Pedosphere

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The pedosphere (from Greek pédon "soil") is an earth sphere and describes the area of ​​the earth's surface occupied by soils in which the lithosphere , the hydrosphere , the atmosphere and the biosphere intersect. One can also say that the pedosphere comprises the entirety of the soils of planet earth.

The overlap of litho-, hydro-, atmosphere and biosphere is reflected in the nature of the soils. The lithospheric intersection is formed by the original rock of the soil: If a rock is exposed to atmospheric influences (precipitation, weather or time-of-day temperature fluctuations, etc.), it will weather . The weathered mineral rock substance , mixed with aerobically decomposed organic matter, mainly supplied by plants, is called soil, the process of soil formation is called soil formation .

Soils contain water and air in the pore space , which represents the intersection of the lithosphere with the hydrosphere and atmosphere. Soil water and air interact with the mineral and organic matter, among other things in the form of dissolving or precipitation processes.

The Edaphon is the entirety of the organisms living in the soil and thus the biosphere intersection of the pedosphere. It is indispensable for maintaining organic material cycles in the pedosphere and, through bioturbation, has an influence on the extent of the interactions between the lithographic, hydro- and atmospheric parts of the soil.

The thickness of the pedosphere fluctuates depending on climatic and morphological factors. In cold and / or dry climates and at high altitudes, the pedosphere is rather thin, sometimes only a few centimeters, in warm and humid climates and in depressions rather thick, in the range of several decimeters. Soils with a thickness of 50 meters and more can occur, particularly in the humid tropics.

See also

literature

  • Hans-Peter Blume, Gerhard W. Brümmer, Rainer Horn, Ellen Kandeler, Ingrid Kögel-Knabner, Ruben Kretzschmar, Karl Stahr, Berndt-Michael Wilke, Sören Thiele-Bruhn, Gerhard Welp: Scheffer / Schachtschabel, textbook of soil science. 16th edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8274-1444-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christiane Martin, Manfred Eiblmaier (ed.): Dictionary of earth sciences. In six volumes, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg [u. a.] 2000-2002.
  2. ↑ Scheffer / Schachtschabel (see literature ). P. 3, 363.