Soil
hideSoil 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.
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News tagged with soil
Ants are friendly to some trees, but not others
Nov 06, 2009 |
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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
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(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
Nov 04, 2009 |
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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
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(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
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(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: Two new ESA satellites successfully lofted into orbit (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 02, 2009 |
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(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
Oct 31, 2009 |
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(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
Oct 29, 2009 |
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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 satellites installed in launch tower
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 28, 2009 |
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(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?
Oct 28, 2009 |
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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
Oct 28, 2009 |
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(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
Oct 27, 2009 |
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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
Oct 27, 2009 |
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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
Oct 27, 2009 |
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(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?
Oct 26, 2009 |
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(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 ...
