Throughout its previous four editions, Soil Science Simplified has helped generations of students understand the basic concepts and scientific principles of soils. The Fifth Edition expands on that foundation, providing a perfect overview for those seeking a concise, practical introduction to the subject. The authors’ combined 100 years of teaching experience result in a handbook that won’t confuse or intimidate students. The Fifth Edition retains the text’s solid grounding in classification, genesis, and morphology of soils. New chapters cover such contemporary topics as soil mineralogy, soil moisture regimes, current soil survey practices, and how soil management practices directly affect the quality of a variety of water resources.

A concise, inexpensive treatment! Soil Science Simplified, 4/E was written to acquaint students with the basic concepts and scientific principles of soils without the burden of an extensive study. This useful, well-priced handbook includes discussions of soil classification, soil morphology, and soil and the environment. In addition, a chapter on soil surveys helps readers understand soil resources and apply the information presented in soil surveys to managing the soil environment. Outstanding features: 1) provides essential coverage of factors of soil formation; 2) outlines the most current principles of soil taxonomy; 3) provides an assortment of helpful tables, maps, and line drawings; 4) includes an expanded glossary.

Already renowned as a user-friendly beginners’ guide to soilscience, Soil Science Simplified, 6th Edition is an updatedversion of the beloved textbook that includes even more thoroughapplications of soil science to interdisciplinary fields. Itincludes the most recent research concerning uses of soil inmunicipal, engineering, and other areas, conversion agriculturecovering no-till, hoe-till, and the methodology of cover crops,crop rotations, N contribution, and worldwide trends in conversionagriculture. The experienced authors have fully revised and updatedthe fundamental chapters on physical, chemical, and biologicalproperties to create an ideal introductory text.

Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

The importance of soil; Soil origin and development; Physical properties os soil; Soil water; Water conservation; Irrigation and drainage; Life in the soil; Organic matter; Soil fertility; Soil pH and salinity; Plant nutrition; Soil sampling and testing; Fertilizers; Organic amendments; Tillage and cropping systems; Horticultural uses of soil; Soil classification and survey; Soil Conservation; Urban soil; Government agencies and programs; Some basic chemistry; Sedimentation test of soil texture; Soil orders of the United States; Soil horizon symbol suffixes; Land evaluation.

A moving tribute to the physical and spiritual properties of nature's richestelement by one of the world's leading soil conservationists.

An abridged, student-oriented edition of Hillel's earlier published Environmental Soil Physics, Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics is a more succinct elucidation of the physical principles and processes governing the behavior of soil and the vital role it plays in both natural and managed ecosystems. The textbook is self-contained and self-explanatory, with numerous illustrations and sample problems. Based on sound fundamental theory, the textbook leads to a practical consideration of soil as a living system in nature and illustrates the influences of human activity upon soil structure and function. Students, as well as other readers, will better understand the importance of soils and the pivotal possition they occupy with respect to careful and knowledgeable conservation. - Written in an engaging and clear style, posing and resolving issues relevant to the terrestrial environment - Explores the gamut of the interactions among the phases in the soil and the dynamic interconnection of the soil with the subterranean and atmospheric domains - Reveals the salient ideas, approaches, and methods of environmental soil physics - Includes numerous illustrative exercises, which are explicitly solved - Designed to serve for classroom and laboratory instruction, for self-study, and for reference - Oriented toward practical problems in ecology, field-scale hydrology, agronomy, and civil engineering - Differs from earlier texts in its wider scope and holistic environmental conception