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Frossard, E., Blum, W.E.H. and Warkentin, B.P., Editors. Function of Soils for Human Societies and the Environment.

London (The Geological Society), Special Publication 266, Price £75.00, 196 pp., ISBN: 978-1-86239-207-6.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

This well-illustrated book is printed on high-quality paper and contains a variety of soil science topics related to environmental quality and sustainable agriculture. A discussion of the relationships between geology and soil science should be of interest to scientists in both fields. In the first section, ‘Soil, human society and the environment’, the editors briefly summarize the book and introduce topics presented in the 15 other sections. Illustrations and effective analogies are used to describe soils as dynamic, multi-component, interacting systems of mineral particles, organic matter, air, water, and soil biota. For example, the total internal surface of a 120 mx120 mx20 cm volume of a typical soil is shown to have a surface area equivalent to the total land area of Italy. Biomass from soil biota within a soil is shown to be as much as 25 times as great as the biomass of the farm animals which graze at the surface. In ‘Functions, services and value of soil organic matter for human societies and the environment: a historical perspective’, . . . [Full Text of this Article]