Soil science
The Soil Science , soil science or Pedologie (from ancient Greek πέδον Pedon "bottom" and -logie ), rare Edaphologie ( ancient Greek ἔδαφος edaphos "ground"), is a science that deals with the ground formation from the rock subsoil, the soil development , the soil particles , soil properties and soil classification .
As ground or crumb Pedologen designate the top, usually very busy and porous decimeter the earth's surface, where the plant roots . Soils are created from the rock below through weathering and the activity of the soil organisms .
History and definition
Soil science established itself as a separate scientific discipline in the 19th century, to which the Russian geographer and geologist Wassili Wassiljewitsch Dokuchajew , the German private scholar Friedrich Albert Fallou and Charles Darwin contributed in particular .
In the 20th century in Europe, according to soil types structured soil mapping to a widely recognized national task and is also seen in the context of the problem areas water and environmental protection, targeted (economical) fertilization and promotion of location-specific (semi-) natural vegetation today. Since around 1985, the German-speaking countries have therefore started to develop official soil information systems (see GeoLIS and Spatial Information System , RIS).
The term soil is used very differently in the individual geosciences . Soil science defines the term (according to Winfried Blum , University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna) as follows:
“Soil is a loose cover (section from the pedosphere) that extends from the earth's surface to the rock, is divided into horizons and interspersed with water, air and living beings and in which these transformation processes continue. "
Since soils consist of a solid, gaseous and liquid phase, they represent a three-phase, dynamic, geo- and bio-ecological system.
Interdisciplinary science
Soil science is an interdisciplinary science that uses knowledge and methods from various fields. Which includes
- the basic natural sciences of physics , chemistry and biochemistry ,
- the life sciences botany , zoology and microbiology ,
- the earth sciences, in particular geology , mineralogy , geography and hydrology ,
- as well as forest and agricultural sciences, in particular arable farming , plant cultivation , plant nutrition and fertilization , forestry .
- In the course of modern evaluation and analysis methods, geographic information systems as well as the agricultural and geoscientific methods of remote sensing play an increasing role.
The knowledge of soil science is of fundamental importance in ecology, agriculture and forestry. The latter deal with the cultivated soil , which has been the foundation of human survival since the beginning of agriculture in the Neolithic Age.
On the basis of traditional soil classification, forest science has developed a view of the soil as a geo-ecosystem . The prognoses about the effects of anthropogenic element inputs on the bio- element balance of soils have been confirmed by long-term studies .
Soil science provides - within the framework of materials science - also soil mechanics , earth statics and hydrometric basics for geotechnics and structural engineering, as they are required in foundation engineering .
Significance for environmental protection
Soil protection , i.e. the sustainable preservation of the functionality of the soil, above all to secure or restore it through “good professional practice”, is anchored in the German Federal Soil Protection Act (BBodSchG). To this end, harmful changes to the soil are to be avoided as far as possible or persistent negative functionality to be remedied if necessary. In addition to mechanical soil compaction , the negative changes also include chemical contamination from contaminated sites and the water pollution caused by them. Excessive anthropogenic stress leads to these degradations , which can increasingly be measured by soil erosion (see also dust bowl ), surface sealing or declining soil fertility . If the soil is affected, impairment of its natural functions and its role as an archive of natural and cultural history should be avoided as far as possible.
Education
Soil science is mostly taught in an interdisciplinary manner in German-speaking countries. Soil science teaching content is conveyed in the basic and advanced courses such as forest science , geography , geoecology , agriculture and forestry , arboristics , geosciences and environmental sciences .
The University of Hanover focuses on soil science topics in its bachelor's degree in geosciences. In addition, a focus on soil science can be placed in the advanced master’s courses in geosciences and landscape sciences .
The advanced master’s course “Soil Use and Soil Protection” at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences focuses on the soil.
At the University of Hohenheim you can study soil sciences as a specialization in the bachelor's and master's degree in agricultural sciences.
See also
- Agricultural Chemistry
- Soil damage , soil protection
- Soil investigation , soil horizon
- Edaphon (soil organisms)
- International Union of Soil Sciences
- Pointer plants
literature
- Charles Darwin : The formation of the soil by the action of worms . Translated from the English by J. Victor Carus . Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1882. Digitized version (PDF; 2.1 MB) .
- W. Amelung, H.-P. Blume , H. Fleige, R. Horn, E. Kandeler , I. Kögel-Knabner , R. Kretschmar, K. Stahr , B.-M. Wilke: Scheffer / Schachtschabel textbook of soil science. 17th edition. Springer Spectrum, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-662-55870-6 .
- H.-P. Blume , P. Felix-Henningsen, WR Fischer: Handbook of soil science. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-527-32563-4 .
- WEH Blum : Need and possibilities of a geographic information system from the perspective of soil science. In Geowiss. Mitt. Volume 27 (Ed. G. Gerstbach), GeoLIS I, p. 104 ff., Vienna University of Technology 1986.
- H. Kuntze , G. Roeschmann , G. Schwerdtfeger : Soil science. 5th edition. UTB, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8252-8076-4 .
- DL Rowell: Soil Science. Investigation methods and their applications. Springer, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-540-61825-2 .
- WEH Blum : Soil science in brief . (Hirts index books) 7th edition. Borntraeger, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-443-03120-6 .
- Ad-hoc-AG Soil: Soil-Scientific Mapping Instructions . 5th edition. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 2005. ISBN 3-510-95920-5 .
- A. Jones [Ed.], E. Akça, European Soil Bureau Network: Soil atlas of Europe - European Commission, DG Joint Research Center. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg 2005, ISBN 92-894-8120-X ; EUR 21676 EN.
- Wolfgang Zech , P. Schad, G. Hintermaier-Erhard: Soils of the world: An image atlas. 2nd Edition. Springer Spectrum, Heidelberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-642-36574-4 .
- G. Hintermaier-Erhard, W. Zech: Dictionary of soil science. Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Heidelberg 1997, ISBN 3-432-29971-0 .
Web links
- German Soil Science Society
- Scripts from the Institute for Soil Science at the University of Kiel (access with password)
- German-language pedological site
- www.ahabc.de: The magazine for soil and garden
Individual evidence
- ↑ Krasilnikov, NA 1958. Soil Microorganisms and Higher Plants
- ↑ Hans Joachim Fiedler : The soil science works of Friedrich Albert Fallous in today's soil geological point of view . In: Archives for Forestry Vol. 19, 1970, pp. 1027-1035
- ↑ AA Yarilov: C. Darviin - osnovopoloshnik nauki o pochve. (Charles Darwin - The founder of soil science). In: Potschwowedenije , Volume 4, 1936, pp. 17-23
- ↑ WEH Blum : Soil Science in keywords . 7th edition. Borntraeger, Stuttgart 2012, p. 1
- ^ Institute for Soil Science - Study / Teaching. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .