Editing Soil formation (section)

===Time===
Time is a factor in the interactions of all the above.<ref name="Jenny1941"/> While a mixture of sand, silt and clay constitute the [[Soil texture|texture]] of a soil and the [[Particle aggregation|aggregation]] of those components produces [[ped]]s, the development of a distinct [[B horizon]] marks the development of a soil or pedogenesis.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bormann |first1=Bernard T. |last2=Spaltenstein |first2=Henri |last3=McClellan |first3=Michael H. |last4=Ugolini |first4=Fiorenzo C. |last5=Cromack |first5=Kermit Jr |last6=Nay |first6=Stephan M. |year=1995 |title=Rapid soil development after windthrow disturbance in pristine forests |journal=[[Journal of Ecology]] |volume=83 |issue=5 |pages=747–57 |url=http://www.fsl.orst.edu/ltep/Reprints_files/Bormann%20JE1995%20windthrow%20chrono.pdf |access-date=27 February 2022 |doi=10.2307/2261411 |jstor=2261411 |bibcode=1995JEcol..83..747B |s2cid=85818050 }}</ref> With time, soils will evolve features that depend on the interplay of the prior listed soil-forming factors.<ref name="Jenny1941"/> It takes decades<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crocker |first1=Robert L. |last2=Major |first2=Jack |year=1955 |title=Soil development in relation to vegetation and surface age at Glacier Bay, Alaska |journal=[[Journal of Ecology]] |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=427–48 |url=https://fr.art1lib.org/book/46429686/e6dd28 |doi=10.2307/2257005 |access-date=27 February 2022 |jstor=2257005 |bibcode=1955JEcol..43..427C |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925035329/http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/100papers/100_Ecological_Papers/100_Influential_Papers_017.pdf |archive-date=25 September 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> to several thousand years for a soil to develop a profile,<ref name="Crews1995">{{cite journal |last1=Crews |first1=Timothy E. |last2=Kitayama |first2=Kanehiro |last3=Fownes |first3=James H. |last4=Riley |first4=Ralph H. |last5=Herbert |first5=Darrell A. |last6=Mueller-Dombois |first6=Dieter |last7=Vitousek |first7=Peter M. |year=1995 |title=Changes in soil phosphorus and ecosystem dynamics along a long term chronosequence in Hawaii |journal=[[Ecology (journal)|Ecology]] |volume=76 |issue=5 |pages=1407–24 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259671947 |doi=10.2307/1938144 |access-date=27 February 2022 |jstor=1938144 }}</ref> although the notion of soil development has been criticized, soil being in a constant state-of-change under the influence of fluctuating soil-forming factors.<ref name="Huggett1998">{{cite journal |last=Huggett |first=Richard J. |year=1998 |title=Soil chronosequences, soil development, and soil evolution: a critical review |journal=[[Catena (soil)|Catena]] |volume=32 |issue=3/4 |pages=155–72 |doi=10.1016/S0341-8162(98)00053-8 |bibcode=1998Caten..32..155H |url=https://www.academia.edu/2116704 |access-date=27 February 2022  }}</ref> That time period depends strongly on climate, parent material, relief, and biotic activity.{{sfn|Simonson|1957|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Donahue|Miller|Shickluna|1977|p=26}} For example, recently deposited material from a flood exhibits no soil development as there has not been enough time for the material to form a structure that further defines soil.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Craft |first1=Christopher |last2=Broome |first2=Stephen |last3=Campbell |first3=Carlton |year=2002 |title=Fifteen years of vegetation and soil development after brackish-water marsh creation |journal=[[Restoration Ecology]] |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=248–58 |url=https://fr.art1lib.org/book/5257969/1523d7 |doi=10.1046/j.1526-100X.2002.01020.x |bibcode=2002ResEc..10..248C |s2cid=55198244 |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810105223/http://www.marianhs.org/userfiles/1086/Classes/25998/IU%20paper%20NC%20marsh%20restoration.pdf |archive-date=10 August 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> The original soil surface is buried, and the formation process must begin anew for this deposit. Over time the soil will develop a profile that depends on the intensities of biota and climate. While a soil can achieve relative stability of its properties for extended periods,<ref name="Crews1995"/> the soil life cycle ultimately ends in soil conditions that leave it vulnerable to erosion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shipitalo |first1=Martin J. |last2=Le Bayon |first2=Renée-Claire |year=2004 |chapter=Chapter 10: Quantifying the effects of earthworms on soil aggregation and porosity |doi=10.1201/9781420039719 |title=Earthworm ecology |edition=2nd |editor-first=Clive A. |editor-last=Edwards |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |location=Boca Raton, Florida |pages=183–200 |isbn=978-1-4200-3971-9 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/17435/files/Shipitalo_Martin_-_Quantifying_the_Effects_of_Earthworms_20100310.pdf |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41844767 |access-date=27 February 2022 }}</ref> Despite the inevitability of [[soil retrogression and degradation]], most soil cycles are long.<ref name="Crews1995"/>

Soil-forming factors continue to affect soils during their existence, even on stable landscapes that are long-enduring, some for millions of years.<ref name="Crews1995"/> Materials are deposited on top<ref>{{cite journal |last1=He |first1=Changling |last2=Breuning-Madsen |first2=Henrik |last3=Awadzi |first3=Theodore W. |year=2007 |title=Mineralogy of dust deposited during the Harmattan season in Ghana |journal=[[Danish Journal of Geography|Geografisk Tidsskrift]] |volume=107 |issue=1 |pages=9–15 |doi=10.1080/00167223.2007.10801371 |bibcode=2007GeTid.107....9H |citeseerx=10.1.1.469.8326 |s2cid=128479624 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258240253 |access-date=27 February 2022 }}</ref> or are blown or washed from the surface.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pimentel |first1=David |last2=Harvey |first2=Celia |last3=Resosudarmo |first3=Pradnja |last4=Sinclair |first4=Kevin |last5=Kurz |first5=D. |last6=McNair |first6=M. |last7=Crist |first7=S. |last8=Shpritz |first8=Lisa |last9=Fitton |first9=L. |last10=Saffouri |first10=R. |last11=Blair |first11=R. |year=1995 |title=Environmental and economic cost of soil erosion and conservation benefits |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=267 |issue=5201 |pages=1117–23 |url=https://www.academia.edu/9512072 |doi=10.1126/science.267.5201.1117 |access-date=27 February 2022 |bibcode=1995Sci...267.1117P |pmid=17789193 |s2cid=11936877 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213065558/http://www.rachel.org/files/document/Environmental_and_Economic_Costs_of_Soil_Erosi.pdf |archive-date=13 December 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> With additions, removals and alterations, soils are always subject to new conditions. Whether these are slow or rapid changes depends on climate, topography and biological activity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wakatsuki |first1=Toshiyuki |last2=Rasyidin |first2=Azwar |year=1992 |title=Rates of weathering and soil formation |journal=Geoderma |volume=52 |issue=3/4 |pages=251–63 |url=http://kinki-ecotech.jp/download/WakatsukiRasydin1992Geoderma.pdf |doi=10.1016/0016-7061(92)90040-E |access-date=27 February 2022 |bibcode=1992Geode..52..251W }}</ref>

Time as a soil-forming factor may be investigated by studying soil [[chronosequence]]s, in which soils of different ages but with minor differences in other soil-forming factors can be compared.<ref name="Huggett1998"/> [[Paleosol]]s are soils formed during previous soil forming conditions.