Why is soil important for kids

Even though most of the soil we see on the ground is brown, it comes in other colors like red, white, and even yellow.

Soil around our homes can get polluted by fluids from leaky vehicles, pet waste, pesticides, or leftover household chemicals that are poured or spilled. When the soil is contaminated, storm water can move the pollutants along into washes and the wastewater system, causing problems in the environment and at wastewater management facilities. The Story of Soil Soils are complex mixtures of minerals, water, air, and organic matter both dead and alive , forming at the surface of land.

Soil is awesome! Soil lets plants grow, allows gas exchanges to happen between the land and air, provides habitat for most of the organisms on Earth, holds and cleans water, recycles nutrients, and is used for constructing structures like buildings and roadbeds.

Did you know? So then, what is dirt? Dirt is what gets on our clothes or under our fingernails. It is soil that is out of place in our world — whether tracked inside by shoes or on our clothes. There are seven general roles that soils play:. Soil Profile There are different types of soil, each with its own set of characteristics. Put the horizons together, and they form a soil profile. Like a biography, each profile tells a story about the life of a soil.

Most soils have three major horizons A, B, C and some have an organic horizon O. The horizons are:. O — humus or organic Mostly organic matter such as decomposing leaves.

The small animals live most of their life in the soil. Earthworms are famous for improving soil. This is because the holes they make let air go into the soil. The holes also let water go through. The soil also has many microorganisms living in it. Many of them eat the organic material in the soil. They use oxygen and release carbon dioxide. They also release mineral nutrients into the soil.

Soil is different in different places on Earth. This is because the climate and rocks in the Earth are different in different places on Earth. Soils are usually thicker in places where ice sheets covered the ground during the Pleistocene ice ages. This is because the ice sheets ground the rock into powder as they slowly moved over the surface. Soil has rock pieces made small by wind and rain and sun and snow.

The rocks are made of minerals and some of the minerals dissolve in water. Some of the minerals dissolved in water can be used as food by plants. Soil also has dead and living things organic matter in it.

When a plant dies, it is eaten by animals including bacteria in the soil. When the bacteria are done eating, what is left behind is called humus. When the bacteria die the plant food minerals goes back into the soil.

A food for plants is called a "plant nutrient". There are many kinds of plant nutrients. Soil has many empty spaces. Half of the soil is space. The spaces are filled with water and air. Water can enter the spaces in the soil. Plants drink the water and the minerals in the water. Plant roots need air to live. If plant roots do not have air, the roots will die. If the plant roots die, the plant will die. A plant that dies is eaten by bacteria and becomes plant nutrients again.

There are many kinds of soil. Each kind of soil has big and small rocks in it and some humus. If rocks in a soil are as big as your fingers, we call those rocks "gravel". Smaller rocks are called sand. Very small rocks are called silt. Very, very small rocks are called clay. You can see sand with your eye. Sand feels rough between your toes. Silt rock is very small and you must use a lens to see silt. Silt rock is smooth between your toes. Clay rock is too small to see with a lens.

To see the smallest things you must use a big microscope. You must use a big microscope to see clay too. Clay rock feels slippery between your toes. Most soils contain all kinds of small rocks. The three best rocks for making soil are sand, silt, and clay. Every soil has different amounts of sand and silt and clay. The mix of sand and silt and clay is the " texture " of the soil.

We can also say the mix has a "soil texture".