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Geosciences LibreTexts

4: Soil

  • Page ID
    2470
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    When most people think about the resources we use, most of them will immediately think about water and air and fossil fuels. However, one resource that is absolutely vital to our existence (and other species as well) is soil. In this section, we will see how soil is formed, we will see why all soils are not the same, and we will see what the soil looks like in different biomes. You may recall from the rock cycle that soil is formed from the weathering of rocks, but this is just one piece of what goes into soil formation. If we stop and think about soil for just a minute, we can come up with an impressive resume of what soil does.

    Thumbnail: Surface-water-gley developed in glacial till, northern Ireland. (Public Domain; HolgerK).

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    4: Soil is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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