Question

How and why might actual soils differ from the idealized six-horizon soil profile

Answer 1

The idealized six-horizon soil profile is not a good representation of all soils because there are big variations, mainly because of the climate factors.

Explanation:

When a soil profile is presented, it is often the one that pretty much everyone knows, the six-horizon profile. This is not a good representation of all soils though, or rather for most of the soils, as the situation in reality is much different. This six-horizon profile is actually idealized, or rather as to how a soil profile should look like.

Lot of the soil types across the world don't have six horizons, or their depths are much different than in the idealized profile. The main reason for this is the climate, as it is the basic factor that later influences all the other ones that influence the formation of soil. We can take the desert soil and polygonal soil as examples:

• The desert soil is very poor in nutrients. The O horizon is either few mm or non-existent. It contains salts.
• The polygonal soil is also very poor in nutrients, with the O horizon also being just few mm. This soil lacks rock base, as well as depth, as it is often only few cm deep.

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