Soil functions
Soil functions are general capabilities of soils that are important for various agricultural, environmental, nature protection, landscape architecture and urban applications. Soil can perform many functions and these include functions related to the natural ecosystems, agricultural productivity, environmental quality, source of raw material, and as base for buildings. [1] Six key soil functions are:,[2][3][4][5][6][7]
- Food and other biomass production
- Environmental Interaction
- Biological habitat and gene pool
- Source of raw materials
- Physical and cultural heritage
- Platform for man-made structures
1. Food and other Biomass Production
2. Environmental Interaction
3. Biological Habitat and Gene Pool
4. Source of Raw Materials
5. Physical and Cultural Heritage
6. Platform for Man-made Structures
Soil can act as raw material deposits and is widely used in building materials. Approximately 50% of the people on the planet live in houses that are constructed from soil[8]. The conditions of the soil must be firm and solide to provide a good base for roads and highways to be built on. Additionally, since these structures rest on the soil, factors such as its bearing strength, compressibility, stability, and shear strength al need to be considered[8]. Testing the physical properties allow a better application to engineering uses of soil.
Mapping soil functions
Soil maps can depict soil properties and functions in the context of specific soil functions such as agricultural food production, environmental protection, and civil engineering considerations. Maps can depict functional interpretations of specific properties such as critical nutrient levels, heavy-metal levels or can depict interpretation of multiple properties such as a map of erosion risk index.
Mapping of function specific soil properties is an extension of soil survey, using maps of soil components together with auxiliary information (including pedotransfer functions and soil inference models) to depict inferences about the specific performance of soil mapping units. Other functions of soil in ecosystems:
- source of building materials (clay, sand, rocks)
- carbon recycler
- fiber production
See also
References
- ^ Nortcliff, Stephen (December 2006). "Soil, Definition, Function, and Utilization of Soil". doi:10.1002/14356007.b07_613.pub2.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Никитин Е.Д. О биогеоценотических функциях почв. — Вестн. Моск. ун-та Сер. Почвоведение. 1977, № 4. pp.3-8.
- ^ Nikitin, ED (1982). The role of soils in the life of nature (in rus.). Znanie, Moskow. p. 47.
- ^ Dobrovolsky, G.V.; Nikitin, E.D. (1986). Ecological functions of the soil (in rus.). MSU, Moskow. p. 260.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Dobrovolsky, G.V.; Nikitin, E.D. (1990). Soil functions in the biosphere and ecosystems (in rus.). Nauka, Moskow. p. 260.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Blum, WEH (1993). HJP Eijsackers and T Hamers (ed.). Soil Protection Concept of the Council of Europe and Integrated Soil Research. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht. pp. 37–47.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ DETR (2001). (title unknown).
- ^ a b Brady, Nyle C. The nature and properties of soils. ISBN 9781292162249. OCLC 965387174.