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Natural topsoil is mined and conditioned for human use and makes up the bulk of commercial topsoil available. The current rate of use and erosion outpaces soil generation. [4] It is possible to create artificial topsoil which supports some of the engineering or biological uses of topsoil. [4]
Apart from the basic soil composition, which is constant at one location, soil thermal properties are strongly influenced by the soil volumetric water content, volume fraction of solids and volume fraction of air. Air is a poor thermal conductor and reduces the effectiveness of the solid and liquid phases to conduct heat.
Soil bulk density is equal to the dry mass of the soil divided by the volume of the soil; i.e., it includes air space and organic materials of the soil volume. Thereby soil bulk density is always less than soil particle density and is a good indicator of soil compaction. [ 47 ]
Soil gases (soil atmosphere [1]) are the gases found in the air space between soil components. The spaces between the solid soil particles, if they do not contain water, are filled with air. The primary soil gases are nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen. [2] Oxygen is critical because it allows for respiration of both plant roots and soil ...
Soil physics is the study of soil's physical properties and processes. It is applied to management and prediction under natural and managed ecosystems . Soil physics deals with the dynamics of physical soil components and their phases as solids , liquids , and gases .
Soil can act as raw material deposits and is widely used in building materials. Approximately 50% of the people on the planet live in houses that are constructed from soil. [7] The conditions of the soil must be firm and solid to provide a good base for roads and highways to be built on.
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Available water is that which the plants can utilize from the soil within the range between field capacity and wilting point. Roughly speaking for agriculture (top layer soil), soil is 25% water, 25% air, 45% mineral, 5% other; water varies widely from about 1% to 90% due to several retention and drainage properties of a given soil.