An evolving, living organic/inorganic covering, soil is in dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere above, the biosphere within, and the geology below. It acts as an anchor for roots, a purveyor of water and nutrients, a residence for a vast community of microorganisms and animals, a sanitizer of the environment, and a source of raw materials for construction and manufacturing. To develop lasting solutions to the challenges of balanced use and stewardship of the Earth, we require a fundamental understanding of soil—from its elastic, porous three-phase system to its components, processes, and reactions.
Handbook of Soil Sciences: Properties and Processes, Second Edition is the first of two volumes that form a comprehensive reference on the discipline of soil science. Completely revised and updated to reflect the current state of knowledge, this volume covers the traditional areas of soil science: soil physics, soil chemistry, soil mineralogy, soil biology and biochemistry, and pedology. Contributors discuss the application of physical principles to characterize the soil system and mass and energy transport processes within the critical zone. They present significant advances in soil chemistry; describe how minerals are formed and transformed; and provide an introduction to the soil biota. They also examine geomorphology, land use, hydropedology, and subaqueous soils as well as the classification and digital mapping of soil.
Critical elements addressed in each section include:
Descriptions of concepts and theories
Definitions, approaches, methodologies, and procedures
Data in tabular and figure format
Extensive references
This cohesive handbook provides a thorough understanding of soil science principles and practices based on a rigorous, complete, and up-to-date treatment of the subject matter compiled by leading scientists. It is a resource rich in data, offering professional soil scientists, agronomists, engineers, ecologists, biologists, naturalists, and students their first point of entry into a particular aspect of the soil sciences.
Soil Physics
Introduction; Markus Tuller
Physical Properties of Primary Particles; Joseph M. Skopp
Soil Structure; Teamrat A. Ghezzehei
Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils for Agricultural Applications; Rainer Horn and Stephan Peth
Soil Water Content and Water Potential Relationships; Dani Or, Jon M. Wraith, David A. Robinson, and Scott B. Jones
Water Flow in Soils; David E. Radcliffe and Jirka Šimunek
Water and Energy Balances in the Soil–Plant–Atmosphere Continuum; Steven R. Evett, John H. Prueger, and Judy A. Tolk
Solute Transport; Feike J. Leij and Antonella Sciortino
Gas Transport in Soils; Dennis E. Rolston and Per Møldrup
Soil Thermal Regime; Robert Horton and Tyson Ochsner
Soil Spatial Variability; Ole Wendroth, Sylvia Koszinski, and Vicente Vasquez
Soil Chemistry
Introduction; Donald L. Sparks
Soil Organic Matter; Jeffrey A. Baldock and Kris Broos
Soil Solution; Paul Schwab
Kinetics and Mechanisms of Soil Chemical Reactions; Donald L. Sparks
Oxidation–Reduction Phenomena; Bruce R. James and Dominic A. Brose
Soil Colloidal Behavior; Sabine Goldberg, Inmaculada Lebron, John C. Seaman, and Donald L. Suarez
Ion Exchange Phenomena; Ian C. Bourg and Garrison Sposito
Chemisorption and Precipitation Reactions; Robert G. Ford
Role of Abiotic Catalysis in the Transformation of Organics, Metals, Metalloids, and Other Inorganics; Pan Ming Huang and A.G. Hardie
Soil pH and pH Buffering; Paul R. Bloom and Ulf Skyllberg
Soil Mineralogy
Introduction; Joseph W. Stucki
Alteration, Formation, and Occurrence of Minerals in Soils; G. Jock Churchman and David J. Lowe
Phyllosilicates; Hideomi Kodama
Oxide Minerals in Soils; Nestor Kämpf, Andreas C. Scheinost, and Darrell G. Schulze
Poorly Crystalline Aluminosilicate Clay Minerals; James Harsh
Soil Biology and Biochemistry: Soil Biology in Its Second Golden Age
Introduction; E.A. Paul and P. Nannipieri
Microbiota; Raffaella Balestrini, Valeria Bianciotto, Paola Bonfante, Michael Schloter, Sharath Srinivasiah, R. Greg Thorn, Kurt E. Williamson, and K. Eric Wommack
Soil Fauna; Michael Bonkowski, M.A. Callaham, Jr., Marianne Clarholm, David C. Coleman, D.A. Crossley, Jr., Bryan Griffiths, Paul F. Hendrix, Mark G. St. John, Robert McSorley, and P.C.J. van Vliet
Microbially Mediated Processes; Susumu Asakawa, Else K. Bünemann, Emmanuel Frossard, E.G. Gregorich, Jan Jansa, H.H. Janzen, Michael A. Kertesz, Makoto Kimura, Loretta Landi, David Long, Terence L. Marsh, Paolo Nannipieri, Astrid Oberson, Giancarlo Renella, and Thomas Voice
Nitrogen Transformations; Richa Anand, Jean-Claude Germon, Peter M. Groffman, Jeanette M. Norton, Laurent Philippot, James I. Prosser, and Joshua P. Schimel
Molecular Techniques; Judith Ascher, Yin Chen, Guo-Chun Ding, Holger Heuer, Jiri Jirout, Deepak Kumaresan, J. Colin Murrell, Giacomo Pietramellara, Kornelia Smalla, and Maria Teresa Ceccherini
Pedology
Introduction; Larry T. West and Larry P. Wilding
Geomorphology of Soil Landscapes; Douglas A. Wysocki, Philip J. Schoeneberger, Daniel R. Hirmas, and Hannan E. LaGarry
Pedogenic Processes; Judith Turk, Oliver A. Chadwick, and Robert C. Graham
Soil Taxonomy; Robert J. Ahrens and Richard W. Arnold
Pan Ming Huang, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada; Yuncong Li, University of Florida, Homestead, FL, USA; Malcolm E. Sumner, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA