Deformational mass transport and invasive processes in soil evolution

Abstract

Channels left in soil by decayed roots and burrowing animals allow organic and inorganic precipitates and detritus to move through soil from above, to depths at which the minuteness of pores restricts further passage. Consecutive translocation-and-root-growth phases stir the soil, constituting an invasive, dilatational process which generates cumulative strains. Below the depths thus affected, mineral dissolution by descending organic acids leads to internal collapse; this softened/condensed precursor horizon is then transformed into soil via biological activity that mixes and expands the evolving residuum through root and micropore-network invasion.