After reading Chapter 12, you should be able to:
- Describe the importance of soil in the environment.
- Explain the principal soil-forming factors.
- Describe the soil properties of texture, field capacity, color, pH, and structure.
- Describe basic soil chemistry, including cation exchange capacity and acidity/alkalinity.
- Describe a typical soil profile.
- Define the five major pedogenic regimes: laterization, podzolization, gleization, calcification, and salinization.
- Describe the eleven soil orders of the Soil Taxonomy system and explain where they occur on Earth.
