Figure 9: Examples of Mollisols (grassland soils) formed from loess. Both soils have mean annual precipitation of 450 mm. The Ustoll (a) has an ustic soil moisture regime and the Xeroll (b) has a ...

Soils that formed on Earth’s surface thousands of years ago and that are now deeply buried features of vanished landscapes have been found to be rich in carbon, adding a new dimension to our planet’s ...

McFee, a Purdue University agronomist, visited Hungary in May 1996 to study soil formation. Hungarian soil scientist Erika Micheli drove him to the outskirts of the village of Aktar, where a surface ...

In the 1930s, the ability of green plants to form oxygen through oxidation of water -- photosynthesis -- was discovered. Since then, no other large-scale biological formation of oxygen has been found, ...

Chinese scientists are testing whether cyanobacteria, the photosynthetic microorganisms that have shaped Earth’s soils for billions of years, can convert barren desert sand into ground capable of ...

Topsoil is one of the haziest terms used by gardeners, and by those who sell the stuff. After all, it’s nothing more than the top layer of soil. But real topsoil also is the most fertile portion of ...

The dirt beneath our feet often goes unnoticed but it’s key to sustaining all life on Earth. A third of the world’s soil is moderately to highly degraded, threatening global food supplies, increasing ...