Where The Soil Comes From Essay Example

life on our planet. In addition, color is a characteristic of soil that allows for its classification. Soil scientists (pedologists, as pedology is the study of soil classification and description) define 175 dissimilar gradations of color in soil, ranging in the blacks, browns, reds, yellows, grays, and whites. Soil color typically results from mineral stains on the surface of soil particles. Soil science plays a key task in agriculture, helping farmers to choose and support the crops on their land and to sustain productive, healthy ground for planting.

Understanding soil is as well significant in engineering and construction. Soil engineers carry out thorough analysis of the soil prior to building roads, houses, industrial and retail complexes. Furthermore, there are twelve key orders of soil in soil taxonomy. Most familiar around the world are Aridisols (desert soils), Inceptisols (weakly developed, infertile soil), and Alfisols (reasonably fertile clayish soils). Mollisols (humus-rich) are most excellent for agriculture and occupy roughly one quarter of the United States.

Gelisols are soils of extremely cold climates that have permafrost within 2 meters of the surface. Since of the tremendous environment in which they are found, Gelisols sustain only ~0. 4% of the world's population, the lowest fraction of any of the soil orders. Second to the twelve orders are Histosols. These soils composed mostly of natural materials and contain at least 20-30% organic matter by weight. Furthermore it is frequently referred to as peat???s and mucks and contain physical properties that limit their use for engineering purposes.

Spodosols are acid soils characterized by a subsurface accumulation of humus that is complex with Al and Fe. These photogenic soils classically form in coarse-textured parent material

and contain a light-colored E horizon overlying a reddish-brown spodic horizon. Furthermore, Andisols are soils that have shaped in volcanic ash or other volcanic ejecta. These soils differ from those of other orders in that they naturally are dominated by glass and poorly crystalline colloidal materials such as allophane, imogolite, and ferrihydrite (andic properties).As a effect, Andisols have several distinctive chemical and physical properties that comprise high water-holding capacity and the capacity to 'fix' (and make unavailable to plants) large quantities of phosphorus.

The majority of these soils are characterized by enormously low native fertility, resulting from extremely low nutrient reserves and high phosphorus retention by oxide minerals. Most nutrients in Oxisol ecosystems are contained in the standing vegetation and decomposing plant material. In spite of low fertility, Oxisols can be fairly productive with inputs of lime and fertilizers.Moreover, Vertisols are clay-rich soils that get smaller and swell with changes in moisture content. Throughout dry periods, the soil volume shrinks, and deep wide cracks form. Aridisols are used mostly for range, wildlife, and recreation.

Because of the dry climate in which they are found, they are not use for agricultural production except irrigation water is accessible. Ultisols are strongly leached, acid forest soils with comparatively small native fertility. They are found mostly in humid temperate and tropical areas of the world, normally on older, stable landscapes.The 'red clay' soils of the southeastern United States are examples of Ultisols. In addition to the twelve orders, Mollisols are amongst several of the most essential and productive agricultural soils in the world and are broadly used for this purpose.

Alfisols are fairly leached forest soils that have comparatively high native fertility.

These soils are well developed and have a subsurface horizon in which clays have accumulated. Alfisols are frequently found in temperate humid and subhumid regions of the world.Furthermore, Inceptisols are soils that show smallest horizon development.

They are more developed than Entisols, but still require the features that are characteristic of other soil orders. Lastly, Entisols are soils of recent origin. The essential concept is soils developed in unconsolidated parent material with typically no genetic horizons except an A horizon. Moreover, soils in the Southern Coastal Plain and the Georgia Sand Hills land-resource areas are derived from aquatic and fluvial sediments wrinkled from the Appalachian and Piedmont Plateaus.

Ultisols are found all through the Southern Coastal Plain, with the exemption of several areas in the Georgia Sand Hills and Dougherty Plain where entisols locally are present. Usually there are several types of soils that can be seen in the States of Georgia. These soils make up the state and contribute in nurturing the plants and environment. Types of soils that are commonly found in Georgia are umbric, ochric, histic, cambic, kandic, argillic, spodic, fragipan; Entisols, Inceptisols, Alfisols, Ultisols, Histosols, Spolosols.Referenceshttp://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/soil.htmhttp://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders/