Soil Key Terms
Acid Soil: Soil that has a pH value of less than 5.5 for most of the year.
Aeration: To supply with air.
Aggregates: A material or structure formed from a loosely compacted mass of fragments or particles.
Air: The invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth; mixture of mainly oxygen and nitrogen.
Ammonium Nitrate: A white crystalline solid used as a fertilizer and as a content of some explosives.
Boron: A chemical element; a non-metallic solid found in soil.
Calcium: A soft grey metal found in soil.
Chlorine: A pale green gas found in soil.
Clay Soil: A soil that contains a high percentage of fine particles and colloidal substance and becomes sticky when wet.
Cobalt: A hard, silvery-white magnetic metal found in soil.
Complete Fertilizer: A fertilizer that contains all three primary nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium).
Compost: Decayed organic material used as soil fertilizer.
Copper: A reddish-brown metal found in soil.
Decomposition: The state or process of rotting.
Dirt: Loose soil or earth.
Fertilizer: A chemical or natural substance added to soil or land to increase its fertility. There are many types of fertilizer, including natural, natural inorganic, liquid, and solid.
Fish Emulsion: A fertilizer emulsion produced from the fluid remains of fish processed for fish oil and fish meal industrially.
Heavy Soil: A soil rich in fine clay particles; considered difficult to manage but rich in nutrients.
Horizon A: A surface horizon of soil that may be darker in color than the other layers and contain organic matter; this is the horizon in which the most biological activity occurs.
Horizon B: A soil horizon below horizons O, A, and E in which all or most of the original parent structures or bedding features have been obliterated.
Horizon C: A mineral horizon above the bedrock level.
Horizon E: A mineral horizon in the upper part of the soil, typically only present in forested areas; it is light in color and usually leached of nutrients due to rainfall and irrigation.
Horizon O: A horizon above the soil surface which contains much organic material in varying stages of decomposition.
Humus: The organic component of soil formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms.
Hydrogen: A colorless, odorless, highly flammable gas present in soil.
Iron: A strong, hard, magnetic silvery-grey metal found in soil.
Light Soil: A soil that is high in sand content; considered very easy to work with and one that drains very well.
Liquid Kelp: A fertilizer derived from organic seaweed.
Loam: A fertile soil of clay and sand containing humus.
Macronutrients: Soil elements which plants require in large amounts to grow well.
Magnesium: An alkaline, silver-white metal that is found in soil.
Manganese: A hard grey metal that is found in soil.
Manure: Animal dung used for fertilizing land.
Micronutrients: Soil elements which plants require in small amounts to grow well.
Microorganisms: A microscopic organism found in soil, especially a bacteria or fungus.
Mineral: A solid, inorganic substance of natural occurrence found in soil.
Molybdenum: A brittle silver-grey metal found in soil.
Neutral Soil: A soil with a pH level of 7.0.
Nickel: A silvery-white metal found in soil.
Nitrogen: A colorless, odorless, unreactive gas that forms around 78% of the earth's atmosphere and is also found in soil.
Organic Matter: Matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals.
Parent Material: Disintegrated rock material usually unconsolidated and unchanged or only slightly changed; the underlying geological material from which soil horizons form.
Peat: A brown deposit resembling soil, formed by the decomposition of vegetable matter in the wet acidic conditions of bogs and fens, often used as a soil amendment.
Phosphorus: A poisonous, combustible metal present in soil.
Pore Space: The porosity of soil; the space between mineral grains in soil, formed from varying parts water and air.
Potassium: A soft, silvery-white reactive alkali metal found in soil.
Rock: A natural substance composed of solid crystals of different minerals that have been fused together into a solid lump.
Saline Soil: Soil that contains enough soluble salts to interfere with the ability of plants to take up water.
Sandy Soil: A soil containing more than 85% sand-sized particles by mass.
Silt: Fine sand, clay or other material carried by running water and deposited as a sediment, especially in a channel or harbor.
Sodium: A soft silver-white alkali reactive metal found in soil.
Soil Composition: The nutrients and various other materials and substances present in a sample of soil.
Soil Profile: A vertical succession of horizons in a local soil.
Soil Reaction (pH): The degree of soil acidity or alkalinity.
Soil Structure: The way individual particles of sand, silt, and clay are assembled in a soil.
Soil Surface: The immediate uppermost loose layer of the earth containing organic matter and soil organisms suitable for plant growth.
Soil Texture: A summation of the proportions of sand, silt, and clay content in a soil sample.
Soil Type: A classification of soil based on its percentages of clay, silt and sand.
Subsoil: The layer of earth immediately below the surface soil, consisting predominately of minerals and leached materials such as iron and aluminum compounds.
Sulfur: A yellow combustible material found in soil.
Superphosphate: A fertilizer made from treating phosphate rock with sulfuric or phosphoric acid.
Topsoil: The top layer of soil.
Water: A colorless, transparent, odorless liquid that is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.
Water-Soluble Fertilizer: A fertilizer that can be dissolved in water.
Zinc: A silvery-white metal present in soil.
Aeration: To supply with air.
Aggregates: A material or structure formed from a loosely compacted mass of fragments or particles.
Air: The invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth; mixture of mainly oxygen and nitrogen.
Ammonium Nitrate: A white crystalline solid used as a fertilizer and as a content of some explosives.
Boron: A chemical element; a non-metallic solid found in soil.
Calcium: A soft grey metal found in soil.
Chlorine: A pale green gas found in soil.
Clay Soil: A soil that contains a high percentage of fine particles and colloidal substance and becomes sticky when wet.
Cobalt: A hard, silvery-white magnetic metal found in soil.
Complete Fertilizer: A fertilizer that contains all three primary nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium).
Compost: Decayed organic material used as soil fertilizer.
Copper: A reddish-brown metal found in soil.
Decomposition: The state or process of rotting.
Dirt: Loose soil or earth.
Fertilizer: A chemical or natural substance added to soil or land to increase its fertility. There are many types of fertilizer, including natural, natural inorganic, liquid, and solid.
Fish Emulsion: A fertilizer emulsion produced from the fluid remains of fish processed for fish oil and fish meal industrially.
Heavy Soil: A soil rich in fine clay particles; considered difficult to manage but rich in nutrients.
Horizon A: A surface horizon of soil that may be darker in color than the other layers and contain organic matter; this is the horizon in which the most biological activity occurs.
Horizon B: A soil horizon below horizons O, A, and E in which all or most of the original parent structures or bedding features have been obliterated.
Horizon C: A mineral horizon above the bedrock level.
Horizon E: A mineral horizon in the upper part of the soil, typically only present in forested areas; it is light in color and usually leached of nutrients due to rainfall and irrigation.
Horizon O: A horizon above the soil surface which contains much organic material in varying stages of decomposition.
Humus: The organic component of soil formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms.
Hydrogen: A colorless, odorless, highly flammable gas present in soil.
Iron: A strong, hard, magnetic silvery-grey metal found in soil.
Light Soil: A soil that is high in sand content; considered very easy to work with and one that drains very well.
Liquid Kelp: A fertilizer derived from organic seaweed.
Loam: A fertile soil of clay and sand containing humus.
Macronutrients: Soil elements which plants require in large amounts to grow well.
Magnesium: An alkaline, silver-white metal that is found in soil.
Manganese: A hard grey metal that is found in soil.
Manure: Animal dung used for fertilizing land.
Micronutrients: Soil elements which plants require in small amounts to grow well.
Microorganisms: A microscopic organism found in soil, especially a bacteria or fungus.
Mineral: A solid, inorganic substance of natural occurrence found in soil.
Molybdenum: A brittle silver-grey metal found in soil.
Neutral Soil: A soil with a pH level of 7.0.
Nickel: A silvery-white metal found in soil.
Nitrogen: A colorless, odorless, unreactive gas that forms around 78% of the earth's atmosphere and is also found in soil.
Organic Matter: Matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals.
Parent Material: Disintegrated rock material usually unconsolidated and unchanged or only slightly changed; the underlying geological material from which soil horizons form.
Peat: A brown deposit resembling soil, formed by the decomposition of vegetable matter in the wet acidic conditions of bogs and fens, often used as a soil amendment.
Phosphorus: A poisonous, combustible metal present in soil.
Pore Space: The porosity of soil; the space between mineral grains in soil, formed from varying parts water and air.
Potassium: A soft, silvery-white reactive alkali metal found in soil.
Rock: A natural substance composed of solid crystals of different minerals that have been fused together into a solid lump.
Saline Soil: Soil that contains enough soluble salts to interfere with the ability of plants to take up water.
Sandy Soil: A soil containing more than 85% sand-sized particles by mass.
Silt: Fine sand, clay or other material carried by running water and deposited as a sediment, especially in a channel or harbor.
Sodium: A soft silver-white alkali reactive metal found in soil.
Soil Composition: The nutrients and various other materials and substances present in a sample of soil.
Soil Profile: A vertical succession of horizons in a local soil.
Soil Reaction (pH): The degree of soil acidity or alkalinity.
Soil Structure: The way individual particles of sand, silt, and clay are assembled in a soil.
Soil Surface: The immediate uppermost loose layer of the earth containing organic matter and soil organisms suitable for plant growth.
Soil Texture: A summation of the proportions of sand, silt, and clay content in a soil sample.
Soil Type: A classification of soil based on its percentages of clay, silt and sand.
Subsoil: The layer of earth immediately below the surface soil, consisting predominately of minerals and leached materials such as iron and aluminum compounds.
Sulfur: A yellow combustible material found in soil.
Superphosphate: A fertilizer made from treating phosphate rock with sulfuric or phosphoric acid.
Topsoil: The top layer of soil.
Water: A colorless, transparent, odorless liquid that is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.
Water-Soluble Fertilizer: A fertilizer that can be dissolved in water.
Zinc: A silvery-white metal present in soil.
