Talk:Topsoil

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ecological Factors.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:31, 17 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Different types of commercial topsoil

Based on the external links policy, with particular attention to No. 5 under "Links normally to be avoided", I removed the following external link: Different types of commercial topsoil.

Commercial links are sometimes constructive but not all that often; this situation only occurs when it is a cited source of encyclopedic content about the subject at the site, but not when the primary purpose of the external site is to sell something related to the Wikipedia article. -- Paleorthid 16:28, 7 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Miscellaneous

"It takes approximately 500 years for one inch of topsoil to be deposited, but there are 25 billion tons of topsoil lost each year."

That last sentence conjoins two unrelated measurements. How many tons in an inch of topsoil, or how many 'inches' is 25 billion tons? Should be fixed or removed. The gesture of the data therein is good, just needs to be refined. --Ikyork 18:15, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

According to a top soil calculator on a garden store website I recently removed, topsoil weighs 1.3 tonnes per cubic meter. That is $19.2x10^{9}m^{3}$ lost every year.

Evaluating Topsoil

The change I propose to make in the classification subtopic is adding information which mentions how to evaluate the topsoil. I propose to add additional information as well as two different tables obtained from North Carolina Department of Agriculture webpage which mention the percentage of different mineral levels in bulk topsoil versus bagged topsoil. The webpage also contains a different table which mentions the desired levels of soil nutrients. In my opinion, this addition will cover important information which will advise the reader on the state of healthy topsoil. These changes will act as a reference for the readers when performing a topsoil test before a gardening project. Since the information is obtained from the NCAD website, it is valid and numbers provided will be accurate. I propose to add the following two tables into the article.

Typical soil test results from bulk and bagged topsoil.*
Topsoil HM% BS% pH P-I K-I Ca% Mg%
Bulk 0.3 69 5.2 009 026 45 10
Bagged 0.7 78 5.8 166+ 178 56 12.3

Desired levels of soil nutrients*
pH level = 5.8 to 6.2
Phosphorus (P-I) = Index of 50
Potassium (K-I) = Index of 50
Calcium (Ca%) = 40-60% of Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)
Magnesium (Mg%) = 8-10% of CEC
Base saturation (BS%) = 60-80% of CEC
Manganese (Mn-I)= Index > 25
Zinc (Zn-I) = Index > 25
Copper (Cu-I) = Index > 25
Data retrieved from: http://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/pdffiles/sfn14.pdf
(note: I can not get the information to show up in a table format so I have decided to list it as such) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mp282-NJITWILL (talk • contribs) 02:23, 8 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Citation: Topsoil (July, 1995). North Carolina Department of Agriculture. Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/pdffiles/sfn14.pdf

Removed External Links

They were basically spam. Linked to garden supply store, without even the pretext of an article about soil. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.56.83.223 (talk) 03:55, 18 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merging with Humus?

It seems like this word is used synonymously with humus. I think it would be better if we focused on improving the quality of one article. Impin | {talk - contribs} 16:36, 18 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ecological Factors

I am a student at USC majoring in architecture. The information provided on top soil is very limited and the sources used are unclear. For this reason I propose a modification that clearly describe what is top soil? and What the components are?

This fragment of my research is set up to add to the existing information on top soils. If there is no objection I will start editing soon.

Four elements constitute the composition of soil. Those elements are mineral particles, organic matter, water, and air. The majority of the top soils' volume consists of 50 to 80 percent of these particles which form the skeletal structure of most soils. This composition allows the soil to sustain its own weight, and other internal matter such as water and overlying landscape. Organic matter, another important element, varies on quantity on different soils. This provokes positive and negative effects or reactions on the soil. The strength of soil structure decreases with the presence of organic matter, creating weak bearing capacities. Organic matter condenses and settles in different ways under certain conditions, such as roadbeds and foundations. The skeletal structure becomes affected once the soil is dewatered. The soil’s volume substantially decreases. It decomposes and suffers wind erosion.

^[1]Arch 361 - Ecological Factors in Design Ecological Factors (talk) 07:42, 24 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Ecological Factors (talk) 07:38, 24 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Marsh, William M. (2010). Landscape planning : environmental applications (5th ed. ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 9780470570814. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

External links modified (January 2018)

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"Based on 2014 trends, the world has about 60 years of topsoil left."

https://ourworldindata.org/soil-lifespans "But the “60 harvests” claim is quite clearly false. More than 90% of conventionally managed soils had a ‘lifespan’ greater than 60 years. The median was 491 years for thinning soils. Half had a lifespan greater than 1,000 years, and 18% exceeded 10,000 years. There were also some soils that were not eroding at all. Where soil formation rates exceeded erosion rates, soils thickened. In fact, some were thickening – soil was forming quicker than it was eroding. In the bottom-right of the chart we see the rates of soil gain. 7% of conventionally managed soils were thickening." Drsruli (talk) 06:57, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Marsh, William M. (2010). Landscape planning : environmental applications (5th ed. ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 9780470570814. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

[1]