Translations:Benutzer:Arian/Klett-Mini-Test/786/en

The Soil

The science of soil science, in the temperate climate zones, confines the soil to the rooted weathering layer that rests upon the bedrock of the substratum. This weathering layer is in its depth and structure an expression, on one side, of the nature of the geological parent material and the terrestrial forces of the depths, and on the other, of the nature of atmospheric working and the cosmic forces of the heights. As a modifying third there comes the geomorphology, the landscape form, (tectonics, water and wind erosion). Through the interplay of this threefold of forces and substances there arises in the vertical a variant-rich, again threefold-articulated soil profile. Its uppermost zone, the A-horizon, is in high degree influenced by substances and forces working in from the atmosphere, the "belly" of the agricultural individuality. Here in the uppermost layer is concentrated the plant and animal soil life, and, having arisen from this, the humus as a decisive bearer of fertility. The humus provides for the dark coloration of this horizon and for a pore-rich crumb structure.