how is humus formed? Answer in your own words.
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Humus is dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays. When plants drop leaves, twigs, and other material to the ground, it piles up. ... The thick brown or black substance that remains after most of the organic litter has decomposed is called humus.
Answer:
Humus forms as a result of the complicated interplay between inorganic conversions and organic creatures such as microbes, nematodes, and earthworms. Humus formation is carried out in two steps. First, the organic substances and minerals in the soil disintegrate. Next, totally new combinations of these broken-down products develop. This leads to the initial stages of humus. Humus formation is a biological process. Only 4-12 inches (10-30 centimeters) of humus-containing soil are available in the Earth’s upper crust. This thin layer of earth is all that exists to provide nutrition to all human life. The destiny of mankind depends on these 12 inches!
Humus Formation
Cultivated soils with 2 percent humus content are today considered high-quality farmland. What makes up the remaining 98 percent? Depending on the soil type, organisms contribute about 8 percent, the remains of plants and animals about 5 percent, and air and water around 15 percent.
The other 70 percent of soil mass is thus of purely mineral origin. The mineral part of the soil results from the decomposition and erosion of rock. The dissolution of these components is carried out by organisms called lithobionts, which are the mediators between stone and life. Raoul H. Francé coined the term “lithobiont,” which means “those who live on stone.” Lithobionts are the group of microbes that begin the formation of humus. They produce a life-giving substance from the nonliving mineral. On the basis of this process, living matter, earth, plants, animals, and human beings can begin, step by step, to build.Only soils with optimal structural tilth have a humus content of 8-10 percent. Untouched soils in primeval forests can at best reach 20 percent. A tropical jungle can’t use up all its organic waste, so it can store humus. All forests accumulate humus, but real humus stores only emerge over the course of millennia. Once upon a time, accumulations of humus known as chernozem (Russian for black earth) could be found in the Ukraine.
Almost all plant communities (except for leguminous plants and untouched forests) use up more humus than they can produce. Strictly speaking, each harvest and each growth of cultivated plants is accompanied by a loss of humus. The lost humus cannot be replaced by any kind of mineral fertilizer. Both deciduous woods and mixed forests can provide their own humus because they are able to make use of their own discarded leaves. Even in nature, without human influence, humus is only produced in deciduous forests and on undisturbed land.
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