Essential Minerals Definition In Soil Science

BASIC INTRODUCTION OF SOIL SCIENCE

Essentials of Soil Science

This book is a concise, yet comprehensive modern introduction to soil science and describes the development of soils, their characteristics and their material composition as well as their functions in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Soil functions include the delivery of goods and services for the human society, such as food, clean water, and the maintenance of biodiversity. The book is profusely illustrated with many coloured figures and tables to accompany the text and ease its understanding. Particularly the chapter on soil classification, based on the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB), features numerous colour pictures of typical soil profiles to facilitate understanding the characteristics of particular soil types. Chapters on soil protection and remediation and soil monitoring and the history of soil sciences conclude the book together with a very comprehensive alphabetical index, allowing for a quick and easy orientation about the most important terms in soil sciences. The book addresses all those, who want to orient themselves about soils, their functions, their importance in terrestrial and aquatic environments and their contribution to the actual and future development of the human society, such as teachers, practitioners and students in the fields of agriculture, forestry, gardening, terrestrial and aquatic ecology and environmental engineering, and of course, beginning students of soil science. “Essentials of Soil Science” is an updated English edition of the highly valued German textbook „Bodenkunde in Stichworten” (now in its 7th edition), which was conceived in 1969 as a standard text in soil science for universities, high schools and all kinds of learned institutions related to soil science and its applications, including practitioners in agriculture, forestry, landscape planning and architecture and users of soil in engineering and other areas. For classroom use, Borntraeger (http://www.borntraeger-cramer.de/9783443010904) offers classroom sets of 10 and 20 copies which you may order through your bookstore or directly online by following the respective link.

Essentials of Soil Science

The book is composed of sixteen chapters that systematically describe the fundamental aspects of soil science. The chapters begin with an introduction to the earth crust and composition and then move on to an exploration of soil constituents, soil formation and classification, and soil survey and land use planning. The book also covers soil properties, soil water, temperature, and air, as well as mineral nutrition of plants, including soil fertility and fertilizer usage, and macro and micro-elements in soils and plants. Additionally, the book addresses soil reaction and salt-affected soils, as well as soil conservation. The book is written in a clear and concise language, making it easy to read and understand. It also includes short, easy-to-remember points for quick revision, as well as exercise and practice sections. The widespread occurrence of land degradation is a serious environmental threat and a major global concern in today world. Protecting these finite land resources is essential in the context of food security and environmental stability.