Definition of soil

The composition of the soil

 Introduction
• Soil is a renewable natural resource,
indispensable life factors of living organisms.
We have to maintain its quality and
multifunctionality.
 Definition of the soil
Researchers working in different field have different definitions of the soil
1. Soil is defined as the unconsolidated mineral materials on the
immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for
the growth of land plants
2. The soil is such a special natural body developed by the combined
effect of local clime, plants and animals, parent rock, relief and the
development age of the area. (Dokucsajev)
– Climate (particularly temperature and precipitation)
– Living and dead organisms (especially native vegetation, microbes, soil animals
and human beings)
– Nature of parent rock (contains lime, of having acidic properties)
– Topography of site (micro,- mezo and macrorelief)
– Time that parent materials are subjected to soil formation
 Definition of the soil
3. The soil is the upper solid layer of the crust, serves
as the habitat of the plants. Essential feature of the
soil is the fertility; it is able to supply the plants with
water and nutrients in the proper time and in
sufficient quantity. (Stefanovits)
4. The soil is a loose top coat layer of the Earth, which
formed on the bedrock by the physical and chemical
weathering as well as the formation of humus by
biogenic transformation of organic matter. (Gerald
Ganssen)
 Definition of the soil
5. The soil is a dynamic system, which seeks a balance
of exogenous influences. Soil is developed at the
border of the litho-, hydro-, and atmosphere.
6. Soil is a complex system, which contains materials of
different quality and state, and in which two closely
related and complementary subsystems – biotic and
abiotic - can be distinguished.
7. Soil is a heterogene (different quality and state) three
phase (solid, liquid and gaseous state) polydisperse
system.
 Soil profile
• In the vertical profile of soil, different layers
can be distinguished according to particle-size
groups, porosity, colour.
Soil profile
A layer (A0, A1)
Upper layer with humus
E layer
Discoloured leaching layer
B layer (B1, B2)
Accumulation layer

C layer
Parent material (rock)
8
Soil profile
A layer
Upper layer with humus

B layer
Transitional layer below
the A layer

C layer
Parent material (rock)
9
The main functions of soil in the biosphere

1. Soils are the most significant – conditionally

renewable – natural resources.
2. Soil is a reactor, transformer and integrator of
the combined influences of other natural
resources: such as solar radiation,
atmosphere, surface and subsurface waters,
deeper geological strata and biological
resources.
The main functions of soil in the biosphere

3. Soil is the medium for biomass production (food,

fodder, raw material for industry, alternative
energy). Soil can satisfy the ecological
requirements (air, water and nutrient supply) of
living organisms, the natural vegetation and
cultivated crops. This ability is its fertility, which
depends on natural factors and human activities
(land use, soil management). Soil is the primary
food-source of biosphere, the starting point of the
food chain.
The main functions of soil in the biosphere

4. Soil is a major natural storage of heat, water, plant

nutrients and other elements. The stored water and plant
nutrients ensure the continuous moisture and nutrient
supply of plants – according to their uptake dynamics –
for shorter or longer periods without any additional
supply (rain, irrigation, nutrient application).
5. Soil is an efficient „natural filter” and detoxication system
that may prevent the deeper horizons and the subsurface
waters from becoming contaminated by various
pollutants deposited on the soil surface or put into the
soil.
The main functions of soil in the biosphere
6. Soils represent a high capacity buffer medium, may moderate
the various stresses caused by environmental factors (climatic
droughts or excessively humid conditions, frost, etc.) and/or
human activities (high input, fully-mechanized and chemically
controlled crop production; liquid manure from large-scale
livestock farms; wastes and waste waters originating from
industry, transport, urban and rural development, etc.).
7. Soil is a significant gene – reservoir of biosphere, an
important element of biodiversity. A considerable proportion
of living organisms live in or on the soil or are closely related
to (sometimes depending on) the soil.
 Soil forming factors
The most important factors of soil formation are:
• Parent rock (geological factor),
• Relief,
• Climate,
• Vegetation (biological factor),
• Age of soils
• Man’s activities.
All these factors have operated and interacted over long periods of time
 Soil forming factors
Parent rock
• This is the “raw material” of soil formation. The less far soil
development has proceeded, the closer the relationship is
between parent rock and soil properties. The properties of
the parent material influence the rate of soil development,
how far it can progress and the extent to which other factors
affect it. The most important parent rock characteristics are:
• Chemical and mineral composition, which determines the
rate of soil development and the chemical properties of soils;
• Structure and particle size, which determines the rate of soil
development and the physical properties of soils.
 Soil forming factors
Relief
• The altitude of the land surface, its inclination (slope) and exposure (to
N, S, E or W) affect the relation between rock surface (or soil surface)
and the water table, susceptibility to erosion and lateral movement of
water in the soil. It also influences the micro-climate and, consequently,
the natural vegetation.
• The relief determines the probability (frequency) of flooding, and the
intensity of groundwater influences on soil formation processes.
• Wind and water erosion (sheet, rill, gully and underground erosion)
carry away soil particles or rock fragments. The steeper the slope and
the less permeable the soil, the greater the erosive effect of a rainfall is.
• The input of radiation energy (sunlight) varies with gradient and
orientation of slope. This affects temperature and evaporation and,
frequently, rainfall distribution. Thus, relief modifies the influences of
climate and vegetation on soil formation.
Effect of relief on soil formation
 Soil forming factors
Climate
Climate directly influences soil temperature and soil water
relationships and has indirect effects through vegetation.
Radiation energy affects rock and soil temperature and, thus,
the rate of weathering and decomposition, as well as all
abiotic and biotic transport and transformation processes,
because they are temperature-dependent. Temperature has
important effects on interception, evaporation and
transpiration. The field water cycle is determined primarily
by the territorial and time distribution, intensity and form of
atmospheric precipitation.
 Soil forming factors
Water
• is essential for all biological, chemical and physical
transformation processes (weathering, neoformation
of minerals, decomposition, humification, aggregate
formation, ion exchange, redox processes). It affects
profile differentiation through percolation (rainfall >
evaporation), upward capillary transport (potential
evaporation < rainfall), surface erosion, over-
moistening or waterlogging and these all affect the
translocation processes.
 Soil forming factors
Vegetation
• Though vegetation depends primarily on climate (main
climatic zones → major types of vegetation) it has
specific effects on soil development:
– it provides the parent organic matter of the soil (determines
the quantity, spatial distribution and form of organic matter);
– moderates climatic extremes, creates specific micro-climate;
– protects soil surface against erosion and plant nutrients
against leaching;
– influences soil fauna and its activities.
 Soil forming factors
The influence of Man
• Man affects soil directly by cultivation (land use; agrotechniques:
tillage, fertilization, irrigation; amelioration: soil conservation,
moisture control, reclamation, etc.) and indirectly by influencing
other soil forming factors (parent material, relief, micro-climate,
water regime, vegetation). These influences are sharply
increasing parallel with the ever-growing demand of World
population, and modify natural soil formation more and more
intensively (→→ increasing “anthropomorphic character” of
soils).
• In the course of soil formation the material and energetic factors
interact over time.
SOIL COMPONENTS
 The main soil components
• Mineral components (fragments of parent rock, primary and
secondary minerals, amorphous substances). With the exception of
organic soils, these components predominate in soil, representing
the mineral soil body in which plants are rooted and supplied with
inorganic nutrient elements. Inorganic parent materials are:
– Minerals (silicates, quartz, accessory minerals, secondary minerals as
carbonates and clay minerals);
– rocks (igneous rocks; metamorphic rocks; sedimentary rocks).
• Organic components (soil fauna and flora, plant roots, intact or
decaying plant residues, newly formed humus substances)
• Water (soil solution)
• Air (soil atmosphere).
The main soil components
 Minerals
Chlorides:
Halite (NaCl),
Sylvite (KCl)
Sulfides:
Pyrite (FeS) Halite Sylvite
Sulfates:
Gypsum (CaSO4*2H2O),
Glauber’s salt
(Na2SO4*10H2O),
Epsom salt (MgSO4*6H2O)
Nitrates:
Sodium nitrate (NaNO3) Gypsum
Pyrite
 Minerals
Phosphates:
Apatite (Ca5(PO4)3F),
Vivianite (Fe3(PO4)2*8H2O)
Vivianite
Borates: Apatite
borax (Na2B4O7*10H2O)
Carbonates:
Calcite, Aragonite (CaCO3),
Dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), Aragonite Dolomite
Soda (Na2CO3*10H2O),
Siderite (FeCO3)

Calcite Siderite
 Minerals
Oxides and hydroxides:
Iron
Goethite (FeO(OH))
Hematite (Fe2O3)
Magnetite (FeO*Fe2O3)
Goethite Hematite
Manganese
Pyrolusite (MnO2)
Titanium
Rutile (TiO2)
Aluminium
Gibbsite (AlOH3)
Quartz
Rutile
Boehmite (AlO/OH)
Silicon
Quartz (SiO2)
Opal (SiO2*nH2O)
Phytolith
Opal Phytolith
 Minerals
Silicates
1. Nesosilicates (alone tetrahedron)
a. Olivine (Mg, Fe2+-silicates)
2. Inosilicates (single chain)
a. Pyroxene group(Mg, Fe2+-silicates)
3. Inosilicates (double chain)
a. Amphibole group(Ca, Mg, Fe2+-silicates) Talc Olivine
4. Phyllosilicates (sheets)
a. Talc
b. Micas (biotite, muscovite)
c. Clay minerals
5. Tectosilicates (3D framework)
a. Feldspars
b. Zeolites
Muscovite
 Minerals
Clay minerals
• Secondary silicates, form over long periods of
time from the gradual chemical weathering of
rocks
• Phyllosilicates (are from sheets)
• Clay minerals have colloidal properties, so
have very important roles in the binding of
various ions and little molecules
 Rocks
Igneous rock: forms through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava
plutonic rock: when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earth’s crust
(granite, granodiorite, diorite, gabbro, peridotite)
volcanic rock: when magma reaching the surface (rhyolite, dacite, trachyte,
andesite, basalt)
felsic, intermediate, mafic, ultramafic

Sedimentary rock: forms at the earth’s surface by the accumulation and cementation of
fragments of earlier rocks, minerals, organisms, or as chemical precipitates in
water. Before being deposited, sediments are formed by weathering, then
transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, ice.
volcanic tuff
clastic sediments (conglomerates, breccia, sandstone, mudrock)
chemically precipitate from solution (limestone, dolostone)
organic sediments (coal, chert, diatomaceous earth)

Metamorphic rock: any rock type changes by the action of heat or pressure
schists
marbles
 Igneous rocks
Felsic igneous Intermediate Mafic igneous
rock igneous rock rock
Silica content
63%- 52-63% 45-52%
Temperature of the magma
700-900 °C 950-1170 °C 1050-1200 °C
 Igneous rocks

Granite Andesite Basalt tuff

 Sedimentary rocks

breccia mudstone limestone

 Metamorphic rocks

talc Mica schist gneiss

(from mudstone) (from granite)
(From ultramafic
igneous rock)

serpentinite
quartzite marble (from ultramafic
(from sandstone) (from limestone) igneous rock)
 Weathering
• The rocks and minerals of the earth’s surface
are affected by the atmosphere and living
organisms; they are broken down by
weathering. Products of and residues from
weathering take part in the neoformation of
secondary minerals.
 Weathering
Weathering can be divided into three parts:
1. Physical weathering: disintegration of rocks and minerals to
smaller particles increasing specific surface as a result of:
– temperature fluctuations: differential warming and cooling causes
differences in expansion and contraction on sunny and shaded
sides and between surface and interior, the results are stress,
splitting, fissuring, decay;
– frost: expansion of water in cracks and fissures results in stronger
breakdown of rocks and minerals (ice = 9% greater volume than
water);
– action of plant roots:  growth increases in fissures; less important
than frost and temperature.
 Weathering
2. Chemical weathering: the decomposition of physically
weathered material by dissolution, hydrolysis, acidolysis,
oxidation. Main agents are: H2O, CO2, O2 and H+ ions.
– Dissolution (detriment of the crystal framework of soluble salts);
– Hydrolysis (decomposition by water of soluble salts combining
strong base and weak acid, due to dissociation of water);
– Acidolysis (H+ attack: much more intensive than hydrolysis in
pure water);
– Oxidation (reduced elements, as Fe2+, S2+, Mn2+ are oxidized by
atmospheric O2 in the presence of H2O and microorganisms Fe3+,
S6+, Mn3+, Mn4+).
 Weathering
3. Biological weathering: Soil organisms and
plant roots interact with chemical weathering
by producing CO2 (respiration, decomposition
of organic matter), H+ (exchange with
nutrient cations), organic anions which form
soluble complexes with Al, Fe, Mn, thus
attacking the crystal lattice, and taking part in
microbial oxidation.
Weathering