Question: What is your favorite thing about observing soils

Mark Ritchie answered on 26 Apr 2016:

I love to see the color and texture of the soil. Color tells you a lot about the minerals inside, for example, reddish soils have a lot of oxidized iron and other metals, while black soils often come from soils with a lot of dead plant material we soil scientists call “organic matter.” The structure of the soil is like a history book that tells you how the soil came to be and what happened to it. For example, sandy soils can indicate that you are standing on top of an ancient sand dune or beach, while heavy clay soils can mean you are staring at what used to be the bottom of a lake.
Soil can also have distinct layers, or changes in color and texture as you look deeper in the soil, which tell you about how much rainfall an area gets and the minerals you can find in the soil.