Question

What are soil horizons? Explain the various soil horizons with name? ​

Answer 1

All soils have different types of layers.

There are different types of soil, each with its own set of characteristics. Dig down deep into any soil, and you’ll see that it is made of layers, or horizons (O, A, E, B, C, R). Put the horizons together, and they form a soil profile. Like a biography, each profile tells a story about the life of a soil. Most soils have three major horizons (A, B, C) and some have an organic horizon (O). The horizons are:

O -(humus or organic) Mostly organic matter such as decomposing leaves. The O horizon is thin in some soils, thick in others, and not present at all in others.

A -(topsoil) Mostly minerals from parent material with organic matter incorporated. A good material for plants and other organisms to live.

E - (eluviated) - Leached of clay, minerals, and organic matter, leaving a concentration of sand and silt particles of quartz or other resistant materials – missing in some soils but often found in older soils and forest soils.

B - (subsoil) Rich in minerals that leached (moved down) from the A or E horizons and accumulated here.

C - (parent material) The deposit at Earth’s surface from which the soil developed.

R - (bedrock) A mass of rock such as granite, basalt, quartzite, limestone or sandstone that forms the parent material for some soils – if the bedrock is close enough to the surface to weather. This is not soil and is located under the C horizon.

Answer 2

Explanation:

A soil horizon is a layer parallel to the soil surface whose physical, chemical and biological characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath. Horizons are defined in many cases by obvious physical feature.

6 HORIZONS.

Soils typically have six horizons. From the top down, they are Horizon

O,A, E, B, C and R. Each horizon has certain characteristics.

O Horizon­ The top, organic layer of soil, made up

mostly of leaf litter and humus (decomposed organic

matter).

* A Horizon­ The layer called topsoil; it is found

below the O horizon and above the E horizon. Seeds

germinate and plant roots grow in this dark­colored

layer. It is made up of humus (decomposed organic

matter) mixed with mineral particles.

E Horizon­ This eluviation (leaching) layer is light in

color; this layer is beneath the A Horizon and above

the B Horizon. It is made up mostly of sand and silt,

having lost most of its minerals and clay as water

drips through the soil (in the process of eluviation).

* B Horizon­ Also called the subsoil­ this layer is

beneath the E Horizon and above the C Horizon. It contains clay and mineral deposits (like

iron, aluminum oxides, and calcium carbonate) that it receives from layers above it when

mineralized water drips from the soil above.

C Horizon­ Also called regolith: the layer beneath the B Horizon and above the R Horizon. It

consists of slightly broken­up bedrock. Plant roots do not penetrate into this layer; very little

organic material is found in this layer.

R Horizon­ The unweathered rock (bedrock) layer that is beneath all the other layers.

Bedrock is made up of igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic rock.

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