What is Soil?

For a long time soil was considered to be simply the loose fraction of the earth’s crust. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that soil was recognized as a natural body, worthy of study in its own right.

Soil is the mineral and organic material on the surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of plants and the base for man's activities. Soil is a complex mixture of mineral particles, organic matter, water, air, and living organisms. Soil is a product of its environment (rainfall, vegetative cover, temperature), its parent material (the rock from which it was formed), and time.

Soil is a dynamic medium, which has formed over time and continues to do so. It takes up to 500 years or more, to make 1 inch of soil. Physical, chemical and biological processes (like weather, temperature and animal activities), break down parent material (from original rock) into soil.