On the eve of World Soil Day, here some photos from world soils: Kenya, Thailand, Montana (USA), Netherlands. I feel privileged to have seen all those soils, those pits, those wounds in our earth. We have the best profession in the world

A glossic horizon - quite common in the Alfisols and Spodosols of northern Wisconsin; these soils are not well-drained when underlain by dense till (Aquic Glossudalfs)

Soils with plinthite from southern Brazil; a pedogenetic feature in some highly weathered soils link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

An allophanic soil from Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand, formed in tephra derived from numerous volcanic eruptions. An old Andisol. link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

A fragipan from Tuscany in Italy link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

Seasonally flooded, poorly drained, fine-textured soils developed in tidal deposits used for rice cultivation in Bangladesh link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

Stratification of a Brown Andosol with tephra from Mr Hekla and aeolian sediments. Frost action created wavy boundaries. link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

A Spodosol (Leon series) formed in sandy marine sediments on the South Carolina coast . Everybody loves Podzols! link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

A Calcisol from the Nizip pistache region in south Turkey. A Petrocalcic Calcixerepts. link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

A young and shallow soil in the highlands of Ecuador near Loja. Soils is classified as Lithic Ustorthents. link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

With the pig pets of my brothers, I wish you a wonderful and productive 2025. Just like our ginger friends, let's keep digging and unearth what is needed.

I visited Eijkelkamp today, bought a 7cm Edelman auger - the most versatile for soil observations. Its history (part of the Dutch soil canon) is summarized here: bodems.nl/edelman-boor-1…

Last year we attempted to define 'soil' - now we have written a longer and shorter definition of ‘soil science’. sciencedirect.com/science/articl… sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Vital for Sustainable Agriculture: Pedological Knowledge and Mapping An opinion paper with Jose Dematte and Budiman Minasny, with examples from Brazil bsssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ej…

Totally agree. Lack of understanding of soils &pedology is a source of misunderstanding. Looking at soils also gives a historical & ecological depth in analyzing landscapes for spatial planning of future land use, not only agriculture…

It feels worse - so said the dog

A podzolised Andosol from Mutsu City, also known as a Shimokita soil. link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

bye bye X