Soil

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Soil is a natural body consisting of layers (soil horizons) of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes that include weathering and erosion. Soil differs from its parent rock due to interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the biosphere. It is a mixture of mineral and organic constituents that are in solid, gaseous and aqueous states. Soil particles pack loosely, forming a soil structure filled with pore spaces. These pores contain sol solution (liquid) and air (gas). Accordingly, soils are often treated as a three state system. Most soils have a density between 1 and 2 g/cm³. Soil is also known as earth: it is the substance from which our planet takes its name. Little of the soil composition of planet Earth is older than Tertiary and most no older than Pleistocene. In engineering, soil is referred to as regolith, or loose rock material.

For more information about Soil, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with soil

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Ants are friendly to some trees, but not others

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Tree-dwelling ants generally live in harmony with their arboreal hosts. But new research suggests that when they run out of space in their trees of choice, the ants can get destructive to neighboring trees.


Climate Change, Nitrogen Loss Threaten Plant Life in Arid Desert Soils

Climate Change, Nitrogen Loss Threaten Plant Life in Arid Desert Soils

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 2.8 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the Mojave Desert winds howl across this hottest place in North America, blowing sands across Death Valley and through empty ghost towns, swirling across treeless land for hundreds of miles. ...


Organic weed control options for highbush blueberry

Organic weed control options for highbush blueberry

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Research scientists at Nova Scotia Agricultural College have been working steadily to find effective organic methods to control weeds in cultivated blueberry crops. One resulting study, published in a recent ...


Reducing Agriculture's Climate Change Footprint

Reducing Agriculture's Climate Change Footprint

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Curbing greenhouse gas emissions from cultivated fields may require going beyond cutting back on nitrogen fertilizer and changing crop rotation cycles, according to research by Agricultural ...


Spacesuits with artificial intelligence may look for life on Mars

Spacesuits with artificial intelligence may look for life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronauts may in future be wearing spacesuits equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and digital eyes, turning them into what the researchers call cyborg astrobiologists.


SMOS, Proba-2 new ESA satellites successfully lofted into orbit

SMOS, Proba-2: Two new ESA satellites successfully lofted into orbit (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The second satellite in ESA's Earth Explorer series - the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission - and the second demonstration satellite under ESA's Project for Onboard Autonomy ...


Spying on Corn Rootworm Predators Nightlife

Spying on Corn Rootworm Predators Nightlife

Biology / Ecology

created Oct 31, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist Jonathan G. Lundgren, while exploring corn fields at night, has found a very different group of predators than the ones that feed during the ...


Soil moisture and ocean salinity satellite ready for launch

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

A new European Earth observation satellite will be launched in the early hours of Monday morning (2 November 2009) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.


SMOS and Proba-2 installed in launch tower

SMOS and Proba-2 satellites installed in launch tower

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In readiness for launch on 2 November, ESA’s SMOS and Proba-2 satellites - encapsulated in the launcher fairing - have been transported from the cleanroom and installed in the launch tower ...


Answering that age-old lament: Where does all this dust come from?

Answering that age-old lament: Where does all this dust come from?

Space & Earth / Environment

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 1

Where does it come from? Scientists in Arizona are reporting a surprising answer to that question, which has puzzled and perplexed generations of men and women confronted with layers of dust on furniture and ...


Rot-resistant wheat could save farmers millions

Rot-resistant wheat could save farmers millions

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- CSIRO researchers have identified wheat and barley lines resistant to Crown Rot - a disease that costs Australian wheat and barley farmers $79 million in lost yield every year.


Snail fossils suggest semiarid eastern Canary Islands were wetter 50,000 years ago

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity 2.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Fossil land snail shells found in ancient soils on the subtropical eastern Canary Islands show that the Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa has become progressively drier over the past 50,000 years.


'On the origin of nematodes' -- A phylogenetic tree of the world’s most numerous group of animals

'On the origin of nematodes' -- A phylogenetic tree of the world’s most numerous group of animals

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists from Wageningen University and Research Centre have published the largest nematode Phylogenetic Tree to date in cooperation with the Dutch Plant Protection Service (PD) and the University of California ...


Computer Modeling Can Contribute to Thai Soybean Production

Computer Modeling Can Contribute to Thai Soybean Production

Biology / Ecology

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are testing the soybean model GLYCIM to improve its performance under a range of conditions around the world. In the process, they’ve been able ...


Where Did the Uranium Go?

Where Did the Uranium Go?

Space & Earth / Environment

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Uranium's migration through the soil depends on groundwater's chemical composition, according to a recent study by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Scientists showed that uraniumattached ...