Soil, the biologically active, porous medium that has developed in the uppermost layer of Earths crust. Soil is one of the principal substrata of life on Earth, serving as a reservoir of water and nutrients, as a medium for the filtration and breakdown of injurious wastes, and as a participant in the cycling of carbon and other elements through the global ecosystem. It has evolved through weathering processes driven by biological, climatic, geologic, and topographic influences.

Since the rise of agriculture and forestry in the 8th millennium BCE, there has also arisen by necessity a practical awareness of soils and their management. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Industrial Revolution brought increasing pressure on soil to produce raw materials demanded by commerce, while the development of quantitative science offered new opportunities for improved soil management. The study of soil as a separate scientific discipline began about the same time with systematic investigations of substances that enhance plant growth. This initial inquiry has expanded to an understanding of soils as complex, dynamic, biogeochemical systems that are vital to the life cycles of terrestrial vegetation and soil-inhabiting organisms—and by extension to the human race as well.

Soil horizon letter designations

Base symbols for surface horizons
O	organic horizon containing litter and decomposed organic matter
A	mineral horizon darkened by humus accumulation
Base symbols for subsurface horizons
E	mineral horizon lighter in colour than an A or O horizon and depleted in clay minerals
AB or EB	transitional horizon more like A or E than B
BA or BE	transitional horizon more like B than A or E
B	accumulated clay and humus below the A or E horizon
BC or CB	transitional horizon from B to C
C	unconsolidated earth material below the A or B horizon
R	consolidated rock

Soils evolve under the action of biological, climatic, geologic, and topographic influences. The evolution of soils and their properties is called soil formation, and pedologists have identified five fundamental soil formation processes that influence soil properties. These five “state factors” are parent material, topography, climate, organisms, and time.

Parent material

Parent material is the initial state of the solid matter making up a soil. It can consist of consolidated rocks, and it can also include unconsolidated deposits such as river alluvium, lake or marine sediments, glacial tills, loess (silt-sized, wind-deposited particles), volcanic ash, and organic matter (such as accumulations in swamps or bogs). Parent materials influence soil formation through their mineralogical composition, their texture, and their stratification (occurrence in layers). Dark-coloured ferromagnesian (iron- and magnesium-containing) rocks, for example, can produce soils with a high content of iron compounds and of clay minerals in the kaolin or smectite groups, whereas light-coloured siliceous (silica-containing) rocks tend to produce soils that are low in iron compounds and that contain clay minerals in the illite or vermiculite groups. The coarse texture of granitic rocks leads to a coarse, loamy soil texture and promotes the development of E horizons (the leached lower regions of the topmost soil layer). The fine texture of basaltic rocks, on the other hand, yields soils with a loam or clay-loam texture and hinders the development of E horizons. Because water percolates to greater depths and drains more easily through soils with coarse texture, clearly defined E horizons tend to develop more fully on coarse parent material. In theory, parent material is either freshly exposed solid matter (for example, volcanic ash immediately after ejection) or deep-lying geologic material that is isolated from atmospheric water and organisms. In practice, parent materials can be deposited continually by wind, water, or volcanoes and can be altered from their initial, isolated state, thereby making identification difficult. If a single parent material can be established for an entire soil profile, the soil is termed monogenetic; otherwise, it is polygenetic. An example of polygenetic soils are soils that form on sedimentary rocks or unconsolidated water- or wind-deposited materials. These so-called stratified parent materials can yield soils with intermixed geologic layering and soil horizons—as occurs in southeastern England, where soils forming atop chalk bedrock layers are themselves overlain by soil layers formed on both loess and clay materials that have been modified by dissolution of the chalk below. Adjacent soils frequently exhibit different profile characteristics because of differing parent materials. These differing soil areas are called lithosequences, and they fall into two general types. Continuous lithosequences have parent materials whose properties vary gradually along a transect, the prototypical example being soils formed on loess deposits at increasing distances downwind from their alluvial source. Areas of such deposits in the central United States or China show systematic decreases in particle size and rate of deposition with increasing distance from the source. As a result, they also show increases in clay content and in the extent of profile development from weathering of the loess particles. By contrast, discontinuous lithosequences arise from abrupt changes in parent material. A simple example might be one soil formed on schist (a silicate-containing metamorphic rock rich in mica) juxtaposed with a soil formed on serpentine (a ferromagnesian metamorphic rock rich in olivine). More subtle discontinuous lithosequences, such as those on glacial tills, show systematic variation of mineralogical composition or of texture in unconsolidated parent materials.

Topography

Topography, when considered as a soil-forming factor, includes the following: the geologic structural characteristics of elevation above mean sea level, aspect (the compass orientation of a landform), slope configuration (i.e., either convex or concave), and relative position on a slope (that is, from the toe to the summit). Topography influences the way the hydrologic cycle affects earth material, principally with respect to runoff processes and evapotranspiration. Precipitation may run off the land surface, causing soil erosion, or it may percolate into soil profiles and become part of subsurface runoff, which eventually makes its way into the stream system. Erosive runoff is most likely on a convex slope just below the summit, whereas lateral subsurface runoff tends to cause an accumulation of soluble or suspended matter near the toeslope. The conversion of precipitation into evapotranspiration is favored by lower elevation and an equatorially facing aspect.

Adjacent soils that show differing profile characteristics reflecting the influence of local topography are called toposequences. As a general rule, soil profiles on the convex upper slopes in a toposequence are shallower and have less distinct subsurface horizons than soils at the summit or on lower, concave-upward slopes. Organic matter content tends to increase from the summit down to the toeslope, as do clay content and the concentrations of soluble compounds.

Often the dominant effect of topography is on subsurface runoff (or drainage). In humid temperate regions, well-drained soil profiles near a summit can have thick E horizons (the leached layers) overlying well-developed clay-rich Bt horizons, while poorly drained profiles near a toeslope can have thick A horizons overlying extensive Bg horizons (lower layers whose pale colour signals stagnation under water-saturated conditions). In humid tropical regions with dry seasons, these profile characteristics give way to less distinct horizons, with accumulation of silica, manganese, and iron near the toeslope, whereas in semiarid regions soils near the toeslope have accumulations of the soluble salts sodium chloride or calcium sulfate.

These general conclusions are tempered by the fact that topography is susceptible to great changes over time. Soil erosion by water or wind removes A horizons and exposes B horizons to weathering. Major portions of entire soil profiles can move downslope suddenly by the combined action of water and gravity. Catastrophic natural events, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and devastating storms, can have obvious consequences for the instability of geomorphologic patterns.

Climate

The term climate in pedology refers to the characteristics of weather as they evolve over time scales longer than those necessary for soil properties to develop. These characteristics include precipitation, temperature, and storm patterns—both their averages and their variation.

Climate influences soil formation primarily through effects of water and solar energy. Water is the solvent in which chemical reactions take place in the soil, and it is essential to the life cycles of soil organisms. Water is also the principal medium for the erosive or percolative transport of solid particles. The rates at which these water-mediated processes take place are controlled by the amount of energy available from the sun.

On a global scale, the integrated effects of climate can readily be seen along a transect from pole to Equator. As one proceeds from the pole to cool tundra or forested regions, polar desert soils give way to intensively leached soils such as the Podzols (Spodosols) that exhibit an eye-catching, ash-coloured E horizon indicative of humid, boreal climates. Farther into temperate zones, organic matter accumulates in soils as climates become warmer, and eventually lime (calcium carbonate) also begins to accumulate closer to the top of the soil profile as evapotranspiration increases. Arid subtropical climate then follows, with desert soils that are low in organic matter and enriched in soluble salts. As the climate again becomes humid close to the Equator, high temperature combines with high precipitation to create red and yellow tropical soils, whose colours reveal the prevalence of residual iron oxide minerals that are resistant to leaching losses because of their low solubility.

On a continental scale, a transect taken across the central United States from east to west shows the effects of increasing evapotranspiration. First, soils that exhibit E horizons appear, followed by soils high in organic matter. These give way to soils with accumulations of lime and ultimately to desert soils with soluble salt efflorescence (powdery crust) near the surface.

On a regional scale, variations in climate also can influence soil properties significantly, resulting in a contiguous array of soils called a climosequence. One typical climosequence occurs along a 1,000-km (600-mile) north-south transect through the foothills of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains in California. There soils that have formed on landscapes of similar topography vary continuously in their profile characteristics with variations in annual precipitation. Soils formed at the dry southern end of the transect are shallow and rocky, whereas those at the humid northern end show well-developed B horizons and reddish colour. Clay mineralogy in the upper 20 cm (8 inches) of these soils also responds to the increase in precipitation, shifting from the smectite group to the mixed vermiculite or illite group/kaolin group and finally to the kaolin group alone. These changes result primarily from increasing loss of silica and soluble metals as soil leaching extends deeper with increasing rainfall. In addition, soil acidity and organic matter content increase, while readily soluble forms of calcium (important to plant growth and soil aggregation) decrease, with increasing precipitation.

In principle, soil profile characteristics that are closely linked to climate can in turn be interpreted as climatic indicators. For example, a soil profile with two well-defined zones of lime accumulation, one shallow and one deep, may signal the existence of a past climate whose greater precipitation drove the lime layer deeper than the present climate is able to do.

Soils that formed in past environments different from the present and that are preserved (at least partially) at greater depth are known as paleosols. Some features of these soils can serve as climatic indicators, the most reliable being robust features such as horizons with hardened accumulations of relatively insoluble iron, manganese, or calcium minerals or layers with accumulations of strongly aggregated clay-size particles. Given a knowledge of the clay mineral in a suspected paleosol, and assuming the precipitation-clay mineralogy relationship described above, pedologists might be able to infer past climate. The precipitation level of a past climate might be inferred from an observation of the depth of lime-containing horizons in a paleosol. These potential applications of climatic relationships must be evaluated carefully in order to distinguish the effects of previously weathered parent material from those of purely climatic influence.

Organisms

The development of soils can be significantly affected by vegetation, animal inhabitants, and human populations. Any array of contiguous soils influenced by local flora and fauna is termed a biosequence. To return to the climosequence along the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges discussed above, the vegetation observed along this narrow foothill region varies from shrubs in the dry south to needle-leaved trees in the humid north, with extensive grasslands in between. In the middle of the precipitation range, transition zones occur in which small groves of needle-leaved trees are interspersed with grassland patches in an apparently random manner. These plant populations represent local flora largely selected by climate. The properties of the soils underlying these plants, however, exhibit differences that do not arise from climate, topography, or parent material but are an effect of the differing plant species. The soils under trees, for instance, are much more acidic and contain much less humus than those under grass, and nitrogen content is considerably greater in the grassland soil. These properties come directly from the type of litter produced by the two different kinds of vegetation.

An opportunity to examine biosequences is often presented by relatively young soils formed from an alluvial parent material. Soils of this kind lying beneath shrubs may be richer in humus and plant nutrients than similar soils found beneath needle-leaved trees. This variation results from differences in the cyclic processes of plant growth, litter production, and litter decay. Organic matter decomposers will feed on stored material in soil if litter production is low, whereas high litter production will permit soil stocks of organic matter to increase, leading to humus-rich A horizons as opposed to the leached E horizons found in soils that form under humid climatic conditions.

Human beings are also part of the biological influx that influences soil formation. Human influence can be as severe as wholesale removal or burial (by urbanization) of an entire soil profile, or it can be as subtle as a gradual modification of organic matter by agriculture or of soil structure by irrigation. The chemical and physical properties of soils critical to the growth of crops often are affected significantly by cultural practices. Among the problems created for agriculture by cultural practices themselves are loss of arable land, erosion, the buildup of salinity, and the depletion of organic matter.

Time

The soil-forming factors of parent material and topography are largely site-related (attributes of the terrain), whereas those of climate and organisms are largely flux-related (inputs from the surroundings). Time as a soil-forming factor is neither a property of the terrain nor a source of external stimulus. It is instead an abstract variable whose significance is solely as a marker of the evolution of soil characteristics. The conceptual independence of time from its four companion factors means simply that soil evolution can occur while site attributes and external inputs remain essentially unchanged.

Certain soil profile features can be interpreted as indicators of the passage of time. (A series of soil profiles whose features differ only as a result of age constitutes a chronosequence.) One example of a time-related feature is the humus content of the A horizon, which, for soils less than 10,000 years old, increases continually at a rate dependent on parent material, vegetation, and climate. Typically, this rate of increase slows after about 10,000 years, plant nutrients begin to leach away, and a significant decline in humus content is observed for soils whose age approaches one million years. (Agricultural practices can interrupt this trend, causing a gradual drop in stored humus by 25 percent or more. Correlated with these changes are economically important soil properties, such as nutrient supply and retention capability, acidity, and aeration.)

The accumulation of clay and lime in soil profiles as a result of their translocation downward is also an indication of aging. For example, older soils that have formed on calcium-containing loess deposits have better-developed E and Bt horizons (as well as thinner A horizons) than younger soils forming on these deposits. Similarly, soils in a chronosequence developed on alluvium can exhibit a clayey hardpan after 100,000 years or so. Soils also tend to redden in colour as they age, irrespective of climatic conditions, reflecting the persistence of poorly crystalline or crystalline oxide minerals containing Fe3+. Indeed, the dominant mineralogy of the clay-size particles in soils is itself a reliable indicator of soil age. Any particular sequence of predominant clay mineralogy found in a soil is known collectively as the set of Jackson-Sherman weathering stages (see the table). Each downward increment through the table corresponds to increasing mineral residence time, both among and within the three principal stages (early, intermediate, and advanced).