The high volume of rain in tropical rainforests washes nutrients out of the soil more quickly than in other

climates.

The soils of the rainforest are generally deep because

the hot temperatures help to break down (weather) the

rocks and the high rainfall tends to leach (remove nutrients) from considerable depths of the soil. The
soils

tend to be reddish because the high temperatures tend

to convert the iron in soil (the mineral largely responsible for soil colour) into haematite which is the
reddish

form of iron. Although the trees of the rainforest penetrate deeply, most of the organic matter in the soil
is as

a shallow layer at and near the surface of the soil. This

organic rich layer is amazing in that it recycles nutrients

and maintains the dense tropical rainforest.

The soil is highly acidic. The roots of plants rely on an acidity difference between the roots and the soil in
order to absorb nutrients. When the soil is acidic, there is little difference, and therefore little absorption
of nutrients from the soil.

The type of clay particles present in tropical rainforest soil has a poor ability to trap nutrients and stop
them from washing away. Even if humans artificially add nutrients to the soil, the nutrients mostly wash
away and are not absorbed by the plants.

The high temperature and moisture of tropical rainforests cause dead organic matter in the soil to
decompose more quickly than in other climates, thus releasing and losing its nutrients rapidly.

in tropical rainforests are typically deep but not very fertile, partly because large proportions of some
mineral nutrients are bound up at any one time within the vegetation itself rather than free in the soil.
The moist, hot climatic conditions lead to deep weathering of rock and the development of deep,
typically reddish soil profiles rich in insoluble sesquioxides of iron and aluminum, commonly referred to
as tropical red earths. Because precipitation in tropical rainforest regions exceeds evapotranspiration at
almost all times, a nearly permanent surplus of water exists in the soil and moves downward through the
soil into streams and rivers in valley floors. Through this process nutrients are leached out of the soil,
leaving it relatively infertile. Most roots, including those of trees, are concentrated in the uppermost soil
layers where nutrients become available from the decomposition of fallen dead leaves and other organic
litter. Sandy soils, particularly, become thoroughly leached of nutrients and support stunted rainforests
of peculiar composition. A high proportion of plants in this environment have small leaves that contain
high levels of toxic or unpalatable substances. A variant of the tropical rainforest, the mangrove forest, is
found along estuaries and on sheltered sea coasts in tidally inundated, muddy soils (see boundary
ecosystem: Coastal systems).

Introduction There are many different soils both within a country and

worldwide. For example, there are over 700 soils in the UK and many thousands

worldwide. The reason that there are so many is that the main things that influence soil formation vary
greatly across the world. Take, for example, climate.

The rainfall varies from just a few millimetres in the desert areas of the world

to several thousand millimetres in the tropics. The rocks of the earth are also

very variable from one country to another and these differences mean that soils

will also be different. Let us look at soil formation in some of the main climatic

zones of the world.