Related topics: water
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.
For more information about Soil, read the full article at
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News tagged with soil
The past matters to plants
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(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
Dec 23, 2009 |
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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
Dec 23, 2009 |
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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.
Life on Mars theory boosted by new methane study
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 08, 2009 |
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Scientists have ruled out the possibility that methane is delivered to Mars by meteorites, raising fresh hopes that the gas might be generated by life on the red planet, in research published tomorrow in Earth an ...
Ski Runs Are Not Created Equal
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(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 ...
Soil Microorganisms? Role Cited as a Missing Factor in Climate Change Equation
Dec 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Those seeking to understand and predict climate change can now use an additional tool to calculate carbon dioxide exchanges on land, according to a scientific journal article co-authored by a University of ...
The Meandering Channels of Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Sinuous channels on the Martian surface may be evidence of relatively recent rainfall. Researchers plan to test this hypothesis by studying sinuous streams on Earth.
Scientists see water ice in fresh meteorite craters on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists are seeing sub-surface water ice that may be 99 percent pure halfway between the north pole and the equator on Mars, thanks to quick-turnaround observations from orbit of fresh ...
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.
Variable Temperatures Leave Insects wtih a Frosty Reception
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, scientists at The University of Western Ontario have shown that insects exposed to repeated periods of cold will trade reproduction for immediate survival.
Early hominid first walked on two legs in the woods
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 08, 2009 |
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Among the many surprises associated with the discovery of the oldest known, nearly complete skeleton of a hominid is the finding that this species took its first steps toward bipedalism not on the open, grassy ...
Mars explorer says we'll find life on other planets within 10 years
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 21, 2009 |
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Within 10 years, we'll find life outside Earth -- that's the prediction of Peter Smith, the University of Arizona professor who led NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission.
Chemical from Soil Bacteria Shows Potential Neuron Toxicity; Has Possible Parkinson's Implications
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A chemical produced by common soil bacteria may kill neurons that produce dopamine, according to an article authored by University of Alabama researchers publishing Oct. 6. Dopamine neuron demise leads to ...
Plants prefer their kin, crowd out competition from strangers
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Plants don't mind sharing space with their kin but when they're potted with strangers of the same species they start invigorating their leaves, a study by McMaster University reveals.
Tiny bubbles clean oil from water
Nov 16, 2009 |
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Small amounts of oil leave a fluorescent sheen on polluted water. Oil sheen is hard to remove, even when the water is aerated with ozone or filtered through sand. Now, a University of Utah engineer has developed ...
