–A–

Aggregate:

  • A clustered mass of individual soil particles varied in shape, ranging in size from a microscopic granule to a small crumb, and considered the basic structural unit of soil (Merriam-Webster)

Alfisol:

Alluvium:

Andisol:

Anthropocene:

Aridisol:

–B–

Base Saturation:

  • The amount of exchange sites in a soil occupied by certain basic cations (Ca, Mg, K), often reported as a percentage. Can help determine buffering ability of a soil to resist changes in soil pH as a result of acid cations.

Base Saturation Cation Ratio (BCSR):

  • The (incorrect) idea that the ratio of certain basic cations (Ca, Mg, and K) is critical to plant and soil health.

Bedrock:

  • The solid rock underlying unconsolidated surface materials (such as soil) (Merriam-Webster)

Buffer Capacity:

–C–

Cambisol:

Cambic (horizon):

Coarse Fraction:

Colloid:

Colluvium:

Compaction:

–D–

Darcy’s Law:

Desert Pavement:

–E–

Entisol:

Electrical Conductivity (EC):

–F–

Field Capacity:

Fine Fraction:

Frigid (temperature regime):

–G–

Gley:

Glacial Till:

–H–

Histosol:

Histic (horizon):

Hyperthermic (temperature regime):

–I–

Inceptisol:

-J-

-K-

–L–

Liebig’s Law of the Minimum:

  • The idea that plant growth is controlled not by the total amount of resources available, but by the most limiting resource.

Lodging (agriculture):

  • The bending or breaking of plant stems or roots. Most commonly used regarding cereal crops, such as corn or wheat. Lodging may be caused by many things, but one example is excess nitrogen, which causes too much green, leafy growth too quickly, causing the plant to lack stem stability and resilience.

–M–

Minerology:

Munsell Soil Color Book:

–N–

–O–

–P–

Penetrometer:

pH:

Profile:

–Q–

–R–

Regolith:

–S–

Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity:

Saturation Point:

Soil Solution:

  • The mixture of water and other things located between and within soil aggregates. This mixture contains nutrients, polymers, microbiota, minerals, dissolved gases, etc. and it is where many biogeochemical reactions take place.

Spodosol:

Stokes’s Law:

–T–

Thermic (temperature regime):

–U–

Udic (moisture regime):

Ultisol:

Ustic (moisture regime):

–V–

–W–

Wilting Point:

–X–

–Y–

–Z–