PW231 Soils and Groundwater What is soil?

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Main Entry: 3soil, noun

1 : firm land : EARTH
2 a : the upper layer of earth that may be dug or plowed
and in which plants grow b : the superficial
unconsolidated and usually weathered part of the mantle of
a planet and especially of the earth
3 : COUNTRY, LAND <our native soil>
4 : the agricultural life or calling
5 : a medium in which something takes hold and develops

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Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil

Soil is material capable of supporting plant

life. Soil forms through a variety of soil
formation process, and includes weathered
rock "parent material" combined with dead
and living organic matter and air.
Soils are vital to all life on Earth because they
support the growth of plants, which supply
food and oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide
and nitrogen.

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OneLook Dictionary Search

http://onelook.com/?w=soil&ls=a

Quick definitions (soil)

noun: the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and
disintegrated rock
noun: the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a
sovereign state (Example: "American troops were
stationed on Japanese soil")
noun: material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in
which plants can grow (especially with reference to its
quality or use) (Example: "Good agricultural soil")
noun: the state of being covered with unclean things
verb: make soiled, filthy, or dirty (Example: "Don't soil your
clothes when you play outside!")

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discoveryschool.com

Whats the difference between soil and dirt?

Dirt is what you find under your fingernails. Soil is
what you find under your feet. Think of soil as a thin
living skin that covers the land. It goes down into
the ground just a short way. Even the most fertile
topsoil is only a foot or so deep.
Soil is more than rock particles. It includes all the
living things and the materials they make or change.

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discoveryschool.com , contd

There is no soil on Mars or Venus. How come?

Those planets have plenty of rocks. Mars has
windstorms that erode rocks into dust. Venus has
an acid atmosphere that cooks rocks into new
chemicals. But there's still something missing.
Without life, there is no soil. Living things haven't
just made a home in the soil on our planet. Life
actually made the soil as we know it.

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Definitions (simplified)

Soil is a dynamic, heterogeneous, three-phase, porous

media
Perspective: Soil Physics
Soil is the outer layer of the earths crust capable of
supporting plant growth (Pearson, 1967, Principles
of Agronomy)
Perspective: Botany, Agronomy, Horticulture, ...
Soil is unconsolidated, surficial material.
Perspective: Geology, Engineers

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Definitions, Byers, et al., Formation of Soil, 1938*

Soils are natural media for the growth of plants.

They are mixtures of fragmented and partly or
wholly weathered rocks and minerals, organic
matter, water, and air, in greatly varying
proportions, and have more or less distinct layers
or horizons developed under the influence of
climate and living organismsSoils are dynamic
in character the product of the action of climate
and living organisms upon the parent material, as
conditioned by the local relief.
*Yearbook of Agriculture

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Definitions, Simonson, What Soils Are, 1957*

The soil is the link between the rock core of the earth
and the living things on its surface. It is the foothold
for the plants we grow.
The soil mantle of the earth is far from uniform, but all
soils have some things in common.
Every soil consists of mineral and organic matter,
water, and air
Every soil occupies space ...
Every soil has a profile
*Yearbook of Agriculture
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Definitions, Daubenmire, Plants and Environment, 1974*

Soil any part of the earths crust in which plants are

anchored: the muddy bottoms of ponds, porous rock
surfaces into which cryptogams send their rhiziods,
peat, raw gravel deposited by glaciers, etc.
Soil may be defined as the weathered superficial layer of
the earths crust with which are mingled living
organisms and products of their decay.
*A Textbook of Autecology, 3rd ed.
(ecology dealing with individual organisms or individual species of organisms)

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Definition, Soil Science Glossary, SSSA

(i) The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the

immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural
medium for the growth of land plants.
(ii) The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the
surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows
effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate
(including water and temperature effects), and macro-
and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on
parent material over a period of time. A product-soil
differs from the material from which it is derived in
many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological
properties and characteristics

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Definition, Joffe, 1949, modified by Birkeland, 1999

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers (horizons)

of mineral and/or organic constituents of variable
thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials
in their morphological, physical, chemical, and
mineralogical properties and their biological
characteristics.

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Definition, Soil Taxonomy, 2nd ed.

The upper limit of soil is the boundary between soil

and air, shallow water, live plants, or plant
materials that have not begun to decompose. Areas
are not considered to have soil if the surface is
permanently covered by water too deep (typically
more than 2.5 meters) for the growth of rooted
plants.

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Definition, Soil Taxonomy, 2nd ed.

The lower boundary that separates soil from the nonsoil

underneath is most difficult to define. Soil consists of
horizons near the earth's surface that, in contrast to the
underlying parent material, have been altered by the
interactions of climate, relief, and living organisms over
time. Commonly, soil grades at its lower boundary to
hard rock or to earthy materials virtually devoid of
animals, roots, or other marks of biological activity. For
purposes of classification, the lower boundary of soil is
arbitrarily set at 200 cm.

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Definition, Soil Taxonomy, 2nd ed.

Soil is a natural body comprised of solids (minerals

and organic matter), liquid, and gases that occurs
on the land surface, occupies space, and is
characterized by one or both of the following:
horizons, or layers, that are distinguishable from
the initial material as a result of additions, losses,
transfers, and transformations of energy and
matter or the ability to support rooted plants in a
natural environment.

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Definitions, Spangler & Handy, 1982, Soil Engineering

Soils are natural materials which occur in infinite

variety over the earth and whose engineering
properties may vary widely from place to place
within the relatively small confines of a single
engineering project
The properties of soils are continuously changing as
the amount of moisture fluctuates and other
environmental influences vary and may change
dramatically under load
Soil is used as construction material

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Definitions, Hillel, Introduction to Soil Physics, 1982

Soil refers to the weathered and fragmented outer

layer of the earths terrestrial surface.
The soil is a heterogeneous, polyphasic, particulate,
disperse, and porous system, in which the interfacial
area per unit volume can be very large. The disperse
nature of the soil and its consequent interfacial
activity give rise to such phenomena as adsorption
of water and chemicals, ion exchange, adhesion,
swelling and shrinking, dispersion and flocculation,
and capillarity.

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