For the first 4 billion years of Earth's existence, its continents were dusty, barren and rocky landscapes similar to the surface of Mars. But, around 500 million years ago, this all changed. Land ...

Scientists know iron oxide minerals store large amounts of carbon in soils, but lack a detailed, quantitative understanding of the specific chemical mechanisms that allow them to bind such a wide ...

In certain trees, soils can form along branches and can support varied plant and animal life. However, what conditions these ‘canopy soils’ form in, and what kind of biodiversity they support, has ...

On World Soils Day, December 5, 2016, the U.S. National Committee for Soil Sciences convened a workshop on Soils: The Foundation of Life in Washington, DC. The purpose of the workshop was to increase ...

From the lava plains of the Alvord Desert to the fertile alluvium of the Willamette Valley, Oregon’s secret wealth is lying all around us. It’s an ingredient forged from stars, fire and ice and, ...

Rapid erosion due to human activity, such as grazing livestock and farming, has stripped the Alps of almost all the soil formed since the retreat of the glaciers. This soil developed over millennia as ...

Earth’s top 2 meters (6 feet) of soil hold 2.5 trillion metric tons of carbon — more than is held in living vegetation and the atmosphere combined. But soil carbon sinks are under threat — global ...