GENERAL GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Among the 5 factors, climate has the greatest influence on soil formation. In areas of high rainfall and temperature, the soils formed are often similar even though the parent materials are different.

Detailed explanation-2: -Scientists attribute soil formation to the following factors: Parent material, climate, biota (organisms), topography and time. These factors interact to form more than 1, 108 different soil series in Minnesota.

Detailed explanation-3: -Rainfall is one of the most important climate factors in soil formation. Organisms: Plants root, animals burrow, and bacteria eat – these and other organisms speed up the breakdown of large soil particles into smaller ones.

Detailed explanation-4: -Climate: climate has a big influence on soils over the long term because water from rain and warm temperatures will promote weathering, which is the dissolution of rock particles and liberating of nutrients that proceed in soils with the help of plant roots and microbes.

Detailed explanation-5: -Climate change can affect soil functions directly and indirectly. The direct effects include soil process changes in organic carbon transformations and nutrient cycling through altered moisture and T regimes in the soil or increased soil erosion rates due to an increased frequency of high‐intensity rainfall events.