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Agriculture in Van Zandt County, Texas in 1904. Early Czechoslovakian and German immigrants arrived in the region around 1825 to 1845 and found the rich black soil excellent for farming. By the end of the 19th century 98% of the blackland prairies were cultivated and it was the leading cotton region of the state, also producing sorghum, corn ...
Houston black soil extends over 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km 2) of the Texas blackland prairies and is the Texas state soil. The series is composed of expansive clays and is considered one of the classic vertisols. [1] Houston black soils are used extensively for grain sorghum, cotton, corn, small grain, and forage grasses.
A state soil is a soil that has special significance to a particular state. Each state in the United States has selected a state soil, twenty of which have been legislatively established. These official state soils share the same level of distinction as official state flowers and birds .
The Act also gave directives to conserve the soil in the "high plains"—soil that was being raised into huge dust bowls during the 1930s. This period, known as the Dust Bowl, coupled with the economic hardships of the Great Depression, hit farmers particularly hard. The act attempted to correct earlier government policy that encouraged farmers ...
There are various factors that affect soil temperature, such as water content, [84] soil color, [85] and relief (slope, orientation, and elevation), [86] and soil cover (shading and insulation), in addition to air temperature. [87] The color of the ground cover and its insulating properties have a strong influence on soil temperature. [88]
Soil microbial communities experience shifts in the diversity and composition during dehydration and rehydration cycles. [5] Soil moisture affects carbon cycling a phenomenon known as Birch effect. [6] [7] Temperature variations in soil are influenced by factors such as seasonality, environmental conditions, vegetation, and soil composition.
Soil erosion occurs naturally, but human activities can greatly increase its severity. [28] Soil that is healthy is fertile and productive. [29] But soil erosion leads to a loss of topsoil, organic matter, and nutrients; it breaks down soil structure and decreases water storage capacity, reducing fertility and water availability to plant roots.
Soil quality reflects how well a soil performs the functions of maintaining biodiversity and productivity, partitioning water and solute flow, filtering and buffering, nutrient cycling, and providing support for plants and other structures. Soil management has a major impact on soil quality. Soil quality relates to soil functions. Unlike water ...