The Birth of Soils

Abstract

Readers, at this moment, we beg each of you not to get discouraged as you wade through this chapter, the longest one in our book, trying to grasp all of the essential facets of the birth of any soil. To explain and interconnect each of them required elucidation of a network of physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring together within specific domains below and above the Earth’s surface during various time intervals ranging between microseconds and thousands of years. Sit tight while you read and perhaps reread parts of it before we proceed together into the next chapter.