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Aridisols (or desert soils) are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. [1] Aridisols (from the Latin aridus, for "dry", and solum) form in an arid or semi-arid climate. Aridisols dominate the deserts and xeric shrublands, which occupy about one third of the Earth's land surface. Aridisols have a very low concentration of organic matter, reflecting ...
Caliche fossil forest on San Miguel Island, California. Caliche (/ k ə ˈ l iː tʃ iː /) - (unrelated to the street-slang "Caliche" spoken in El Salvador) - is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt.
A taxonomy is an arrangement in a systematic manner; the USDA soil taxonomy has six levels of classification. They are, from most general to specific: order, suborder, great group, subgroup, family and series. Soil properties that can be measured quantitatively are used in this classification system – they include: depth, moisture ...
Hardpan. In soil science, agriculture and gardening, hardpan or soil pan is a dense layer of soil, usually found below the uppermost topsoil layer. [1] There are different types of hardpan, all sharing the general characteristic of being a distinct soil layer that is largely impervious to water. Some hardpans are formed by deposits in the soil ...
Calcisol. A Calcisol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) [1] is a soil with a substantial secondary accumulation of lime. Calcisols are common in calcareous parent materials and widespread in arid and semi-arid environments. Formerly Calcisols were internationally known as Desert soils and Takyrs .
Mollisol is a soil type which has deep, high organic matter, nutrient-enriched surface soil ( A horizon ), typically between 60 and 80 cm in depth. This fertile surface horizon, called a mollic epipedon, is the defining diagnostic feature of Mollisols. Mollic epipedons are created by long-term addition of organic materials derived from plant ...
The main processes of soil formation of oxisols are weathering, humification and pedoturbation due to animals. These processes produce the characteristic soil profile.They are defined as soils containing at all depths no more than ten percent weatherable minerals, and low cation exchange capacity.
Soil horizon. A cross section of a soil, revealing horizons. A soil horizon is a layer parallel to the soil surface whose physical, chemical and biological characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath. Horizons are defined in many cases by obvious physical features, mainly colour and texture.