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Soil chemistry is the study of the chemical characteristics of soil.Soil chemistry is affected by mineral composition, organic matter and environmental factors. In the early 1870s a consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society in England, named J. Thomas Way, performed many experiments on how soils exchange ions, and is considered the father of soil chemistry. [1]
Soil stabilization. Soil stabilization is a general term for any physical, chemical, mechanical, biological, or combined method of changing a natural soil to meet an engineering purpose. [1] Improvements include increasing the weight-bearing capabilities, tensile strength, and overall performance of unstable subsoils, sands, and waste materials ...
Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals (as well as wood and artificial materials) through contact with water, atmospheric gases, sunlight, and biological organisms. It occurs in situ (on-site, with little or no movement), and so is distinct from erosion, which involves the transport of rocks and minerals by agents such as ...
Clay is a very fine-grained geologic material that develops plasticity when wet, but becomes hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. [ 2 ][ 3 ][ 4 ] It is a very common material, [ 5 ] and is the oldest known ceramic. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery. [ 6 ]
Soil salinity. Visibly salt-affected soils on rangeland in Colorado. Salts dissolved from the soil accumulate at the soil surface and are deposited on the ground and at the base of the fence post. Saline incrustation in a PVC irrigation pipe from Brazil. Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content ...
Halite is also often used both residentially and municipally for managing ice. Because brine (a solution of water and salt) has a lower freezing point than pure water, putting salt or saltwater on ice that is below 0 °C (32 °F) will cause it to melt—this effect is called freezing-point depression.
The term caliche is borrowed from Spanish and is originally from the Latin word calx, meaning lime. [ 1 ] Caliche is generally light-colored but can range from white to light pink to reddish-brown, depending on the minerals present. Caliche is a mark of older landscapes. It generally occurs on or very near the surface.
Cementation (geology) A brief, easy-to-understand description of cementation is that minerals bond grains of sediment together by growing around them. This process is called cementation and is a part of the rock cycle. Cementation involves ions carried in groundwater chemically precipitating to form new crystalline material between sedimentary ...