I put together some facts about soil for another purpose and thought they might interest others.
Soil is a living system.
Soil contains 0.01% of the Earth’s water.
Soil is 49% Oxygen, 33% Silicone, 7% Aluminum, 4% Iron, and 2% Carbon.
Fifty percent of soil is air and water. The rest is mineral and organic material.
In one gram of soil, the number of bacteria ranges from 100,000 to several billion.
There are 5000 to 7000 different species of bacteria in one gram of soil.
The total living matter in an acre of soil ranges from 5000 to 20,000 pounds.
Each year, 15 tons of dry soil per acre pass through earthworms. Earthworms eat soil to get the organic materials in it. The rest passes through them.
About 42 centuries ago, the Chinese used a soil map to determine taxation amounts.
Soil develops from geologic materials such as rocks, glacial deposits, granite, limestone, and stream sediments.
Soil influences the life spans of our roads and highways.
The stability of the foundations of our houses and buildings are determined in part by the soil they rest on.
Soil is much like the earth’s peel, similar to an orange peel.
Erosion of soil from our lands clogs rivers and dams and decreases the usefulness of soil for growing plants.
Soil is often at the bottom of the food chain. Plants and small invertebrates feed off of the soil and animals feed off of the plants.
Soil is used to adsorb wastes.
Over 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides worth 25 billion dollars are used each year, much of it ending up in the soil. That is over 4 pounds per person.
Cleaning up toxic chemicals in the soil and water has cost $20 billion over the past 15 years in the United States.
Cleaning up the rest of the toxic chemicals already in the environment would cost $500 to $2500 per person.
The United States has at least 36,000 hazardous waste sites present in our soils.
Soil supplies the water and nutrients necessary for plant growth.
Around one acre of land is use to supply the food for each person in the world.
An acre of corn gives off 4,000 gallons of water a day in evaporation.
Soil needs to provide 4,000 gallons of water to grow one bushel of corn and 11,000 gallons of water to grow one bushel of wheat.
Soil makes excellent mud pies.