Nov 23, 2025 · For a cartographic guide to the distribution of the world’s major soils, featuring links to short descriptive entries on each soil type, see the interactive world map.

Nov 23, 2025 · The U.S. Soil Taxonomy classifies soils within a hierarchy of six categories. Only the highest-level category, order, is discussed here. Soil orders are named by adding the suffix -sol to a …

Oct 14, 2025 · Soil - Structure, Composition, Properties: The grain size of soil particles and the aggregate structures they form affect the ability of a soil to transport and retain water, air, and nutrients.

Nov 23, 2025 · Soil - Formation, Composition, Structure: As stated at the beginning of this article, soils evolve under the action of biological, climatic, geologic, and topographic influences.

Nov 23, 2025 · The FAO designates eight soil groups— Cambisol, Chernozem, Fluvisol, Gleysol, Kastanozem, Phaeozem, Umbrisol, and Vertisol —as having a high inherent soil fertility. They …

Nov 23, 2025 · Human influence can be as severe as wholesale removal or burial (by urbanization) of an entire soil profile, or it can be as subtle as a gradual modification of organic matter by agriculture or …

Soil texture refers to the coarseness or fineness of mineral particles in the soil, while soil structure describes the physical arrangement of these particles. Texture and structure are important properties …

Nov 23, 2025 · Soil - Ecosystems, Nutrients, Structure: An ecosystem is a collection of organisms and the local environment with which they interact. For the soil scientist studying microbiological …

Podzol, one of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Podzols form under forested landscapes on coarse parent material that is high in quartz. …

Clay mineral, any of a group of important hydrous aluminum silicates with a layer (sheetlike) structure and very small particle size. They may contain significant amounts of iron, alkali metals, or alkaline …