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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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The past matters to plants

The past matters to plants

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's commonly known that plants interact with each other on an everyday basis: they shade each other out or take up nutrients from the soil before neighboring plants can get them. Now, researchers ...


Phragmites partners with microbes to plot native plants' demise

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

University of Delaware researchers have uncovered a novel means of conquest employed by the common reed, Phragmites australis, which ranks as one of the world's most invasive plants.


Soil studies reveal rise in antibiotic resistance

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 23, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Antibiotic resistance in the natural environment is rising despite tighter controls over our use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture, Newcastle University scientists have found.


Ski Runs Are Not Created Equal

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Building a new ski run by bulldozing a mountainside rather than only cutting its shrubs and trees is far more damaging ecologically, yet might offer only a week's earlier start to the downhill season, says ...





Search results for soil


Hot Water Treatment Eliminates Rhizoctonia from Azalea Cuttings

Hot Water Treatment Eliminates Rhizoctonia from Azalea Cuttings

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 24, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Rhizoctonia, a fungal disease that can be found in many ornamental plants, can be eliminated in azalea by placing plant cuttings in a hot water treatment, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) ...


Mendenhall Glacier

Glacier melt adds ancient edibles to marine buffet

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 23, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (13) | comments 9

Glaciers along the Gulf of Alaska are enriching stream and near shore marine ecosystems from a surprising source - ancient carbon contained in glacial runoff, researchers from four universities and the U.S. ...


Ancient Pacific islanders brought to light

Ancient Pacific islanders brought to light

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A find of 60 headless skeletons summer 2009 may reveal the identity of the people who first inhabited the Pacific Ocean archipelago Vanuatu 3000 years ago.



List of search results for soil