Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Concepts of soils
- 2 Pedogenic processes and pathways of horizon differentiation
- 3 Soil phases: the inorganic solid phase
- 4 Soil phases: the organic solid phase
- 5 Soil phases: the liquid phase
- 6 Soil phases: the gaseous phase
- 7 Soil phases: the living phase
- 8 The State Factor theory of soil formation
- 9 Factors of soil formation: parent material. As exemplified by a comparison of granitic and basaltic soils
- 10 Factors of soil formation: climate. As exemplified by volcanic ash soils
- 11 Factors of soil formation: topography
- 12 Factors of soil formation: biota. As exemplified by case studies on the direct imprint of trees on trace metal concentrations in soils
- 13 Factors of soil formation: time
- 14 Soil formation on Earth and beyond: the role of additional soil-forming factors
- 15 Soil functions and land use
- 16 Physical degradation of soils
- 17 Chemical degradation of soils
- 18 The future of soil research
- Appendix: Naming soils and soil horizons
- References
- Index
1 - Concepts of soils
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Concepts of soils
- 2 Pedogenic processes and pathways of horizon differentiation
- 3 Soil phases: the inorganic solid phase
- 4 Soil phases: the organic solid phase
- 5 Soil phases: the liquid phase
- 6 Soil phases: the gaseous phase
- 7 Soil phases: the living phase
- 8 The State Factor theory of soil formation
- 9 Factors of soil formation: parent material. As exemplified by a comparison of granitic and basaltic soils
- 10 Factors of soil formation: climate. As exemplified by volcanic ash soils
- 11 Factors of soil formation: topography
- 12 Factors of soil formation: biota. As exemplified by case studies on the direct imprint of trees on trace metal concentrations in soils
- 13 Factors of soil formation: time
- 14 Soil formation on Earth and beyond: the role of additional soil-forming factors
- 15 Soil functions and land use
- 16 Physical degradation of soils
- 17 Chemical degradation of soils
- 18 The future of soil research
- Appendix: Naming soils and soil horizons
- References
- Index
Summary
In this chapter we will explore some changes of people's perceptions of soils and their classification as background for the dominant concepts of today.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine that when you open them you are at the beginning of human time, a hunter and gatherer somewhere in the world, isolated, with barest of necessities, and you are hungry. By trial and error and stories passed on to you, you now know which plants and berries are okay to eat and how to stalk and kill animals and how to fish for your survival. As a keen observer you detect the location of specific plants and the common habitats and behaviour of the animals that become your food. You can't go far from where you are because your source of protein is here – not somewhere else. One or two million years pass by almost unnoticed.
Close your eyes again and when you open them imagine that you look beyond the bank of a river to small plots of irrigated land where grain is growing. Fish are still an important protein source but now with harvestable and storable grains you can easily carry protein with you. The world around you opens up to exploration and conquest. Ideas and technology are transferable to faraway places. It is known locally that some lands are better than others for producing grains and are easier to prepare and manage.
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- Soils: Basic Concepts and Future Challenges , pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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