Soil | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from soil by restricting the former term specifically to displaced soil. 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). Accordingly, soil is a three-state system of solids, liquids, and gases. Soil is a product of several factors: the influence of climate, relief (elevation, orientation, and slope of terrain), organisms, and the soil's parent materials (original minerals) interacting over time. It continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering with associated erosion. Given its complexity and strong internal connectedness, soil ecologists regard soil as an ecosystem. Most soils have a dry bulk density (density of soil taking into account voids when dry) between 1.1 and 1.6 g/cm3, though the soil particle density is much higher, in the range of 2.6 to 2.7 g/cm3. Little of the soil of planet Earth is older than the Pleistocene and none is older than the Cenozoic, although fossilized soils are preserved from as far back as the Archean. Collectively the Earth's body of soil is called the pedosphere. The pedosphere interfaces with the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. Soil has four important functions: as a medium for plant growth as a means of water storage, supply and purification as a modifier of Earth's atmosphere as a habitat for organisms All of these functions, in their turn, modify the soil and its properties. Soil science has two basic branches of study: edaphology and pedology. Edaphology studies the influence of soils on living things. Pedology focuses on the formation, description (morphology), and classification of soils in their natural environment.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (335)

Related people (82)

Related units (7)

Related concepts (557)

Related courses (58)

ENV-220: Fundamentals in ecology

The students will learn the fundamentals in ecology with the goal to perceive the environment beyond its physical and chemical characteristics. Starting from basic concepts, they will acquire mechanis

CIVIL-203: Soil mechanics and Groundwater seepage

Le cours donne les bases de la mécanique des sols et des écoulements souterrains. Il aborde les notions de caractérisation expérimentale des sols, les principales théories pour les relations constitut

ENV-222: Soil sciences

Le cours est une introduction aux Sciences du sol. Il a pour but de présenter les principales caractéristiques, propriétés et fonctions des sols. Il fait appel à des notions théoriques mais également

Related lectures (425)

Related MOOCs (10)

Learn about how the quality of water is a direct result of complex bio-geo-chemical interactions, and about how to use these processes to mitigate water quality issues.

Organisé en deux parties, ce cours présente les bases théoriques et pratiques des systèmes d’information géographique, ne nécessitant pas de connaissances préalables en informatique. En suivant cette

Learn about how the quality of water is a direct result of complex bio-geo-chemical interactions, and about how to use these processes to mitigate water quality issues.

Soil Water Dynamics: Physical Aspects

By the instructor explores the physical aspects of soil, focusing on water movement and soil properties.

Dedekind Cuts: Rational Numbers

Explores Dedekind cuts in rational numbers, essential for constructing real numbers.

Organic matter degradation

Explores the degradation of organic matter, the role of microorganisms, and the formation of humic substances in soils.

Nutrient Availability Does Not Affect Community Assembly in Root-Associated Fungi but Determines Fungal Effects on Plant Growth

Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Bing Bai

Nonmycorrhizal root-colonizing fungi are key determinants of plant growth, driving processes ranging from pathogenesis to stress alleviation. Evidence suggests that they might also facilitate host acc

2022

Life cycle environmental assessment of retaining walls in unsaturated soils

Alessio Ferrari, Gianluca Speranza

Retaining structures above groundwater level support soils that are usually in a state of partial saturation and subject to the actions of atmospheric agents. The current design approach considers the

ELSEVIER2022

Arctic mercury cycling

Hélène Paule Angot

Anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emissions have driven marked increases in Arctic Hg levels, which are now being impacted by regional warming, with uncertain ecological consequences. This Review presents a

2022

Humus

In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Latin word for "earth" or "ground". In agriculture, "humus" sometimes also is used to describe mature or natural compost extracted from a woodland or other spontaneous source for use as a soil conditioner. It is also used to describe a topsoil horizon that contains organic matter (humus type, humus form, or humus profile).

Clay

Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, Al2Si2O5(OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet but can be hardened through firing. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide. Clay is the oldest known ceramic material. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery.

Fertilizer

A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Many sources of fertilizer exist, both natural and industrially produced. For most modern agricultural practices, fertilization focuses on three main macro nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) with occasional addition of supplements like rock flour for micronutrients.