News tagged with soil
A genetic alternative to fertilizer
Several studies have shown that a lack of nitrogen in soils adversely affects crop yields. The modern use of nitrogen fertilizers has improved yields to meet expanding global food demand, but in some cases ...
Jun 01, 2012 |
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Soviet find of water on the Moon in the 1970s ignored by the West
(Phys.org) -- In August 1976 Luna 24 landed on the moon and returned to Earth with samples of rocks, which were found to contain water, but this finding was ignored by scientists in the West.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jun 01, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (39) |
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The environment and pharmaceuticals and personal care products: What are the big questions?
Researchers at the University of York headed a major international review aimed at enhancing efforts to better understand the impacts of chemicals used in pharmaceuticals or in personal care products, such as cosmetics, soaps, ...
May 30, 2012 |
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USDA irrigation research: Good to the last drop
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are ensuring that farmers in the Pacific Northwest are benefiting from every drop of crop irrigation water.
May 23, 2012 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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Study ups plant CO2 intake estimates
Plants may be able to limit the impact of our CO2 emissions even more than we previously thought, an innovative new experiment suggests.
May 21, 2012 |
5 / 5 (5) |
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Iowa State students take a lighter, more autonomous 'lunabot' to NASA competition
Jared Peterson, working away in the Caterpillar Mechatronics Laboratory in Iowa State University's Hoover Hall, recently held up a small electric motor.
May 21, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Southern pine beetle impacts on forest ecosystems
Research by USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists shows that the impacts of recent outbreaks of southern pine beetle further degraded shortleaf pine-hardwood forest ecosystems in the southern Appalachian ...
May 17, 2012 |
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Ancient plant-fungal partnerships reveal how the world became green
Prehistoric plants grown in state-of-the-art growth chambers recreating environmental conditions from more than 400 million years ago have shown scientists from the University of Sheffield how soil dwelling fungi played a ...
May 15, 2012 |
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When the soil holds not enough phosphorus: Scientists describe new transporter in cells of plant roots
Plants cannot survive without phosphorus. It forms the backbone of many crucial molecules (such as DNA) and is a key player in energy transfer reactions. Low availability of phosphorus is a major environmental ...
May 15, 2012 |
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Secret soil cracks linger underground
(Phys.org) -- Deep cracks in soil that appear during long dry spells can remain open underground even after they have visibly sealed on the surface, a new study has found.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 15, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
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Chile supreme court halts Patagonia dam project
Chile's supreme court has halted construction on the Rio Cuervo hydroelectric project in the country's remote and pristine Patagonia region, after accepting an appeal from environmental groups.
May 13, 2012 |
4 / 5 (4) |
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Hunting for bomb-eating bugs
University of Arizona researchers are studying the environmental effects of insensitive munitions compounds, or IMCs, which are new, more stable explosives that won't detonate in response to heat or shock.
May 11, 2012 |
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Quake test helps set a new standard for building on soft soil
An often quoted parable has the "foolish builder" building on sand, but in reality many major cities are built on soft deposits – some in earthquake prone regions – and world-leading research at ...
May 10, 2012 |
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Agricultural bacteria: Blowing in the wind
The 1930s Dust Bowl proved what a disastrous effect wind can have on dry, unprotected topsoil. Now a new study has uncovered a less obvious, but equally troubling impact of wind: Not only can it carry away soil particles, ...
May 09, 2012 |
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Plant diversity is key to maintaining productive vegetation
Vegetation, such as a patch of prairie or a forest stand, is more productive in the long run when more plant species are present, a new University of Minnesota study shows. The unprecedented long-term study of plant biodiversity ...
May 03, 2012 |
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Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers (soil horizons) of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes that include weathering and erosion. Soil differs from its parent rock due to interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the biosphere. It is a mixture of mineral and organic constituents that are in solid, gaseous and aqueous states. Soil particles pack loosely, forming a soil structure filled with pore spaces. These pores contain sol solution (liquid) and air (gas). Accordingly, soils are often treated as a three state system. Most soils have a density between 1 and 2 g/cm³. Soil is also known as earth: it is the substance from which our planet takes its name. Little of the soil composition of planet Earth is older than Tertiary and most no older than Pleistocene. In engineering, soil is referred to as regolith, or loose rock material.
For more information about Soil, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
