What factors influence soil formation: conditions and process, scheme and stages

Soil is the basis of the well-being of mankind, because the crop depends on it, as well as in many respects the climate of the entire planet. Nutritious soils support the life of millions of plants, and they, in turn, are food for both people and animals. In order to maintain high soil characteristics, it is necessary to know what factors influence the process of soil formation and whether they can be controlled.

Factors influencing the process

Soil formation is affected by five different factors (according to Dokuchaev):

1. Soil-forming (parent) rock.
2. Climate.
3. Plants and living organisms.
4. Relief.
5. Time.

Now they have been supplemented with two more factors: water and human activities.

There are many definitions and interpretations of the factors that influenced the process of soil formation, but the main factor in the formation of fertility is always biological. Without microorganisms, plants, animals and other products of the kingdom of Flora and Fauna, any soil is just a set of minerals. Only with a long and complex interaction with living organisms does it acquire fertility. Biological impact has the greatest impact on soil fertility.

This process requires a lot of time and certain favorable conditions. To understand what components of nature soil properties depend on, it is necessary to understand that fertility is the most important indicator of land quality.

The main components are:

1. Moisture and evaporation rate.
2. Presence, amount and level of groundwater.
3. Prevailing winds.
4. Annual temperature regime.
5. Climate (climatic zone).
6. Main plant composition.

Soil is part of the earth's lithosphere and is one of its main components. All shells involved in the formation of soils are involved, for example, water in the form of precipitation or soil flows, the remains of living organisms, plants and animals converted into humus by microbes of various types and types.

So this complex action involves not only individual components, but also such global shells as the Earth's lithosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere.

How soil is formed

The emergence of soil is a long and complex process. It involves many factors that are interconnected by a unifying basis - time. It takes not years or even centuries to get more or less fertile soil from the parent rock. Nature spends millennia and millions of years on the process of its formation. That is why it is important to realize the value of the land and try to preserve it at all costs.

Rock weathering

This term refers to a broad impact on rocks, associated not only directly with the influence of winds. Weathering of rocks occurs due to the complex effect of a group of factors, resulting in the formation of a crust and weathering products.

The following types of weathering exist:

1. Mechanical, or physical.
2. Chemical.
3. Organic, or biological.
4. Ionizing, or radiation.

The degree of impact of these types of weathering can vary significantly with the formation of different types of soils.

Physical

This type of weathering is associated with exposure to temperature extremes, the influence of water, natural disasters, wind erosion and other factors. Water undermines rocks and transports them over long distances, freezing at night and intense heating during the day cause cracking and destruction, earthquakes, floods and mudflows mix minerals, and winds supplement the process of further transformation.

Mechanical weathering begins the process of soil cover formation.

Chemical

This type of weathering is understood as a sequence of various chemical processes that continue the process of breaking down rocks, as well as starting their transformation into completely new compounds and minerals. Gradually, they acquire special qualities and properties, form minerals fundamentally different from the starting substances.

The most important factors of chemical weathering are carbon dioxide, oxygen and water. It is water that leads to the most serious change in rocks. During hydrolysis, water replaces mineral cations with hydrogen ions, oxidizes mineral substances, and during hydration “attaches” its particles to them, creating new minerals.

Biological

This type of weathering is triggered by living organisms. They include microorganisms (bacteria, viruses and fungi), protozoa, fungi, lichens, lower and higher plants, and a number of animals that affect the soil, such as those that burrow, feed and live underground.

Primary soil formation

This is a long period of development of the process of formation of land on exposed rock, which is a complex of physical, chemical and biological processes that occur simultaneously.

As a result of the action of such a complex of processes, the basis of the earth is formed, which is characterized by a specific composition and characteristics. They will further deepen, change and develop.

Soil Development

At this stage, the main processes of formation continue, to which the intense impact of biological factors is added. Terrestrial ecosystems are becoming more diverse and complex, which leads to the accumulation of fundamentally new compounds and components, that is, the soil itself is formed. It becomes the basis for the life of the next generations of living organisms, which continues the process of development and improvement, as well as the emergence of various types of soils.

Balance

The state of stability occurs when the formation of the soil is completed and it reaches maturity. In this case, fundamentally different connections and relationships appear and become fixed between the mineral component of the soil and living organisms.

Earth is reaching equilibrium with climate conditions and vegetation cover.

Evolution

These are changes in already formed, mature soils influenced by the evolution of the environment. This is how new types or subtypes of soil appear. Evolution occurs as a result of self-development of soils, accumulation of changes in their composition and structure, includes the following cycles:

1. Biogenic (biological).
2. Biogeomorphological.
3. Bioclimatic.
4. Anthropogenic.

Over the past two centuries, the role of the anthropogenic factor has grown dramatically. This significantly increased the load on the soil and led to their qualitative and quantitative changes.

The role of living organisms

Wildlife affects not only the quality, but also the composition of soils. In addition to saturating them with animal and plant remains, which are processed by microorganisms into humus and increase fertility, other interactions are also observed. Living organisms can lead to a change in the mineral composition of the soil, for example, some microorganisms have this property.

In the formation and development of soil fertility, it is impossible to single out individual factors. They work together to give soils their uniqueness and diversity.

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