Soil formation
soil forming processes
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. These alterations lead to the development of layers, termed soil horizons, distinguished by differences in color, structure, texture, and chemistry. These features occur in patterns of soil type distribution, forming in response to differences in soil forming factors.
Pedogenesis is studied as a branch of pedology, the study of soil in its natural environment. Other branches of pedology are the study of soil morphology and soil classification. The study of pedogenesis is important to understanding soil distribution patterns in current (soil geography) and past (paleopedology) geologic periods.
Overview
Soil develops through a series of changes. The starting point is weathering of freshly accumulated parent material. A variety of soil microbes (bacteria, archaea, fungi) feed on simple compounds (nutrients) released by weathering and produce organic acids and specialized proteins which contribute in turn to mineral weathering.
The public source identifies “Soil formation” as soil forming processes. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Soil, formation and soil.
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This entry incorporates text from “Soil formation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.