The Soil: Soil Formation
Soils provide physical support, water, nutrients and refuge for a great diversity of plants and associated animals and microorganisms.
Soil formation and evolution is an extremely slow process, involving the weathering of parent materials
and the addition of organic matter by the plants, animals and microorganisms they support.
Soil development also reflects landform and past and present climates; factors which, in turn, influence the structure and composition of the standing vegetation.
This soil profile from a road cutting shows the effect of landform and climate (particularly rainfall) on soil development. Over time soil has washed into this small gully increasing the depth of soil (compare the depth of soil in the centre of the profile to at its edges where only a relatively thin veneer of soil overlays the parent rock). Species which prefer moist environments are common in such gullies.