Why there are different kinds of soil?

Answer 1

Soils are formed from the "in-place" weathering of bedrock or other natural sediment deposits that are exposed to the atmosphere (i.e. soils do not develop underwater). It is important to note the "in-place" portion of the definition. Deposits consisting of sediment laid down by water are called "alluvium" and those that are transported and laid down by gravity are called colluvium or landslide debris (depending on how fast they moved). Soils result from the penetration of water and plant roots which serve to break up and loosen the bedrock or other material, which in turn allows more water and deeper root penetration, etc. This also allows for a build up of organic material which is another charateristic of soils.

Therefore the reason there are different kinds of soil is because of the different kinds of rock or other naturally existing deposits that underlie them. A soil developed on top of a sandstone will be different from a soil developed on top of a limestone and will be different from a soil developed on top of basalt because sandstone, limestone and basalt are each very different from each other.

Answer 2

According to the World Reference Base of soils, there are 30 major soil groups: Acrisols, Albeluvisols, Alisols, Andosols, Anthrosols, Arenosols, Calcisols, Cambisols, Chernozems, Cryosols, Durisols, Ferralsols, Fluvisols, Gleysols, Gypsisols, Histosols, Kastanozems, Leptosols, Lixisols, Luvisols, Nitisols, Phaeozems, Planosols, Plinthosols, Podzols, Regosols, Solonchaks, Solonetz, Umbrisols, and Vertisols. The best major soil group for planting crops is the Chernozems.

Answer 3

Why would you expect soils to be the same everywhere. The only sure thing, when it comes to ecosystems, is that they are all different.

Here in Atlanta (USA), the soil is characterized by a reddish clay throughout that cannot hold much water.

In Iceland, the soils have a lot of volcanic material and are rich in minerals but are highly susceptible to erosion.

In the rain forest, soils are very poor in nutrients since trees take them up so quickly.

Answer 4

you can categorise them as
black soil
red soil
alluvial soil
laterite soil
etc....