Question

What are the various uses of soil?

Answer 1

Soil is a complex mixture of organic matter, water, nutrients, microorganisms and air present as the topmost layer of the earth’s crust. The various components mentioned above is what makes soil very useful, and examining each of them will give us many uses belonging to the medical field, agricultural field etc.

Complete step by step answer:
As soil is a mixture of various components, the usefulness of soil is due to these individual components. Let us take a look at most of them:
The organic matter present in soil makes it an ideal choice for agriculture and for the natural growth of plants. As we know, plants need nutrients to grow. Different types of soil, like humus, provide these nutrients in abundance, helping plants to flourish.
Now looking at how soil is useful to humans, we see that:
The compact nature of certain types of soil enables us to use them as building material. Soil can be mixed with other materials and compressed to form compact and sturdy structures. Also, as we know, certain types of soil like clay, are used in the pottery industry.
Now let us have a look at the medicinal importance of soil:
Many types of soil are used in antibiotics. Also, as we know, soils like “multani mitti” are used to make excellent facepacks, and provide a natural soothing effect for the skin.
As we know, soil particles are excellent filtration materials. Thus, layers of soil act as natural filters for the water that seeps down into the earth. For this same reason, soil is also used in wastewater treatment plants.
Hence, we have identified many uses of soil here. Apart from this, there are many more uses.

Note: While certain types of soil like humus are ideal for crop cultivation, other types like red soil are not. These soils can be compressed to make bricks. Note that the formation of soil is known as pedogenesis, and is caused due to a number of physical, chemical and biological factors, like the weathering of rocks. Rocks in turn are produced from volcanic lava which cooled down.