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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]
A fourth term, loam, is used to describe equal properties of sand, silt, and clay in a soil sample, and lends to the naming of even more classifications, e.g. "clay loam" or "silt loam". Determining soil texture is often aided with the use of a soil texture triangle plot. [5] An example of a soil triangle is found on the right side of the page.
Soil formation. Soil formation, also known as pedogenesis, is the process of soil genesis as regulated by the effects of place, environment, and history. Biogeochemical processes act to both create and destroy order ( anisotropy) within soils.
Loam (the high-humus definition, not the soil texture definition) may be used for the construction of houses, for example in loam post and beam construction. [6] Building crews can build a layer of loam on the inside of walls, which can help to control air humidity. Loam, combined with straw, can be used as rough construction material to build ...
Soil components larger than 2.0 mm (0.079 in) are classed as rock and gravel and are removed before determining the percentages of the remaining components and the textural class of the soil, but are included in the name. For example, a sandy loam soil with 20% gravel would be called gravelly sandy loam.
Soil science. A soil scientist examining horizons within a soil profile. Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils.
Soil biology is the study of microbial and faunal activity in the soil. This photo shows the activity of both. Soil biologyis the study of microbialand faunalactivity and ecologyin soil. Soil life, soil biota, soil fauna, or edaphonis a collective term that encompasses all organismsthat spend a significant portion of their life cyclewithin a ...
The scientific basis of soil science as a natural science was established by the classical works of Vasily V. Dokuchaev. Previously, soil had been considered a product of physicochemical transformations of rocks, a dead substrate from which plants derive nutritious mineral elements. Soil and bedrock were in fact equated.