Soil formation, also known as pedogenesis, is the process of
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...
genesis as regulated by the effects of place, environment, and history.
Biogeochemical processes act to both create and destroy order (
anisotropy
Anisotropy () is the property of a material which allows it to change or assume different properties in different directions, as opposed to isotropy. It can be defined as a difference, when measured along different axes, in a material's phys ...
) within soils. These alterations lead to the development of layers, termed
soil horizon
A soil horizon is a layer parallel to the soil surface whose physical, chemical and biological characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath. Horizons are defined in many cases by obvious physical features, mainly colour and texture. ...
, distinguished by differences in
color
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...
,
structure,
texture, and
chemistry. These
features occur in patterns of
soil type
A soil type is a taxonomic unit in soil science. All soils that share a certain set of well-defined properties form a distinctive soil type. Soil type is a technical term of soil classification, the science that deals with the systematic categori ...
distribution, forming in response to differences in soil forming factors.
Pedogenesis is studied as a branch of
pedology
Pedology (from Greek: πέδον, ''pedon'', "soil"; and λόγος, ''logos'', "study") is a discipline within soil science which focuses on understanding and characterizing soil formation, evolution, and the theoretical frameworks for modeling ...
, the study of soil in its natural environment. Other branches of pedology are the study of
soil morphology, and
soil classification. The study of pedogenesis is important to understanding soil distribution patterns in current (