Subcategories

   

 

0-9   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Soil sealing

The process of covering of a soil by buildings, or types of artificial material which may be very slowly permeable to water (e.g. asphalt or concrete). Soil sealing can cause rapid overland flow after precipitation where water cannot soak away leading to potential flooding. A soil is unable to function effectively when sealed.

Soil structure

The arrangement of soil particles into aggregates which form structural units. Size, shape, and distinctness are used to describe soil structure. Farmers often describe soil structure with words such as crumbly or cloddy.

Soil threat

Soils may loose their productive function due to soil degradation. Examples of soil threats are: acidification, compaction, contamination (pollution), decline in soil organic matter, decline in soil biodiversity, desertification, erosion, flooding and water logging, landslides, salinization.

Solum

Topsoil and subsoil layers that have undergone the same soil forming conditions. The base of the solum (plural, sola) is the relatively unweathered parent material. Solum and soils are not synonymous. Some soils include layers that are not affected by soil formation.

Specialist

A species that consumes only one or a few types of food sources or forms associations with a narrow range of hosts. For example, certain collembola (tiny insects called springtails) specialize in eating specific species of fungi. (See generalist)

Specific Heat Capacity (SHC)

The amount of heat which is required in order to increase its temperature. Measured in

Sprinkler irrigation

Application of water to the field by a sprinkler system which mimics a high intensity rainfall, can be mobile of fixed.

Stones

Soil particles more than 2 mm in diameter.

Strip cropping

Growing crops in a systematic arrangement of strips or bands which provide vegetative barriers to wind and water erosion.

Strip Tillage

The process in which only a narrow strip of land needed for the crop row is tilled.
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