What is Soil?

• Soil is the topmost layer of the earth's crust.

• Soil is a mixture of rock debris and organic materials that is developed on the earth's
surface by the action of various activities.
• Soils serve as media for the growth of all kinds of vegetation. They are also
instrumental in modifying the atmosphere by emitting and absorbing gases (carbon
dioxide, methane, water vapour, and the like) and dust.
• Soils provide a habitat for animals that live in the soil.
• Soils also process recycled nutrients, including carbon, so that living things can use
them over a period of time.
• Soils also act as an engineering media for the construction of foundations, roadbeds,
dams and buildings. They also preserve or even destroy artefacts of human history
within them.
• Soils are a living filter to clean water. The water moving through the soil is filtered on
passing through its particles.

Soil Formation
• There are major factors affecting the formation of soil. Soil formation is a result of
various factors acting together over time. These factors are:

• The factors could be remembered through the pneumonic CLORPT

1. Relief
• The relief is a sum of topography, altitude and the slope of the rock over which the soil
is being formed. The relief determines the various properties linked to the relief,
including precipitation, and temperature.
• The type of weathering to form the soil particles also depends on the relief to a certain
extent. The rate at which the soil will experience erosion also is a factor of the height
and temperature in turn relief.
2. Parent material
• The parent material or the rock underneath plays the most significant role in the
process of soil formation. The soil inherits many properties like mineral composition, its
colour, the particle size and chemical elements. For example- Black soil-derived its
colour from the lava from which it is formed.
• The parent material determines the properties like the pH, the permeability of the soil
like if the soil is coarse or fine and the soil will be of the acidic type or the basic type.
3. Climate
• There is a high correlation with climate, regarding the soil formation, especially at the
global scale. The Energy or the heat from the sun and the precipitation in the form of
rainfall strongly influence physical and chemical reactions on parent material.
• The vegetation cover is also influenced by the climate, which in turn influences soil
development and its profile. Other factors like the translocation of dissolved ions
through the layers of the soil determine the profile formation of the soil.
• Over a longer duration of time, the climate tends to exert a greater influence over the
formation of soil, even overshadowing the parent rock material.
4. Vegetation and other life-forms
• The biota determines the humus in the soil, which indirectly determines the granular
structure of the soil. The mixing of the soil and the aeration properties. The underlying
vegetation also determines the fertility of the soil.

• For example, leguminous plants (such as beans, peas, and groundnuts) have
nitrogen-
fixing bacteria. These plants take the nitrate ions directly from these nitrogen-fixing
bacteria. It improves the fertility of soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia or
ammonium.
5. Time
• The formation of the soil is not one daily process but requires many years to form.
Younger soils have some characteristics from their parent material, but as they age, the
addition of organic matter, exposure to moisture and other environmental factors may
change their features. The new soils are thin soils whereas; the old soils are thicker.
• Besides these, human activities also influence it to a greater extent. The Major
Components
of the soil are mineral particles, humus, water and air.
• The actual amount of each of these depends upon the type of soil. Some soils are
deficient in one or more of these, while there are some others that have varied
combinations.

4. PROCESS OF SOIL FORMATION

• The process of soil formation is called as Pedogenesis.
• The Process of soil formation included the process like:
Weathering: It is the breaking down of the parent rock material or the top layer of the
ground by
the action of wind and water and other denudation agents.
Erosion: The general lowering down of level of a surface. The erosion takes place due
to agents like wind or water. Soil formation takes place due to the action of alternate hot
and cold conditions resulting in the contraction and expansion of the parent rock
material.
Leaching: it is a process of movement of the water towards gravity. Leaching is a
process that takes place in water excess areas. Leaching takes place in hot and humid
climatic conditions and areas of dry and wet climatic conditions.
Capillary action: It is the movement of water against gravity. It generally takes place in
areas of deficient water.

What are Soil Horizons?

A soil horizon is a parallel layer to the surface. It includes the decaying matter over it
too.
• The physical, chemical and biological characteristics differ from the layers above and
beneath. Each layer has its own distinctive property.
• Horizons are defined by their physical features, mainly colour and texture.
• The layers or horizons are differentiated when one layer is compared with other layers
in
terms of the particle size of the soil constituents like coarser or finer.

The layers are as follows:

(a) O horizon
• The "O" stands for the organic matter present in the soil. The organic matter is in
varying stages of decomposition. The O layer is further divided into two layers, namely
O1 and O2.

Layer O1 contains mainly litter and undecomposed matter over it. Whereas, the layer
O2 contains partially decomposed matter whose origin is not the same as the site where
it is found.
(b) A horizon
• A horizon is a topmost zone, where organic materials have got incorporated with the
mineral matter, nutrients and water.
• This layer is most important for plant growth; it contains humus and is a dark-coloured
layer.
(c) E horizon
• E horizon, which is also a short form for eluviated is most commonly used to label a
horizon
that has been significantly leached of its mineral and/or organic content.
• The layer is marked by its pale colour which is largely composed of silicates or
compounds containing silica. These are found only in older, well-developed soils, and
generally occur between the A and B horizons.
(d) B horizon
• The B horizon is commonly referred to as "subsoil" and consists of mineral layers
which are significantly changed mostly with the formation of iron oxides and clay
minerals. It is usually brownish or reddish due to iron oxides.
• This horizon usually accumulates minerals and organic matter that are migrating
downwards from the above A and E horizons, making it the most nutrient-rich layer.
• The B layer is also known as the illuviated or illuvial horizon.
(e) C Horizon
• The C horizon is below the B horizon. This layer is little affected by Pedogenesis. Clay
illuviation, if present, is not significant.
• The C layer is called as the bed of the soil. This layer is disintegrated by the roots of
the plants growing till that layer.
(f) R Horizon
• R horizons denote the layer of partially weathered or unweathered bedrock at the base
of the soil profile.
• R horizons largely comprise continuous masses of hard rock that cannot be excavated
by hand, unlike the previous horizons.
(g) L Horizon
• L horizons or layers indicate mineral or organic material that has been deposited in
water by
precipitation.
• The Aquatic animals also act on such rocks and deposit the organic material making
the L Horizon.