WHAT IS THE LAYER OF THE SOIL??

O  - ORGANIC LAYER

Dominated by organic material, consisting of undecomposed or partially decomposed plant  materials, such as dead leaves.

A  - TOPSOIL

Largely material soil developed from parent material; organic matter leached from above gives this horizon a distinctive dark colour.

B  - SUBSOIL

Accumulation of mineral particles such as clay and salts leached from topsoil; distinguished based on colour, structure, and kind of material accumulated from leaching.

C  - SUBSTRATUM

Unconsolidated material derived from the original parent materials from which the soil developed.

SOIL LAYER also known as HORIZON developed because of:

• ·         Amount of humus accumulated

• ·         Differences in weathering with depth

• ·         Translocation of COLLOIDS by water

• ·         Other accumulation or looses

Charles E. Kellogg

The POWER of SOIL!

Without soil,we are nothing. Do you agree?

The stuff that that you probably call “dirt” are the foundation of life.  

Please open your eyes and your mind to the connection between soil and life.

I will show you what have soil contributes to our life…

First of all, water. We need water to survive not only for drinks but also for our biological systems to functions. Water also needed for plant to survive and continuously produce oxygen for living organism to survive. Even our routine activity also cannot separated from water such as shower, cooking, planting, washing and so on... But in order for water to retain and go through the hydrological processes they need a reservoir.

This is where the Soil play their roles.

Secondly, the food productions. Our food was produced by soil through agricultural activities. We plant rice, wheat, vegetables, fruits... Where do you think your bread, juices,cereal come from? They all come from plants, where this plant come from then? 

Of course they grow in soil!

Our milk, meat also come from soil because animal consume plant, while plant grow in soil...

Thirdly, shelters. A skyscraper building, houses, factory etc... all was made from the soil. We need wood, sand, stone, clay to build a house... our house would not exist without soil as the house need soil as a base!

Fourthly, cloth. Cloth are made of cotton, wool, linen, silk that come from plants and animals that eats plants. 

Lastly, soil also needed to produce fossil fuel such as petroleum and coal. This happened when ancient plant and animals remains buried in the soil and undergone extreme changes.

  

  

Everything that we use or eat indeed linked to soil no matter how you deny it. We depend on soil in our life, without soil human will likely become extinct. Soil is often the forgotten component yet soil is crucial to food production, urban development and many more...

So, please stop being so ignorant and arrogant as we are not so great without SOIL!

By knowing how soil is so important, let us together learn how to manage and sustain our soil. Of course first of all we need to understand the basic soil science before we manage it.

"Being ignorant is not so much a shame as

being unwilling to learn!"

-Benjamin Franklin-

Important processes in SOIL!

There are four soil forming processes that should be remembered:

1. Additions
Consist of materials deposited on the soil from above and materials that moved in with ground water.

2. Losses
Occur as nutrient taken up by plant and plant are harvested and removed.

3. Translocation
Involves movement of materials.

4. Transformation
Involves in changing of soils.

SOIL, how it is formed?

When asked, ‘What is soil?’. How many of us really know the answer? I am sure, everyone will take out their smart phone and start to search the definition through the internet. If you cannot give a complete definition scientifically, its fine... But…at least you must know how do soil form and how important it is! How could we ignore this natural resources called SOIL? After all the contributions? Did you know that soil is non-renewable resources? Know soil know life, no soil no life! That is how SIGNIFICANT soil is in our life.

How do soil form? There are fives (5) major factors control the soil formation as stated by Hans Jenny in Jenny’s CLORPT equation.

Jenny’s CLORPT equation, s = ƒ (cl, o, r, p, t)

         Biography: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/acee/14f0e1e1d04e44e789e080dbcfde48f91b4b.pdf

         Published Book: https://soilandhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/01aglibrary/010159.Jenny.pdf

1. CLIMATE

Climates determine the speed of weathering processes and the character of soil development. Two important types of weathering are temperature and moisture. These are the one that influence the speed of chemical reactions, which in turn, control how fast rocks weather and dead organisms decompose. High temperature and high precipitation increases weathering process. Soils are differ across the country, these is due to the the climate. If we compare the tropical region and the dessert, the rate of weathering in tropical region is higher than the dessert because of the climate in tropical region is warm and moist.

Source: https://anthropocenesoil.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/clay-minerology-power-of-ten/

2. ORGANISMS

Organisms such as plants and animals also speed up the breakdown of large soil particles into smaller ones. Dead plants and animals was decompose into organic matter by microbes (bacteria & fungi) in soil. Small animals such as earth worm mix and bind soil to create channels for air and water. Plant roots has the ability to break the rocks physically. Under different vegetation also, there is different picture of the soil profiles effect of type of tree litter produce. O horizon in the tropical forest is thinner than the forest with cold moist climates due to slower rate of microbial decompositions in cold climates.

3. RELIEF

Relief can greatly influence soil development. It has an effect on soil formation through soil moisture, temperature and the erosion rate. The shape of the land and the direction in faces makes a difference in how much sunlight the soil gets, and how much water it keeps. Steep slopes have thinner A horizons and less soil development due to erosion. While at the ‘foot’ and ‘toe’ of a slope, A horizons tend to be thicker due to deposition from upland areas. Soil color also different depend on the slope location. Soil color also provide the information on water content, drainage and mineral weathering.

          Source: http://www.eschooltoday.com/soils/factors-that-affect-soil-formation.html

4. PARENT MATERIAL

Just as you and I have parents so do soils. Parent Material is the material from which the soil develop and often found in C horizon or R horizon. Many of the soil properties as ours are inherited from their parents. Parent material is variables, not all soils have rocks as their ultimate parent. Three broad groups of parent material are organic materials, residual materials and transported materials.

Transported materials: Aeolian (by wind)

Organic materials: Organic deposit

Residual material: Bedrock

        5. TIME

The final factor involved in soil formation is time. Soil formation is the continuous series of processes. As soils age they develop thicker A and B horizons. Soil does not form overnight. It takes HUNDREDS TO THOUSANDS of years for these factors of formation to create ONE INCH of soil from parent material.

Interesting? Want to know more??? 

Stay tuned for the next information...

Soil Map of Sarawak

World Map