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Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers (soil horizons) of primarily mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their texture, structure, consistence, color, chemical, biological and other physical characteristics. In engineering, soil is referred to as regolith, or loose rock material. Strictly speaking, soil is the depth of regolith that influences and has been influenced by plant roots.

Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and mechanical processes that include weathering and erosion. Soil is altered from its parent rock due to 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 is commonly referred to as earth or dirt; technically, the term dirt should be restricted to displaced soil.

Soil forms a structure that is filled with pore spaces, and can be thought of as a mixture of solids, water and air (gas). Accordingly, soils are often treated as a three state system. Most soils have a density between 1 and 2 g/cm³. Little of the soil of planet Earth is older than the Tertiary and most no older than the Pleistocene.

Darkened topsoil and reddish subsoil layers are typical in some regions.

On a volume basis a good quality soil is one that is 45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air, and 5% organic material, both live and dead. The mineral and organic components are considered a constant with the percentages of water and air the only variable parameters where the increase in one is balanced by the reduction in the other.

A soil profile consists of two or more layers called horizons that differ in one or more properties such as texture, structure, color, porosity, consistence, and reaction. The horizons differ greatly in thickness and generally lack sharp boundaries. Most soil profiles include three master horizons A, B and C. The A and B horizons are called the solum or “true soil” as most of the chemical and biological activity that has altered the soil takes place in these two profiles.

From Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License
Thu May 17 07:11:01 2012

Noun

soil (countable and uncountable; plural soils)

  1. (uncountable) A mixture of sand and organic material, used to support plant growth.
  2. (uncountable) 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.
  3. (uncountable) The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. A product-soil differs from the material from which it is derived in many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties and characteristics.
  4. (euphemism) Country or territory.
    The refugees returned to their native soil.
Synonyms

From Wiktionary under the GNU Free Documentation License
Sun May 13 12:56:19 2012


Soil

From Wikiquote This theme article needs cleanup. Please review , especially the , to determine how to edit this article to conform to a higher standard of article quality. This page has been listed as needing cleanup since 2009-12-21.

Terms used in lieu of soil include terra, dirt, and, as applicable, land and ground.

Sourced

  • Man has only a thin layer of soil between himself and starvation.
    • Bard of Cincinnati; reported as unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989).
  • The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License
Wed May 9 21:11:19 2012


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