soil

Introduction & Top Questions
The soil profile
- Soil horizons
- Pedons and polypedons
Soil behaviour
- Physical characteristics
  - Grain size and porosity
  - Water runoff
- Chemical characteristics
  - Mineral content
  - Organic content
- Biological phenomena
Soil formation
- Parent material
- Topography
- Climate
- Organisms
- Time
Soil classification
- U.S. Soil Taxonomy
- FAO soil groups
Soil erosion
- Erosive processes
- Rates of soil erosion
- Resistance to erosion
Soils in ecosystems
- Carbon and nitrogen cycles
- Soils and global warming
Soil pollution
- Xenobiotic chemicals
- Pathways of detoxification

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

For Students

soil summary

soil

pedology

Share to social media

Facebook X

URL

https://www.britannica.com/science/soil

Feedback

Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).

Feedback Type

Your Feedback

Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing - Pilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B - The role of soils in habitat creation, maintenance and restoration
National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Sustainable soil use and management: An interdisciplinary and systematic approach
Seneca Polytechnic Pressbooks System - A Brief Introduction to Geology and Geomorphology - Weathering and Soils
University of Minnesota Libraries - Environmental Biology - Soils
Tulane University - Weathering and Soils
The Spruce - What Is Soil? Get the Dirt on Dirt
CORE - Soils and weathering
Nature - Scitable - What are Soils?
University of California - Agriculture and Natural Resources - An Introduction to Soil Concepts and the Role of Soils in Watershed Management (PDF)
Royal Horticultural Society - Soil types
Cell Press - Trends in Plant Science - Soil: the stuff of life
Geology.com - Expansive Soil and Expansive Clay
University of Mosul - Chapter two (Weathering and soils) (PDF)
Openstax - Biology 2e - The Soil
IOPscience - IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science - Healthy Soils for Productivity and Sustainable Development in Agriculture (PDF)
Agriculture Victoria - Soil
Biology LibreTexts - Soils
Soil Science Society of America - Soil Basics
Energy.gov - Soil

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

soil - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
soil - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Written by

Garrison Sposito

Professor of ecosystem sciences, University of California at Berkeley. Author of The Chemistry of Soils.

Garrison Sposito

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Jan. 2, 2026 •History

soil, the biologically active, porous medium that has developed in the uppermost layer of Earth’s crust. Soil is one of the principal substrata of life on Earth, serving as a reservoir of water and nutrients, as a medium for the filtration and breakdown of injurious wastes, and as a participant in the cycling of carbon and other elements through the global ecosystem. It has evolved through weathering processes driven by biological, climatic, geologic, and topographic...

Discover the world with Britannica

Subscribe to Continue Reading

Free Trial | No Ads | Exclusive Content

Unsubscribe Anytime!

Explore Subscriptions