Soil is loose material that lies on top of the land. It is a mixture of many different things including minerals, organic matter, water and gas.
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.
Because soil holds water and nutrients, it is an ideal place for plants to grow.
A, B, and C in the picture below 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.
The Romans believed that the smell of freshly turned soil was so beneficial and wholesome for invalids that they put clods of earth into their beds to help revive their spirits.
In ancient Egypt pigs were kept as scavengers. They loosened the soil by their rooting and so prepared it for planting.
The Amazon Rainforest area originally had terrible farming soil, until indigenous people invented a "superdirt" which remains fertile for thousands of years, renews and propagates by itself, and may currently cover as much as 10% of the Amazon basin.
Gilbert White (1720-93) was a British naturalist and clergyman. His classic Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1788) gave detailed descriptions, in an elegantly literary style, of wildlife and nature, including the important function of the humble earthworm in turning earth into fertile soil.
George Washington allegedly said before his death that he, "would never set foot on English soil again," so when they erected a statue of him in London, they put US soil under the statue to honor that claim.
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.
Because soil holds water and nutrients, it is an ideal place for plants to grow.
A, B, and C in the picture below 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.
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| By Carlosblh - Wikipedia |
The Romans believed that the smell of freshly turned soil was so beneficial and wholesome for invalids that they put clods of earth into their beds to help revive their spirits.
In ancient Egypt pigs were kept as scavengers. They loosened the soil by their rooting and so prepared it for planting.
The Amazon Rainforest area originally had terrible farming soil, until indigenous people invented a "superdirt" which remains fertile for thousands of years, renews and propagates by itself, and may currently cover as much as 10% of the Amazon basin.
Gilbert White (1720-93) was a British naturalist and clergyman. His classic Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1788) gave detailed descriptions, in an elegantly literary style, of wildlife and nature, including the important function of the humble earthworm in turning earth into fertile soil.
George Washington allegedly said before his death that he, "would never set foot on English soil again," so when they erected a statue of him in London, they put US soil under the statue to honor that claim.
World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on December 5 as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
An international day to celebrate Soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002. The Food and Agriculture Organization Conference unanimously endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and requested its official adoption at the 68th UN General Assembly. In December 2013, the UN General Assembly responded by designating December 5, 2014 as the first official World Soil Day.
The date of December 5 was chosen for World Soil Day because it corresponds with the official birthday of the late H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, who was one of the main proponents of this initiative.
A local folk remedy in Boho, Ireland was to place soil from the local church under a pillow while you slept to cure infections. In 2018 a microbiologist found the churchyard's soil contains a previously unknown strain of streptomyces which can be used to create antibiotics.
The soil in your back garden is two million years old.
Soil contains sedimentary DNA—the leftovers of dead plants and animals, and sloughed-off skin, hair and feathers of living ones.
It takes as much as 1,000 years to form one centimeter of soil—and the Earth is losing soil at the rate of 30 soccer fields per minute.
1m² of soil can hold a billion living things, including insects, spiders, worms, centipedes, fungi, and tens of thousands of bacteria.
There are 10,000,000,000 bacteria in a gram of soil.
The average fully detached American home has about two tonnes of earthworms crawling through the soil in the yard.
Soil is one of two main components of Earth — the other being oceans — where life is active. Human life depends on healthy soil.
Soil is not a renewable resource. Human life depends on healthy soil, just like it depends on clean air and clean water, but losses of soil cannot be regained within a lifetime.
The orange color of the soil on the island of Ibiza comes from the tannin in the pine needles that fall from its many pine trees.
The Earth's name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word erda which means ground or soil.
The soil on Mars is perfect for growing asparagus.
A local folk remedy in Boho, Ireland was to place soil from the local church under a pillow while you slept to cure infections. In 2018 a microbiologist found the churchyard's soil contains a previously unknown strain of streptomyces which can be used to create antibiotics.
The soil in your back garden is two million years old.
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| Pixiebay |
Soil contains sedimentary DNA—the leftovers of dead plants and animals, and sloughed-off skin, hair and feathers of living ones.
It takes as much as 1,000 years to form one centimeter of soil—and the Earth is losing soil at the rate of 30 soccer fields per minute.
1m² of soil can hold a billion living things, including insects, spiders, worms, centipedes, fungi, and tens of thousands of bacteria.
There are 10,000,000,000 bacteria in a gram of soil.
The average fully detached American home has about two tonnes of earthworms crawling through the soil in the yard.
 |
| Close up of an earthworm in garden soil. Wikipedia |
Soil is one of two main components of Earth — the other being oceans — where life is active. Human life depends on healthy soil.
Soil is not a renewable resource. Human life depends on healthy soil, just like it depends on clean air and clean water, but losses of soil cannot be regained within a lifetime.
The orange color of the soil on the island of Ibiza comes from the tannin in the pine needles that fall from its many pine trees.
The Earth's name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word erda which means ground or soil.
The soil on Mars is perfect for growing asparagus.
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