Soil profile
As a soil profile one of which is the Earth's surface taken place from a vertical section through a sediment called. The various soil horizons , soil type and other soil parameters can be determined using a profile section .
The profile starts up mostly with a bearing horizon ( O-horizon ), including the normally follows humic and busy A-horizon (also topsoil called), which in turn by a reshaped by weathering or shift operations B horizon is underlain. At the bottom, the soil profile mostly merges diffusely into the unweathered parent rock .
In the soils outside the tropics , the intensity of weathering is relatively low, which is why the soil profiles here only reach depths of a maximum of 1 m to 2 m ( temperate zone often 1.3 m). They reflect the most important chemical and physical changes, such as material redistribution, structure formation and weathering.
In the tropics, where the weathering processes and thus the soil formation are far more intensive and profound, soil profiles can be developed up to a depth of several dozen meters.
The production of soil profiles, also known as sediment transfer preparations , is often carried out on behalf of museums and institutes , but also geologists working in the private sector . The work is often part of the duties of the state-certified geoscientific taxidermist . Soil profiles give visitors and students the opportunity to get to know the many different types of sedimentation and changes within the uppermost layers of the earth.