How do minerals get into the soil? What can farmers do if their soil is lacking minerals?
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Jalur jalan raya di Vietnam yang dipakai adalah jalur kanan. Dalam perjalanan dari Viet Tri – Hanoi – Lang Son.
Question by Renee L: How do minerals get into the soil? What can farmers do if their soil is lacking minerals?
Geography! Thanks for helping! Even if you are unsure, just comment!
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One Response to How do minerals get into the soil? What can farmers do if their soil is lacking minerals?
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Geology, actually, I think. The things plants need from the soil, other than mechanical things and water, tend to be ions like phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. These are ionically bonded to the soil. They can move around but they’ll tend to stay in those spots, like magnets. They can be displaced by acid, that is, H+ ions. At this point the nutrients are ‘free’ and can be absorbed by the plants. However, if the soil is acidic, then the free nutrients can also be wash away with the rain water, thus leeching the soil. If the soil becomes too acidic, then Aluminum ions will start to be replaced by H+ ions. Aluminum ions tend to be toxic to plants.
When living matter is decomposed, nutrients can be returned to the soil (I’m not sure what happens to the H+ ions that replaced them in the soil…). When new soil is formed by weathering, more minerals may be available.
Preserving minerals in the soil is important. As it is, most western farming practices are poor at doing this. They tend to just throw in fertilizer to compensate (it’s usually done with more thought than “just throwing” it in, though). If you want to know more about sustainable agriculture, try looking up permaculture or try studying natural biomes.
generousparasite
October 25, 2013 at 4:14 am