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Soil consists of a solid phase of minerals and organic matter (the soil matrix), as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil solution). [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Accordingly, soil is a three- state system of solids, liquids, and gases. [ 3 ]
Rock, whether its origin is igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic, is the source of all soil mineral materials and the origin of all plant nutrients with the exceptions of nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon. As the parent rock is chemically and physically weathered, transported, deposited and precipitated, it is transformed into a soil. [11] Typical ...
In soils, clay is a soil textural class and is defined in a physical sense as any mineral particle less than 2 μm (8 × 10 −5 in) in effective diameter. Many soil minerals, such as gypsum , carbonates, or quartz, are small enough to be classified as clay based on their physical size, but chemically they do not afford the same utility as do ...
Sand is the most stable of the mineral components of soil; it consists of rock fragments, primarily quartz particles, ranging in size from 2.0 to 0.05 mm (0.0787 to 0.0020 in) in diameter. Silt ranges in size from 0.05 to 0.002 mm (0.001969 to 7.9 × 10 −5 in).
The mineral components of the soil are derived from the parental rocks or regolith. The minerals present about 90% of the total weight of the soil. Some important elements, which are found in compound state, are oxygen, iron, silicon, aluminium, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, carbon, hydrogen, etc. The formation of primary ...
Earth materials include minerals, rocks, soil and water. These are the naturally occurring materials found on Earth that constitute the raw materials upon which our global society exists. Earth materials are vital resources that provide the basic components for life, agriculture and industry .
Parent material is the underlying geological material (generally bedrock or a superficial or drift deposit) in which soil horizons form. Soils typically inherit a great deal of structure and minerals from their parent material, and, as such, are often classified based upon their contents of consolidated or unconsolidated mineral material that has undergone some degree of physical or chemical ...
Rocks can also be composed entirely of non-mineral material; coal is a sedimentary rock composed primarily of organically derived carbon. [34] [38] In rocks, some mineral species and groups are much more abundant than others; these are termed the rock-forming minerals.