Describe the main types of soils and the processes and features that distinguish them from one another

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Forest soils (temperate-zone forests) have thin A horizons, thick O horizons, abundant clay in the B horizon. Rainforest soils (tropical forests) are dominated by intense chemical weathering and so the soils are infertile due to the destruction of nutrients. Accumulations of aluminum hydroxides (bauxite) and iron rich soils (iron ore) are important economically. Grasslands soils (drier than forests) are dominated by thick A horizons which are not readily leached. Desert soils (dry, little vegetation) do not have much organic material in the A horizon, but retain nutrients due to the low rainfall. They have a poorly developed B horizon that often contains calcite. Wetland soils contain only O and A horizons because the soils are so saturated that no waters can reach downward to create the B horizon. The organics are so abundant that available oxygen is low, and so they can't readily dissolve. This leads to very organic-rich sediments, which when compacted, are mined as peat.