis, chelation from organic
compounds, hydration (the solution of minerals in water with resulting cation and anion pairs) and
physical processes that include freezing and thawing. The mineralogical and chemical composition
of the primary bedrock material, its physical features, including grain size and degree of
consolidation, and the rate and type of weathering transforms the parent material into a different
mineral. The texture, pH and mineral constituents of saprolite are inherited from its parent material.
This process is also called arenization, resulting in the formation of sandy soils (granitic arenas),
thanks to the much higher resistance of quartz compared to other mineral components of granite
(micas, amphiboles, feldspars).[99]
Climate[edit]
The principal climatic variables influencing soil formation are effective precipitation (i.e., precipitation
minus evapotranspiration) and temperature, both of which affect the rates of chemical, physical, and
biological processes. Temperature and moisture both influence the organic matter content of soil
through their effects on the balance between primary production and decomposition: the colder or
drier the climate the lesser atmospheric carbon is fixed as organic matter while the lesser organic
matter is decomposed.[100]
Climate is the dominant factor in soil formation, and soils show the distinctive characteristics of
the climate zones in which they form, with a feedback to climate through transfer of carbon stocked
in soil horizons back to the atmosphere.[17] If warm temperatures and abundant water are present in
the profile at the same time, the processes of weathering, leaching, and plant growth will be
maximized. According to the climatic determination of biomes, humid climates favor the growth of
trees. In contrast, grasses are the dominant native vegetation in subhumid and semiarid regions,
while shrubs and brush of various kinds dominate in arid areas.[101]
Water is essential for all the major chemical weathering reactions. To be effective in soil formation,
water must penetrate the regolith. The seasonal rainfall distribution, evaporative losses,
site topography, and soil permeability interact to determine how effectively precipitation can
influence soil formation. The greater the depth of water penetration, the greater the depth of
weathering of the soil and its development. Surplus water percolating through the soil profile
transports soluble and suspended materials from the upper layers (eluviation) to the lower layers
(illuviation), including clay particles[102] and dissolved organic matter.[103] It may also carry away
soluble materials in the surface drainage waters. Thus, percolating water stimulates weathering
reactions and helps differentiate soil horizons. Likewise, a deficiency of water is a major factor in
determining the characteristics of soils of dry regions. Soluble salts are not leached from these soils,
and in some cases they build up to levels that curtail plant[104] and microbial growth.[105] Soil profiles in
arid and semi-arid regions are also apt to accumulate carbonates and certain types of expansive
clays (calcrete or caliche horizons).[106][107] In tropical soils, when the soil has been deprived of
vegetation (e.g. by deforestation) and thereby is submitted to intense evaporation, the upward
capillary movement of water, which has dissolved iron and aluminum salts, is responsible for the
formation of a superficial hard pan of laterite or bauxite, respectively, which is improper for
cutivation, a known case of irreversible soil degradation (lateritization, bauxitization).[108]
The direct influences of climate include:[109]

A shallow accumulation of lime in low rainfall areas as caliche

Formation of acid soils in humid areas
Erosion of soils on steep hillsides
Deposition of eroded materials downstream
Very intense chemical weathering, leaching, and erosion in warm and humid regions where soil
does not freeze
Climate directly affects the rate of weathering and leaching. Wind moves sand and smaller particles
(dust), especially in arid regions where there is little plant cover, depositing it close[110] or far from the
entrainment source.[111] The type and amount of precipitation influence soil formation by affecting the
movement of ions and particles through the soil, and aid in the development of different soil profiles.
Soil profiles are more distinct in wet and cool climates, where organic materials may accumulate,
than in wet and warm climates, where organic materials are rapidly consumed.[112] The effectiveness
of water in weathering parent rock material depends on seasonal and daily temperature fluctuations,
which favour tensile stresses in rock minerals, and thus their mechanical disaggregation, a process
called thermal fatigue.[113] By the same process freeze-thaw cycles are an effective mechanism which
breaks up rocks and other consolidated materials.[114]
Climate also indirectly influences soil formation through the effects of vegetation cover and biological
activity, which modify the rates of chemical reactions in the soil.[115]
Topography[edit]
The topography, or relief, is characterized by the inclination (slope), elevation, and orientation of the
terrain. Topography determines the rate of precipitation or runoff and rate of formation or erosion of
the surface soil profile. The topographical setting may either hasten or retard the work of climatic
forces.
Steep slopes encourage rapid soil loss by erosion and allow less rainfall to enter the soil before
running off and hence, little mineral deposition in lower profiles. In semiarid regions, the lower
effective rainfall on steeper slopes also results in less complete vegetative cover, so there is less
plant contribution to soil formation. For all of these reasons, steep slopes prevent the formation of
soil from getting very far ahead of soil destruction. Therefore, soils on steep terrain tend to have
rather shallow, poorly developed profiles in comparison to soils on nearby, more level sites.[116]
In swales and depressions where runoff water tends to concentrate, the regolith is usually more
deeply weathered and soil profile development is more advanced. However, in the lowest landscape
positions, water may saturate the regolith to such a degree that drainage and aeration are restricted.
Here, the weathering of some minerals and the decomposition of organic matter are retarded, while
the loss of iron and manganese is accelerated. In such low-lying topography, special profile features
characteristic of wetlandsoils may develop. Depressions allow the accumulation of water, minerals
and organic matter and in the extreme, the resulting soils will be saline marshes or peat bogs.
Intermediate topography affords the best conditions for the formation of an agriculturally productive
soil.
Organisms[edit]
Soil is the most abundant ecosystem on Earth, but the vast majority of organisms in soil
are microbes, a great many of which have not been described.[117][118] There may be a population limit
of around one billion cells per gram of soil, but estimates of the number of species vary widely from
50,000 per gram to over a million per gram of soil.[117][119] The total number of organisms and species
can vary widely according to soil type, location, and depth.[118][119]
Plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and humans affect soil formation (see soil biomantle and stonelayer).
Soil animals, including soil macrofauna and soil mesofauna, mix soils as they
form burrows and pores, allowing moisture and gases to move about, a process
called bioturbation.[120] In the same way, plant roots penetrate soil horizons and open channels upon
decomposition.[121] Plants with deep taproots can penetrate many metres through the different soil
layers to bring up nutrients from deeper in the profile.[122] Plants have fine roots that excrete organic
compounds (sugars, organic acids, mucigel), slough off cells (in particular at their tip) and are easily
decomposed, adding organic matter to soil, a process called rhizodeposition.[123] Micro-organisms,
including fungi and bacteria, effect chemical exchanges between roots and soil and act as a reserve
of nutrients in a soil biological hotspot called rhizosphere.[124] The growth of roots through the soil
stimulates microbial populations, stimulating in turn the activity of their predators (notably amoeba),
thereby increasing the mineralization rate, and in last turn root growth, a positive feedback called the
soil microbial loop.[125] Out of root influence, in the bulk soil, most bacteria are in a quiescent stage,
forming microaggregates, i.e. mucilaginous colonies to which clay particles are glued, offering them
a protection against desiccation and predation by
soil microfauna (bacteriophagous protozoa and nematodes).[126] Microaggregates (20-250 m) are
ingested by soil mesofauna and macrofauna, and bacterial bodies are partly or totally digested in
their guts.[127]
Humans impact soil formation by removing vegetation cover
with erosion, waterlogging, lateritization or podzolization (according to climate and topography) as
the result.[128] Their tillage also mixes the different soil layers, restarting the soil formation process as
less weathered material is mixed with the more developed upper layers, resulting in net increased
rate of mineral weathering.[129]
Earthworms, ants, termites, moles, gophers, as well as some millipedes and tenebrionid beetles mix
the soil as they burrow, significantly affecting soil formation.[130] Earthworms ingest soil particles and
organic residues, enhancing the availability of plant nutrients in the material that passes through
their bodies.[131] They aerate and stir the soil and create stable soil aggregates, after having disrupted
links between soil particles during the intestinal transit of ingested soil,[132] thereby assuring ready
infiltration of water.[133] In addition, as ants and termites build mounds, they transport soil materials
from one horizon to another.[134] Other important functions are fulfilled by earthworms in the soil
ecosystem, in particular their intense mucus production, both within the intestine and as a lining in
their galleries,[135] exert a priming effect on soil microflora,[136] giving them the status of ecosystem
engineers, which they share with ants and termites.[137]
In general, the mixing of the soil by the activities of animals, sometimes called pedoturbation, tends
to undo or counteract the tendency of other soil-forming processes that create distinct
horizons.[138] Termites and ants may also retard soil profile development by denuding large areas of
soil around their nests, leading to increased loss of soil by erosion.[139]Large animals such as
gophers, moles, and prairie dogs bore into the lower soil horizons, bringing materials to the
surface.[140] Their tunnels are often open to the surface, encouraging the movement of water and air
into the subsurface layers. In localized areas, they enhance mixing of the lower and upper horizons
by creating, and later refilling, underground tunnels. Old animal burrows in the lower horizons often
become filled with soil material from the overlying A horizon, creating profile features known as
crotovinas.[141]
Vegetation impacts soils in numerous ways. It can prevent erosion caused by excessive rain that
might result from surface runoff.[142] Plants shade soils, keeping them cooler[143]and slow evaporation
of soil moisture,[144] or conversely, by way of transpiration, plants can cause soils to lose moisture,
resulting in complex and highly variable relationships between leaf area index (measuring light
interception) and moisture loss: more generally plants prevent soil from desiccation during driest
months while they dry it during moister months, thereby acting as a buffer against strong moisture
variation.[145] Plants can form new chemicals that can break down minerals, both directly[146] and
indirectly through mycorrhizal fungi[84] and rhizosphere bacteria,[147] and improve the soil
structure.[148] The type and amount of vegetation depends on climate, topography, soil characteristics
and biological factors, mediated or not by human activities.[149][150] Soil factors such as density, depth,
chemistry, pH, temperature and moisture greatly affect the type of plants that can grow in a given
location. Dead plants and fallen leaves and stems begin their decomposition on the surface. There,
organisms feed on them and mix the organic material with the upper soil layers; these added organic
compounds become part of the soil formation process.[151]
Human activities widely influence soil formation.[152] For example, it is believed that Native
Americans regularly set fires to maintain several large areas of prairie grasslands
in Indiana and Michigan, although climate and mammalian grazers (e.g. bisons) are also advocated
to explain the maintenance of the Great Plains of North America.[153] In more recent times, human
destruction of natural vegetation and subsequent tillage of the soil for crop production has abruptly
modified soil formation.[154] Likewise, irrigating soil in an arid region drastically influences soil-forming
factors,[155] as does adding fertilizer and lime to soils of low fertility.[156]
Time[edit]
Time is a factor in the interactions of all the above.[77] While a mixture of sand, silt and clay constitute
the texture of a soil and the aggregation of those components produces peds, the development of a
distinct B horizon marks the development of a soil or pedogenesis.[157] With time, soils will evolve
features that depend on the interplay of the prior listed soil-forming factors.[77] It takes decades[158] to
several thousand years for a soil to develop a profile,[159] although the notion of soil development has
been criticized, soil being in a constant state-of-change under the influence of fluctuating soil-forming
factors.[160] That time period depends strongly on climate, parent material, relief, and biotic
activity.[161][162] For example, recently deposited material from a flood exhibits no soil development as
there has not been enough time for the material to form a structure that further defines soil.[163] The
original soil surface is buried, and the formation process must begin anew for this deposit. Over time
the soil will develop a profile that depends on the intensities of biota and climate. While a soil can
achieve relative stability of its properties for extended periods,[159] the soil life cycle ultimately ends in
soil conditions that leave it vulnerable to erosion.[164] Despite the inevitability of soil retrogression and
degradation, most soil cycles are long.[159]
Soil-forming factors continue to affect soils during their existence, even on "stable" landscapes that
are long-enduring, some for millions of years.[159] Materials are deposited on top[165] or are blown or
washed from the surface.[166] With additions, removals and alterations, soils are always subject to
new conditions. Whether these are slow or rapid changes depends on climate, topography and
biological activity.[167]

Physical properties of soils[edit]

For the academic discipline, see Soil physics.
The physical properties of soils, in order of decreasing importance for ecosystem services such
as crop production, are texture, structure, bulk density, porosity, consistency, temperature, colour
and resistivity.[168] Soil texture is determined by the relative proportion of the three kinds of soil
mineral particles, called soil separates: sand, silt, and clay. At the next larger scale, soil structures
called peds or more commonly soil aggregates are created from the soil separates when iron
oxides, carbonates, clay, silica and humus, coat particles and cause them to adhere into larger,
relatively stable secondary structures.[169] Soil bulk density, when determined at standardized
moisture conditions, is an estimate of soil compaction.[170] Soil porosity consists of the void part of the
soil volume and is occupied by gases or water. Soil consistency is the ability of soil materials to stick
together. Soil temperature and colour are self-defining. Resistivity refers to the resistance to
conduction of electric currents and affects the rate of corrosion of metal and concrete structures
which are buried in soil.[171] It also helps to estimate soil moisture.[172] These properties vary through
the depth of a soil profile, i.e. through soil horizons. Most of these properties determine the aeration
of the soil and the ability of water to infiltrate and to be held within the soil.[173]
Influence of Soil Texture Separates on Some Properties of Soils[55]
Property/behavior Sand Silt Clay
Medium to
Water-holding capacity Low High
high
Aeration Good Medium Poor
Slow to
Drainage rate High Very slow
medium
Medium to
Soil organic matter level Low High to medium
high
Decomposition of organic matter Rapid Medium Slow
Warm-up in spring Rapid Moderate Slow
Compactability Low Medium High
Susceptibility to wind erosion Moderate (High if fine High Low
 sand)
Low if aggregated, otherwise
Susceptibility to water erosion Low (unless fine sand) High
high
Shrink/Swell Potential Very Low Low Moderate to very high
Sealing of ponds, dams, and
Poor Poor Good
landfills
Suitability for tillage after rain Good Medium Poor
Pollutant leaching potential High Medium Low (unless cracked)
Medium to
Ability to store plant nutrients Poor High
High
Resistance to pH change Low Medium High
Texture[edit]
Main article: Soil texture

Soil types by clay, silt and sand composition as used by the USDA

Iron-rich soil near Paint Pots in Kootenay National Park, Canada

The mineral components of soil are sand, silt and clay, and their relative proportions determine a
soil's texture. Properties that are influenced by soil texture
include porosity, permeability, infiltration, shrink-swell rate, water-holding capacity, and susceptibility
to erosion. In the illustrated USDA textural classification triangle, the only soil in which neither sand,
silt nor clay predominates is called loam. While even pure sand, silt or clay may be considered a soil,
from the perspective of conventional agriculture a loam soil with a sma