# Soils continue forward I have an obsession with tiny pencils. You can find me organizing my colored pencils by length anytime I sit down to draw. I'll scratch around in my sketchbook, sharpen a few pencils, and then re-sort them. There is something satisfying about watching my pencils get shorter. It's a visual reminder of time spent doing something I enjoy. The drawings themselves are much less important to me than the experience of drawing something. It is not my natural tendency to attend to the process - it is something I practice. Creating art, and celebrating using up my pencils, helps me find purpose in the process, not the outcome. It is the same reason I like burning taper candles, reading a physical book, or crocheting a coaster. When I can see the passage of time in front of me I am better able to focus on the present. I am trying to find meaning in the forward progress of time and accept impermanence. I look to soils for guidance. Soil formation is a process that happens over time, but it isn't just one thing. Rather, soil formation represents a collection of processes that occur together to create the unique soils we observe in nature. Scientists conceptualize the many processes that are involved in a soil's development as additions, losses, translocations, and transformations. These four types of processes control the properties of the soil. That is to say, what happens around and within a soil impacts how it looks, feels, and behaves. When we observe a soil in nature, we only see the outcome of these changes. It's rare we are able to watch the passage of soil time. Not all soil properties[^1] change in the same way. Some properties change slowly and steadily over time. For example, organic matter accumulates in soils as plant roots grow, die, decompose, and get incorporated into the soil profile. Over time, organic matter changes the soil color by darkening surface soil horizons. [^1]: We use the term "soil properties" when referring to observable characteristics like color, texture, structure, mineral content, organic matter, and chemical composition, among many others. Other properties change episodically, with intense periods of activity followed by periods of stagnation. Some processes are reversible, whereas others are not. The natural shapes we find in soils develop over time as clays weather from rocks and help soil particles stick together in clumps. But a soil's structure isn't permanent. Clumps of soil can be broken and reshaped, as often happens when we manipulate soils for agriculture. Some properties are more dynamic when a soil is "young"[^2], whereas others develop later on as a soil ages. Take weathering, for example. Minerals that are more easily broken down by chemical weathering will decrease in abundance earlier on in a soil's development (e.g. when the soil is "young"). Over time, more resistant minerals will also begin to weather. The abundance of different minerals will thus change through the course of a soil's existence. [^2]: I put the term young in quotes here because the age of the soil and it's level of development isn't always perfectly aligned. Soils of the same age can exhibit different degrees of development depending on the intensity of processes that lead to change (e.g. weathering intensity defined by the climate). ![[Soil_Processes_Concept_Diagram.jpg]] Soils come into being because a diverse suite of processes interact to create something truly one of a kind. We have come up with ways to put soils into categories based on similar properties, but no two soils are exactly the same. Each new soil we encounter is a friend with a history and context that, if we listen carefully, we can learn a lot about. **This is how life is, isn’t it?** We emerge as unique humans when our experiences shape the way we engage with the world. We get to know other people by learning how their history informs their present. Sometimes our life changes so slowly over time that if we don't make the effort to notice, we could miss it altogether. We might wake up one day and find ourselves in a completely different stage of life, wondering how we got here. Other times, change seems to happen so quickly it feels instantaneous. Change like this feels so immediate that we can describe life before and after the event. The trajectory of soil formation is always forward, building on the history that came before. That doesn't necessarily mean soils are always physically expanding in space. In some cases, erosion and losses of soil material exceed inputs and formation of soil and the volume of soil decreases. Even through the ups and downs, soils always continue forward. **Soils remind me that experiencing change is what it means to exist on this planet.** Change comes in many shapes and sizes. Some changes are reversible, others aren’t. And that just had to be okay. #### Postscript > This essay was written by Dr. Yamina Pressler. The essay was originally shared with my [newsletter](https://buttondown.email/wonderofsoil) subscribers. *created January 23, 2025*