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Soil fossils, whether buried or exposed, suffer from alteration. This occurs largely because almost all past soils have lost their former vegetative covering, and the organic matter they once supported has been used up by plants since the soil was buried.
Tree remains that have undergone petrifaction, as seen in Petrified Forest National Park. In geology, petrifaction or petrification (from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra) ' rock, stone ') is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals.
Fossil fuel phase-out is the gradual reduction of the use and production of fossil fuels to zero, to reduce air pollution, limit climate change, and strengthen energy independence. It is part of the ongoing renewable energy transition , but is being hindered by fossil fuel subsidies .
Paleobotany, also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeography), and the evolutionary history of plants, with a bearing upon the evolution of life in general.
Soil contamination, soil pollution, or land pollution as a part of land degradation is caused by the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. It is typically caused by industrial activity, agricultural chemicals or improper disposal of waste .
Plants hold soil against erosion, and accumulated plant material build soil humus levels. Plant root exudation supports microbial activity. Animals serve to decompose plant materials and mix soil through bioturbation. [70] Soil is the most speciose (species-rich) ecosystem on Earth, but the vast majority of organisms in soil are microbes, a ...
Approximately 78% of Earth's atmosphere is N gas (N 2), which is an inert compound and biologically unavailable to most organisms.In order to be utilized in most biological processes, N 2 must be converted to reactive nitrogen (Nr), which includes inorganic reduced forms (NH 3 and NH 4 +), inorganic oxidized forms (NO, NO 2, HNO 3, N 2 O, and NO 3 −), and organic compounds (urea, amines, and ...
A major challenge to land adaptation would have been the absence of appropriate soil. [15] Throughout the fossil record, soil is preserved, giving information on what early soils were like. Before land plants, the soil on land was poor in resources essential for life like nitrogen and phosphorus and had little capacity for holding water.