Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Concepts of soils
- 2 Pedogenic processes and pathways of horizon differentiation
- 3 Soil phases: the inorganic solid phase
- 4 Soil phases: the organic solid phase
- 5 Soil phases: the liquid phase
- 6 Soil phases: the gaseous phase
- 7 Soil phases: the living phase
- 8 The State Factor theory of soil formation
- 9 Factors of soil formation: parent material. As exemplified by a comparison of granitic and basaltic soils
- 10 Factors of soil formation: climate. As exemplified by volcanic ash soils
- 11 Factors of soil formation: topography
- 12 Factors of soil formation: biota. As exemplified by case studies on the direct imprint of trees on trace metal concentrations in soils
- 13 Factors of soil formation: time
- 14 Soil formation on Earth and beyond: the role of additional soil-forming factors
- 15 Soil functions and land use
- 16 Physical degradation of soils
- 17 Chemical degradation of soils
- 18 The future of soil research
- Appendix: Naming soils and soil horizons
- References
- Index
3 - Soil phases: the inorganic solid phase
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Concepts of soils
- 2 Pedogenic processes and pathways of horizon differentiation
- 3 Soil phases: the inorganic solid phase
- 4 Soil phases: the organic solid phase
- 5 Soil phases: the liquid phase
- 6 Soil phases: the gaseous phase
- 7 Soil phases: the living phase
- 8 The State Factor theory of soil formation
- 9 Factors of soil formation: parent material. As exemplified by a comparison of granitic and basaltic soils
- 10 Factors of soil formation: climate. As exemplified by volcanic ash soils
- 11 Factors of soil formation: topography
- 12 Factors of soil formation: biota. As exemplified by case studies on the direct imprint of trees on trace metal concentrations in soils
- 13 Factors of soil formation: time
- 14 Soil formation on Earth and beyond: the role of additional soil-forming factors
- 15 Soil functions and land use
- 16 Physical degradation of soils
- 17 Chemical degradation of soils
- 18 The future of soil research
- Appendix: Naming soils and soil horizons
- References
- Index
Summary
Inorganic solid phases in soils can generally be described as minerals. In soils, rocks provide the raw (i.e. ‘parent’) materials for minerals in soils. Minerals may derive directly from rocks, with little or no chemical or structural changes, although physical changes, e.g. comminution, commonly occur. In this case they are referred to as primary minerals. However, many of the minerals that are of most importance for soil properties are secondary. While these have formed from rock minerals under the influence of soil-forming processes, principally weathering, they usually comprise different phases from those present in the rocks.
Description
Table 3.1 comprises a compilation of (a) the characteristics and properties of inorganic solid phases that occur most commonly in soils and (b) the nature of their processes of formation and transformation and their occurrence in soils.
The information in Table 3.1 is extracted from Dixon and Weed (1989), Churchman and Burke (1991), Churchman et al. (1993, 1994), Churchman (2000), Olson et al. (2000), and Dixon and Schulze (2002), and is discussed as follows under the various categories in the table.
Characteristics and properties
Primary and secondary minerals
Although there is little doubt that most occurrences of those designated as primary minerals in Table 3.1 have a direct origin as the residue of minerals that formerly constituted rocks, some – for example quartz, micas, calcite and the zeolite analcime – may also form pedogenically.
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- Information
- Soils: Basic Concepts and Future Challenges , pp. 23 - 44Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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