Give importance of soil. Explain 3 …

Importance of soil as a resource

• Soil is the most important renewable natural resource.
• It is the medium of plant growth and supports different types of living organisms on the Earth.
• Soil helps in providing food to this Earth.

Factors Responsible for the Formation of Soil

The relief features, parent material, climate, vegetation and other life-forms as well as time apart from human activities are the major factors responsible for the formation of soil.

1. Parent Material: It is deposited by streams or derived from in-situ weathering. In this stage, soil inherits many properties like the mineral composition, the colour, the particle size and the chemical elements. For example- Black soil derived its colour from lava rock

2. Climate: It is one of the important factors in the formation of soil because it affects the rate of weathering of the parent rock.

3. Role of precipitation: The variability in the precipitation modified the composition of the soil. For Example- Areas with little rainfall with high rate of evaporation led to the accumulation of salts in the soil. The soils underlying tropical rain forests tend to be nutrient-poor because of intensive leaching due to heavy rains.

4. Role of temperature: It is also play important role because fluctuations in temperature causes shrinking and swelling, frost action and general weathering in soils.